'The Shadow War': Mission One

The “War” has begun.

James Bond fans who were recruited to become either a British SIS agent or a Soviet OGPU spy in the exciting new alternate reality game, The Shadow War, should have received their first mission briefing via email…

There have been some strange goings on in a castle in Scotland and you are needed urgently.

We can’t say much more in case someone is reading this, but go now to mission control over at The Shadow War and all will be revealed.

This mission is the first of seven, which will be revealed over the next seven weeks.

According to the press release, “Players around the world will use a range of media, including the Young Bond books themselves and the worldwide web, to complete the missions and influence the outcome of the game.”

What are you waiting for? Join The Shadow War!

Meanwhile, guardian.co.uk reported from the launch of The Shadow War in Edinburgh.

It is hoped that the cross-media game will reach out to children who are reluctant to pick up a book.

“We think reading is sitting down and reading a novel but there are all sorts of reading,” Charlie Higson, author of the bestselling Young Bond series, said. “Kids can get as engrossed in a football magazine as they can in a history book or novel. We shouldn’t be dismissive of other forms of literature – I used to read tons of comic books when I was a kid.”

“We’re always looking for new ways to get people interested,” Higson continued, “especially the sort of person who wouldn’t be hanging around in a children’s bookshop, or reading a worthy magazine in a school library … this is a way of getting other kids interested who might not know about the books.”

The author also discussed the prospect of film rights for the series, just days after Eon Productions chose not to pick up the option to film Sebastian Faulks’ James Bond bestseller, Devil May Care. According to Higson, there has been “a lot of film interest” in the Young Bond novels.

“It’s just finding the time to get it right – it’s very difficult to find a kid with the charisma to pull off the character of Bond at that age.”

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for all the latest developments regarding The Shadow War.