Electronic Arts Inc. this week announced that SAS hero and best-selling action author Chris Ryan will pen a prequel novel to upcoming videogame release Medal of Honor.

Ryan, who during the Gulf War was the only member of an eight-man team to escape from Iraq in the famed Bravo Two Zero mission – the longest escape and evasion in the history of the SAS – used the missions within Medal of Honor game as a reference point for the novella.

Ryan, ex SAS member and best-selling action author of The One that Got Away and Strike Back, said: “It is a real privilege to be involved in a game with such a heritage as Medal of Honor. Combining my experience as an SAS soldier in the Gulf War with missions from the videogame itself enabled me to create an authentic and respectful account of an elite soldier fighting in Afghanistan for Medal of Honor: The Book.

Greg Goodrich, Executive Producer of Medal of Honor, said: “Medal of Honor is an authentic look into today’s war. Inspired by real people and real events, the game puts players in the boots of today’s warrior – from infantry ground pounder to the Tier 1 Operator.

For the first time in its 11-year history, Medal of Honor leaves the WWII theatre and enters the modern setting of war-torn Afghanistan. The game is told through the lens of a small band of fictional characters. Medal of Honor introduces players to the Tier 1 Operator, an elite warrior and relatively unknown instrument of the US Military that operates under the National Command Authority to take on missions no one else can handle.

Medal of Honor: The Book, will be given away with all preorders of Medal of Honor the game made before its release exclusively at HMV stores nationwide and online in the UK.