Resident Evil: The Book (known in Japan as Biohazard: The Beginning) was the first novella written for the franchise, by Hiroyuki Ariga. It was originally published as a portion of the book BIO HAZARD The True Story Behind BIO HAZARD, which was given away as a pre-order bonus with the Saturn version of Biohazard, but was given its own book in the English localization and sold alongside the PlayStation version.