Bethesda Softworks, the developer and publisher of the Elder Scrolls franchise, is saying that it has entered into an agreement with Del Rey Books, which is an imprint of Random House, related to the publishing of two novels based on the long running videogame franchise, which has been a hit for the company.

After the release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and its various extra content packs, from Knights of the Nine to Shivering Isles, Bethesda has been quiet about the series. But at a recent London event, Pete Hines, who is the vice president for marketing and public relations at Bethesda, said that “We're not talking about the next game, but it doesn't mean we're not doing anything with the franchise.”

The two novels are to be penned by Gregory Keyes, who is a fantasy author of some renown and has already written some books set in the Star Wars universe and self contained series like The Age of Unreason and The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone. It seems that Bethesda liked this final series, which prompted the company to want to work with Keyes.

Gregory Keyes will get some help related to the Elder Scrolls universe from Bruce Nesmith, the design director at Bethesda, and from Kurt Kuhlman, who is a game designer. Hines assured people that the lore of the games would be reflected in the books, saying that “Those who know The Elder Scrolls know we love our lore. We certainly love our books - you can spend hours and hours reading books.”

The first book in the series will be called The Infernal City and is set to take place in Tamriel just after the events portrayed in Oblivion. Apparently, about half of the manuscript for this first book is already done and Bethesda will probably be promoting the novels as bridging the time gap between Oblivion and the inevitable next game in the Elder Scrolls series.