The Book Bond

Happy Birthday IAN FLEMING

2012-05-28T07:58:00.002-07:00

Titan's JAMES BOND OMNIBUS VOL. 004

2012-05-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

Titan has revealed cover art and the stories that will comprise their upcoming James Bond Omnibus Vol. 004, due for release on November 6, 2012:

Trouble Spot
Isle of Condors
The League of Vampires
Die With My Boots On
The Girl Machine
Beware of Butterflies
The Nevsky Nude
The Phoenix Project
The Black Ruby Caper

Pre-order James Bond Omnibus Vol. 004 on Amazon.com.

Final JOHN GARDNER paperback covers revealed

2012-05-24T06:40:00.001-07:00

Orion has revealed cover art for the final four John Gardner paperback reprints. Never Send Flowers, SeaFire, GoldenEye and COLD will be released in the UK on November 8, 2012.

Visit our special Gardner Renewed page for links and release date updates for all the Gardner-James Bond reprints in the U.S. and UK.

Thanks to Louisa Gibbs at Orion for the first look.

CARTE BLANCHE mass market paperback released in UK

2012-05-23T18:56:00.001-07:00

The mass market paperback edition of Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver is released today in the UK. The cover art (left) is radically different than the hardcover and the UK trade paperback edition released earlier this year.

Jeffery Deaver will also be touring the UK starting today. He'll be talking about Carte Blanche and his new Kathryn Dance novel, XO. For a list of Deaver's tour stops, click here.

The Carte Blanche mass market paperback can be purchased on Amazon.co.uk.

Click here to read my Carte Blanche review.

CATCHING BULLETS – MEMOIRS OF A BOND FAN

2012-05-20T15:59:00.001-07:00

Here's a head's up for what sounds like a terrific new book, Catching Bullets - Memoirs of a Bond Fan by Mark O'Connell.

From the offbeat vantage point of a movie-obsessed teenager whose grandfather was chauffeur to legendary 007 producer Albert R. Broccoli, CATCHING BULLETS – MEMOIRS OF A BOND FAN is a love-letter to James Bond, Duran Duran title songs and bolting down your tea quick enough to watch Roger Moore falling out of a plane without a parachute.

When Jimmy O'Connell took a job as chauffeur for 007 producers Eon Productions, it would not just be Cubby Broccoli, Roger Moore and Sean Connery he would drive to James Bond. His grandson Mark swiftly hitches a ride on a humorous journey of filmic discovery where Bond movies fire like bespoke bullets at a Reagan-era Catholic childhood marked with divorce, a closet-gay adolescence sound-tracked by John Barry and an adult life as a comedy writer still inspired by that Broccoli movie magic.

“Mark O’Connell is a great new writing talent and we are delighted to be publishing his first book,” says Splendid Books’ Editorial Director Shoba Vazirani. CATCHING BULLETS is very funny and he brings a genuinely new insight into the Bond film phenomena.

“The book is a fascinating journey, in which Mark reconsiders all the Bond films as they fire into his and everyone’s cinema-going memories.”

Catching Bullets - Memoirs of a Bond Fan will be published by Splendid Books on September 3, 2012 in the U.S. and UK.

Link: Duncan Jones plans IAN FLEMING biopic

2012-05-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

Deadline Hollywood reports that British helmer Duncan Jones is tapped to direct a biopic based on Ian Fleming. Click the headline to read the full story.

SKYFALL teaser poster revealed -- trailer Monday

2012-05-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

Not book Bond related, but the big news this week is the release of the first poster for SKYFALL on 007.com. Very nice. (Click the image to enlarge.)

The official site says the first teaser trailer will be released this Monday, May 21st. I've actually seen the teaser, and it's pretty darn good!

SKYFALL is not based on any book, and as I reported back in March, there will be no SKYFALL novelization. This marks the first original titled Bond film not to be novelized.

Full set of IAN FLEMING Vintage Classic covers revealed

2012-05-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

The full set of the Classic Vintage Ian Fleming covers have now been revealed by Ian Fleming Publications. These have been leaking piecemeal onto Amazon etc., but here are nice high res images of the full set from our friends at IFP and Random House.

‘The Vintage Classics covers are designed to emphasise the cool and clever reputation of Bond. We wanted to evoke the heritage and era without being dated. The bold, colourful, film poster feel was inspired by Saul Bass.

The Vintage designers created two to three covers each, and there was a real sense of excitement amongst the team to create one cohesive and iconic series look for such an iconic character.

We chose ‘Vintage 007’ rather than ‘Vintage Fleming’ because we wanted to focus on Bond’s identity, firmly signalling that Bond is the preeminent spy within a genre that reaches back to The Scarlet Pimpernel and forward to Richard Hannay, Jason Bourne and George Smiley.’

-Suzanne Dean, Creative Director, The Random House Group

JAMES BOND JR. UK hardcovers

2012-05-09T07:16:00.001-07:00

Last month I did a post about the six James Bond Jr. paperbacks published in the U.S. in 1992. Now our friend Bazeer Flumore, who runs the terrific website PizGloria.com, has sent over cover art for four hardcovers by Caryn Jenner that were published just in the UK. These books adapt different episodes from what was released in the U.S. Curiously, they were released in 1993, a year after the series went off the air.

Produced by EON Productions/Danjaq, James Bond Jr. featured the adventures of 007's nephew and his friends at Warfield Academy. It debuted on September 30, 1991 and ran for a total of 65 episodes.

Thank you, Bazeer.

Second wave of UK JOHN GARDNER reprints now shipping

2012-05-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

The second wave of John Gardner UK reprints from Orion are now shipping from Amazon.co.uk. The books are Icebreaker, Role of Honour and Nobody Lives For Ever.

Orion is reprinting all the John Gardner James Bond books in paperback with terrific new cover designs by Dan Mogford. Next up will be No Deals, Mr. Bond and Brokenclaw on July 5 (no, I don't know why Brokenclaw is being released out of order).

Visit our special Gardner Renewed page for links and release date updates for all the Gardner-Bond reprints in the U.S. and UK.

The Most Dangerous Covers Ever...

2012-05-03T11:05:00.001-07:00

We've been talking a lot about James Bond cover silhouettes lately; from the U.S. silhouettes of the 1980s to the alleged "Brosnan" silhouette of 1990 to the move away from silhouettes on the new Classic covers from Vintage. So I thought it was time to post up these reprints of the first six John Gardner books in the UK by Coronet (No Deals, Mr. Bond was a first). These were released in 1987 and I always thought the new cover silhouette looked like Timothy Dalton, who was reigning as "The Most Dangerous Bond Ever" at the time. Look at the looser cut of his tux and the longer hair... I don't know, says Timmy D to me.

Oh course, Timothy Dalton would only make two Bond films, The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence To Kill (1989), and Coronet would revamp the Gardner (and Fleming) covers in the 1990s. So even if these silhouettes aren't inspired by Dalton, these were the books on the shelves during his era, so I will always think of these as "the Dalton editions."

Was the release of WIN, LOSE OR DIE delayed in the UK?

2012-05-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

This morning I was trying to nail down the release dates of the John Gardner James Bond novels in the UK (to update this article) when I stumbled on this item from an issue of OO7 Extra (No. 6). Win, Lose or Die was originally announced for release in July 1989, but this reports a postponement until January 1990. Maybe to avoid competing with Gardner's Licence To Kill novelization?

So did this delay happen? While the publication page says 1989, it's still possible they held back the actual release until January 1990. I do recall having trouble getting a UK Win, Lose or Die from my usual source here in the U.S., The Mysterious Bookshop, who didn't have copies in the summer of 1989.

In fact, I wasn't able to track down a UK Win, Lose or Die until summer of 1990 when I found a copy in Canada. I remember being surprised that I could still find a brand new hardcover on a display table a year after its release. Of course, if it was delayed, this explains that. A delay might also explain why this book is especially hard to find signed.

So I'm throwing out the question to my friends in the UK... Anyone recall exactly when Win, Lose or Die hit bookstore shelves? It would be nice to solve this mystery.

UPDATE: Glidrose over at the CBn forums has found a citation for a review of Win, Lose or Die in the Canadian Globe and Mail on July 22, 1989. So it appears it came out in July '89 as planned.

SKYFALL crew acknowledge Fleming influence

2012-05-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

The superb HMSS Weblog has put together a nice article of quotations from the SKYFALL cast and crew -- currently on location in Istanbul -- acknowledging that the original Ian Fleming books aided greatly in crafting the new Bond film.

Click here to read "Welcome Back, Ian Fleming" at HMSS.

It's JAMES BOND JR. time!

2012-04-28T10:54:00.002-07:00

Okay, you know I had to go here eventually. One of the lessor known chapters of the official James Bond story was the short-lived animated cartoon, James Bond Jr. Produced by EON/Danjaq under the name Warfield Productions in 1991-92, the series filled the "six year gap" when no official film could be produced because of the legal wrangling between Danjaq and MGM/Pathe. The half-hour series featured the adventures of 007's nephew and his friends at Warfield Academy. It debuted on September 30, 1991 and ran for a total of 65 episodes.

The James Bond Jr. concept came complete with lots of official merchandise, including these six paperback books by John Vincent. Interestingly, the copyright pages reads "Copyright © EON Productions and Mac B Inc 1992", but also adds, "The use of M and James Bond Sr. is by agreement with Glidrose Publications, Ltd." It's also worth noting that the publisher, Puffin, would later release the successful Young Bond series by Charlie Higson.

The cover art and titles are pretty fun, but I admit I've never read them. But they are official and, like it or not, a part of the Book Bond legacy.

Check out the opening credits with the official James Bond Jr. theme song, which really isn't half bad. Maybe I do need to read these.

IAN FLEMING VINTAGE CLASSIC COVER ART REVEALED

2012-04-24T10:59:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Click here to see the full set of covers.

Ian Fleming Publications and Random House/Vintage have previewed cover art for their "Vintage Classic" set of the original Ian Fleming James Bond novels. All 14 Bond books will be published in paperback in the UK on September 6, 2012.

So far five covers have been officially revealed (others have leaked, but I'm playing by the rules). IFP promises to reveal the full series of new covers for the Classics as well as those for the 14 new Vintage Standard editions (due out Aug 2) on their website.

It was also announced today that a "dazzling array of authors" will write introductions to the Vintage Classics, including Giles Foden, Sam Bourne, Andrew Taylor, Tom Rob Smith, Kate Mosse and Len Deighton.

I like these stylish covers and I think they are just right for a "Classic" set. I especially like they they've resisted using the familiar girls, guns, and silhouettes.

Click here for pre-order links to all the Vintage Fleming books.

Thanks to our friends at IFP and Random House for allowing me to share this preview.

SILHOUETTE-GATE (UPDATED)

2012-04-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

In yesterday's blog about the John Gardner U.S. hardcovers, some fans have wondered why The Man From Barbarossa uses a different silhouette of 007 on the cover art.

The story I read (although for the life of me I can't remember where) was that around the time of the release of Brokenclaw in 1990, Danjaq/Eon Productions complained that the silhouette Putnam was using on their Bond books looked too much like Pierce Brosnan. As we know, Brosnan had narrowly missed out on becoming Bond in 1986 and in 1990 Timothy Dalton was still the "Bond of record."

Eon's sudden sensitivity with any Brosnan-Bond connection might have also had something to do with a flurry of news reports around this same time that claimed Kevin McClory was once again planning to make an unofficial James Bond film, Atomic Warhead, with...Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan was also being linked to a possible (unofficial) James Bond TV series.

So when the The Man From Barbarossa rolled around in 1991, Putnam used a different silhouette. However, it's still from the same batch of images that had been created for the 1980s Ian Fleming Berkley paperbacks (this one came off Doctor No), so all it might have accomplished was to smooth things over until Eon's anxiety passed. By 1992 the "Brosnan-like" silhouette was back, and by 1995 Pierce Brosnan himself would be James Bond.

Anyway, that's the story I heard, but like I said, I cannot find the original source, so maybe I'm just spreading gossip. But that oddball The Man From Barbarossa cover offers some evidence that this story could be true.

UPDATE:

Okay, I've finally found the source. Interestingly, it was not so much the cover of Brokenclaw that caused the "problem", but a full page ad for the book in the New York Times Book Review that used the cover silhouette (wish I had that ad!).

According to Frank Swertlow's "Hollywood Freeway" column in the L.A. Daily News (Aug 3, 1990), Brosnan's spokesman Richard Guttman said that "Pierce has received at least 30 phone calls" about the Brokenclaw ad, which the article notes "bares a striking resemblance to Pierce." This same story, along with Guttman's quote, appeared in USA Today.

Now, this all seems to be part of a continued campaign by Brosnan's publicists to keep him in the public mind as 007 (and tweak Eon over their selection of Timothy Dalton over Brosnan in '86). This campaign had gone on for years. Brosnan had done two Diet Coke commercials in a Bondian persona (below), and also appeared in various print ads with a Bondian look. Also, as I stated above, in 1990 he was flirting with working with the dreaded Kevin McClory on a rival Bond film, Atomic Warhead.

So it's debatable whether this Brokenclaw ad was really drawing public comparisons, or if this was just Pierce's people finding another way to tout their man as the Bond of public choice.

And, yes, I think this small publicity flare up could have been the reason the traditional silhouette took a one book hiatus in 1991 with The Man From Barbarossa.

Brosnan's best "tweak"

Catching SCORPIUS in 1988

2012-04-21T08:15:00.003-07:00

The final John Gardner newspaper advert that I have in my files is this June 5, 1988 ad from the Los Angeles Times for Gardner's 007th original Jame Bond novel, Scorpius. I'm not sure if the ads stopped after this or I just missed them; but I was pretty vigilant, so there's a good chance this was last.

But they certainly went out with a bang! After skipping Nobody Lives Forever and shrinking down with No Deals, Mr. Bond, this Scorpius advert occupied as much page space as the earlier ads for For Special Services and Icebreaker. It's also kind of fun that the ad references the 1988 U.S. Olympic Team.

Hope you enjoyed my look back at these vintage John Gardner newspaper ads. If you know of any ad beyond Scorpius, I'd love to see and share it.

Also see:

Hands on SILVERFIN 2012

2012-04-20T08:51:00.001-07:00

Thanks to the good folks at Puffin, I have in hand a copy of their beautiful new SilverFin reissue. The publisher has done a terrific job with this 2012 refresh of the Young Bond series by Charlie Higson, with all new cover art designed by the-parish.com. Each book also includes a preview of the next book in the back -- SilverFin has a 14 page Blood Fever preview -- and the spines feature the titles boldly and look great together. It's also worth noting that the books are the same size as the Fahey Penguin Fleming paperbacks and the new John Gardner reprints from Orion, so they line-up beautifully on the shelf together.

You can buy the Young Bond 2012 refresh on Amazon.co.uk. Also read my five part THE SECRET HISTORY OF YOUNG JAMES BOND, which covers the creation of the series and each of the five books individually.

Amazon to give IAN FLEMING paperbacks "a new look"

2012-04-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal has an article today about Amazon's deal to publish the classic Ian Fleming James Bond titles which provides a few fresh details about what we can expect.

The article confirms that Amazon will publish the books as both print editions and eBooks. The print versions will be paperbacks published under Amazon's Thomas & Mercer imprint (which specializes in mysteries and thrillers). The WSJ article states that "Amazon will give the books a new look."

While the eBooks will initially only be available via Amazon's Kindle store, the new paperback editions will be available to all retailers.

However, Barnes & Noble have said in the past that they will not sell books printed by Amazon in their stores. The retailer has criticized Amazon for striking exclusive deals with publishers, agents, and authors. Whether or not they will hold this hard line on 007 remains to be seen.

"Once we learn the facts, we'll be able to comment," said a Barnes & Noble spokeswoman.

ROLE OF HONOR and NOBODY LIVES FOREVER now shipping in the U.S.

2012-04-18T11:08:00.010-07:00

The next two John Gardner U.S. reprints from Pegasus, Role of Honor and Nobody Lives Forever, are now shipping from Amazon ahead of the official May 1 release date. Below is the final cover art, which is different from what we see online.

Now, for some reason, Pegasus has decided with these two books to do a somewhat different fusion of their own series design and the UK covers from Orion. While they've changed the font for "John Gardner", they've retained the title font from the UK edition on the covers and, most critically, the spines. Gardner's name also falls in a different spot on the spines. These means these two books don't exactly match Pegasus' first three releases, nor their next two.

Hmmm...

Okay, this doesn't matter to those who just want to read the books. But for us crackpot collectors who wanted a uniform set of new Gardners on our shelves, it's a little off-putting that they are now...not uniform. But they are still great to have.

Check out our special Gardner Renewed page for links and the latest release date information on all the Gardner-Bond reprints in the U.S. and UK.

Amazon to publish Ian Fleming backlist in the U.S.

2012-04-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hot on the heels of the news that Vintage will be reissuing the Ian Fleming James Bond novels in the UK comes news today that Amazon's Thomas & Mercer Publishing brand will bring back the original 007 in the U.S. Here is the full press release:

Amazon Publishing to Publish James Bond Backlist
Thomas & Mercer acquires license to publish Ian Fleming's 14 classic James Bond books in North America

SEATTLE, Apr 17, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) --Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Ian Fleming Publications Ltd today announced that Amazon Publishing has acquired a ten-year license for North American rights to the entire list of James Bond books by Ian Fleming in print and ebook. Along with the iconic series, Fleming's two works of non-fiction, consisting of a collection of travel writings called Thrilling Cities (1963) and an expose of the illegal precious stones trade entitled The Diamond Smugglers (1957), are also included in the agreement. Jonny Geller, Managing Director at Curtis Brown, negotiated the agreement. All of the titles will be reissued by Amazon Publishing's Thomas & Mercer imprint beginning in summer 2012.

"We are excited to be using the opportunity of this re-license to introduce Ian Fleming's books to a broader audience in the USA, and we believe that Amazon Publishing has the ability to place the books back at the heart of the Bond brand, balancing traditional publishing routes with new technologies and new ways of reaching our readers," said Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd.

The agreement for the 14 classic James Bond titles includes the first James Bond book in the series, Casino Royale (1953)--which will celebrate 60 years of publication in 2013--as well as Live and Let Die (1954); Moonraker (1955); Diamonds Are Forever (1956); From Russia with Love (1957); Dr. No (1958); Goldfinger (1959); For your Eyes Only (1960); Thunderball (1961); The Spy Who Loved Me (1962); On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963); You Only Live Twice (1964); The Man With The Golden Gun (1965) and Octopussy and the Living Daylights (1966). Since their first publication the books have sold over 100 million copies worldwide and have been the inspiration behind the world's longest-running film franchise. Following Fleming's death in 1964, Kingsley Amis wrote the next book in the Bond series, Colonel Sun, under the name of Robert Markham. Bond novels have since been written by John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, and Jeffery Deaver.

"We are devoted fans of Fleming's Bond novels here at Amazon Publishing, and we're thrilled these books--already known across the world and across generations--will continue to flourish under our Thomas & Mercer imprint," says Philip Patrick, Director, Business Development, Rights and Licensing. "Amazon Publishing offers signature authors a new life for great backlist titles. Fleming is the perfect fit."

Geller says, "This deal heralds a new phase in Ian Fleming's publishing story. We are excited to be working with Amazon in North America to bring a new generation of readers to Ian Fleming's classic novels."

This agreement comes on the heels of the announcement last month by The Random House Group that the Bond backlist was returning to its publishing roots in the UK, with Vintage Books (sister imprint of Jonathan Cape, the original publisher of Casino Royale) acquiring a ten-year license for exclusive rights to the Bond novels in the English language with the exception of North America.

Making NO DEALS in 1987

2012-04-17T07:25:00.001-07:00

Okay, after being preempted by the big news last week of the new William Boyd James Bond novel, lets continue on with our look back at vintage John Gardner newspaper adverts. Here is an April 19, 1987 ad from the Sunday Los Angeles Times Book Review section for Gardner's sixth original James Bond novel, No Deals, Mr. Bond.

Unfortunately, I don't have an ad like the above for 1986's Nobody Lives Forever. Either I missed it, or one was never done. The only ad I have for Gardner's fifth Bond is this ad by Crown Books. Crown was an aggressive discount book chain that would eventually knock off Waldenbooks and B. Dalton.

No Deals, Mr. Bond and Nobody Lives Forever will both be released as part of the John Gardner reissues in the U.S. and UK this year. Click here for dates and pre-order links.

Also see:

Could Boyd's Bond novel be set in Africa?

2012-04-16T08:06:00.002-07:00

In their article about the selection of William Boyd to write the next James Bond novel, The Spectator included this intriguing final paragraph:

As for where the action will be set, did he give a clue at the recent Oxford Literary Festival? He said that he was working on a novel set in Africa. You could assume that he was referring to the new Bond book, but with the prolific Boyd you can’t be sure. But I like the idea of Bond being blown around post-colonial Africa on the winds of change.

I also like the idea of Bond "being blown around post-colonial Africa" (in 1969), but I'm thinking The Spectator has it wrong here. Certainly Boyd hasn't started on his Bond book yet; this Africa book is probably his next original novel. And as Jeffery Deaver set a large part of Carte Blanche in South Africa, it's unlikely IFP would want to repeat the location so soon (but Boyd did say IFP allow their Bond authors to do their own thing).

But I guess every word out of Boyd's mouth from now on is fair game for speculation. Welcome to the world of 007, Mr. Boyd. :)

Boyd promises story and character over gadgets

2012-04-15T19:05:00.001-07:00

There have been been a slew of articles about William Boyd's appointment as the author of the next James Bond novel. There is a very good profile in The Independent about Boyd and his work (William Boyd: Our man in 007 land). Also PRI radio has a nice interview with the author, which includes this encouraging quote:

“The films in a way rely on cars and guns and all that sort of thing,” Boyd said, “but in a novel, describing some elaborate gadget isn’t quite the same as seeing it on the screen. So you’re much better to fall back on story and character and various dilemmas that the hero finds himself in, than dressing it up with the latest high-tech available.”

Boyd's yet untitled James Bond novel will be published in Fall of 2013 by Jonathan Cape in the UK and HarperCollins in the U.S. and Canada. Read the full press release here.

Dear James, Love Pussy

2012-04-15T18:38:00.003-07:00

Here's one that seems to have slipped under everyone's radar. The eBook Dear James, Love Pussy - The Secret Correspondence Between JB and Pussy Galore is a sequel of sorts to the book, Goldfinger, revealing correspondence between Pussy Galore and James Bond (called only JB) following their adventure. Here's the description:

The following letters are part of a hitherto unknown correspondence, between a certain Secret Agent and Priscilla May Galore, written while she was serving her debt to society in Sing Sing, Ossining, NY, and for many years after she was free.

At the end of Goldfinger, after a passionate romp in a boat (in the movie it’s a desert island), Pussy Galore is incarcerated in the notorious high-security prison at Sing Sing for her part in Operation Grand Slam. JB continues his peripatetic life as a secret agent.

Pussy Galore is never mentioned in the JB oeuvre again. But it is clear from the book that of all Bond’s girls, this violet-eyed lesbian occupied a special place in the secret agent’s affections and the author’s. (It has been suggested that PG is based on a woman with whom the author had an affair). In a spirit of literary high jinks, we have continued the love-affair between these two high-octane characters and a fictional correspondence between Pussy Galore and the notorious secret agent.

For those familiar with the next five stories JB refers to them in chronology in his letters to Sing Sing. For instance, a letter written from the Gritti Palace in Venice draws on the plot of the story, “ Risico” and a postcard from the Kozee Motor Court near Montreal in Vermont, is referred to in For Your Eyes Only. Several of JB’s letters are written from The Special Forces Club, in Knightsbridge, where one of the author’s is a member.

The following are letters found in Ms. Galore’s old pilot’s bag in the attic of her house on Martinique and in accordance with her last will and testament are being published anonymously to reveal the most intimate details of JB's affection for the infamous lavender-eyed lesbian.

Normally $1.99, Dear James, Love Pussy - The Secret Correspondence Between JB and Pussy Galore is being offered FREE at the moment on Amazon.com.