In 2004, when I began writing this annual article, Bond fans were in a state of paralysis. We were unsure of the future of both the literary and cinematic James Bond series’. Raymond Benson hadn’t penned an original Bond novel in two years and Pierce Brosnan was waiting for that infamous phone call. Today marks the first day of 2009 and it couldn’t be a better time for Bond fans. Over the past five years we’ve seen a slew of original new Bond novels from Ian Fleming Publications (IFP) and two exceptional Bond films featuring the most realistic interpretation of the character in years. One of the greatest years in recent James Bond history has just come and gone and naturally Bond fans are asking themselves: What’s next?

Quantum of Solace is still in theaters and your copies of Devil May Care and By Royal Command are still sitting dustless on your bookshelf but are you content? If you’re anything like me, you’re already looking forward to the next big Bond events so what are they? To be honest, 2009 isn’t going to be as exciting as 2008 but it is the last year of this decade and that alone is a significant milestone.

With the exception of this year, there has been a memorable Bond film released every year since the series began in 1962. ’69 gave us George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, ’79 saw James Bond attempt reentry, ’89 saw Timothy Dalton’s swan song and the beginning of an endless lawsuit that prevented Eon from making another Bond film for six years and ’99, well, that year taught us that Denise Richards is a bad actress.

But how will we remember 2009 without a new Bond film? Certainly the DVD and Blu-ray release of Quantum of Solace will cheer us up in March but home video releases don’t tend to be remembered for years to come. My intuition tells me that the good people at IFP have something up their sleeves. They gave us a myriad of new releases (including Devil May Care, the first adult Bond novel since 2002) last year in commemoration of Ian Fleming’s 100th birthday so I can’t imagine they’re going to leave us hanging until his bicentenary. Charlie Higson finished his Young Bond series last year with By Royal Command, which leads me to speculate that they will either announce a new series of novels chronicling Bond’s life post-By Royal Command or commission another novel featuring the adult James Bond in a Cold War setting.

If my spider-sense is wrong and IFP gives us nothing but paperbacks and audiobooks of already released works then the highlight of the year will be Activision’s currently untitled James Bond racing game. If you don’t play video games you’re out of luck unless you plan on celebrating the 40th anniversary of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and/or my 20th birthday in March.

I hope you all have a great year and remember that Daniel Craig is still signed on for Bond 23, which means no matter how this year goes you can still find solace in the fact that the cinematic James Bond will return in a timely fashion!

Film Anniversaries

• 45th: Goldfinger (1964) – 17 September (UK) & 22 December (USA)
• 40th: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) – 18 December (UK / USA)
• 35th: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) – 19 December (UK) & 20 December (USA)
• 30th: Moonraker (1979) – 26 June (UK) & 29 June (USA)
• 20th: Licence To Kill (1989) – 14 July (USA) & 4 August (UK)
• 10th: The World is not Enough (1999) – 19 November (USA) & 26 November (UK)

Novel Anniversaries

• 55th: Live and Let Die (1954) by Ian Fleming
• 50th: Goldfinger (1959) by Ian Fleming
• 45th: You Only Live Twice (1964) by Ian Fleming
• 30th: James Bond and Moonraker (Novelisation) (1979) by Christopher Wood
• 25th: Role of Honour (1984) by John Gardner
• 20th: Win, Lose or Die (1989) by John Gardner
• 20th: Licence to Kill (Novelisation) (1989) by John Gardner
• 15th: SeaFire (1994) by John Gardner
• 10th: High Time to Kill (1999) by Raymond Benson
• 10th: The World Is Not Enough (Novelisation) (1999) by Raymond Benson

Modern Video Game Anniversaries

• 10th: Tomorrow Never Dies (Electronic Arts)
• 5th: Everything or Nothing (Electronic Arts)
• 5th: GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (Electronic Arts)

Quantum of Solace Releases

• 24 January: Japan

DVD/BD Releases

• 18 March: Goldfinger (BD – Region 4)
• 18 March: Diamonds Are Forever (BD – Region 4)
• 18 March: The Spy Who Loved Me (BD – Region 4)
• 18 March: Licence to Kill (BD – Region 4)
• 18 March: GoldenEye (BD – Region 4)
• 18 March: The World is not Enough (BD – Region 4)
• ? March: Goldfinger (BD – Region 1 & 2)
• ? March: Diamonds Are Forever (BD – Region 1 & 2)
• ? March: The Spy Who Loved Me (BD – Region 1 & 2)
• ? March: Licence to Kill (BD – Region 1 & 2)
• ? March: GoldenEye (BD – Region 1 & 2)
• ? March: The World is not Enough (BD – Region 1 & 2)
• ? March: Quantum of Solace (DVD & BD – Region 1 & 2)

Literary Releases

• 1 January: Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming (Audiobook – USA)
• 1 January: Moonraker by Ian Fleming (Audiobook – USA)
• 1 January: Diamonds are Forever by Ian Fleming (Audiobook – USA)
• 1 January: From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming (Audiobook – USA)
• 1 January: Doctor No by Ian Fleming (Audiobook – USA)
• 1 January: Goldfinger by Ian Fleming (Audiobook – USA)
• 1 February: Thunderball by Ian Fleming (Audiobook – USA)
• 1 February: The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming (Audiobook – USA)
• 1 February: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming (Audiobook – USA)
• 1 February: You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming (Audiobook – USA)
• 1 February: The Man with the Golden Gun by Ian Fleming (Audiobook – USA)
• 1 February: Octopussy and The Living Daylights by Ian Fleming (Audiobook – USA)
• 10 March: Double or Die by Charlie Higson (Paperback – USA)
• 10 March: SilverFin by Charlie Higson (Paperback Re-release – USA)
• 10 March: Blood Fever by Charlie Higson (Paperback Re-release – USA)
• 7 April: Hurricane Gold by Charlie Higson (Hardback – USA)
• 19 May: Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks (Trade Paperback – USA)
• 19 May: Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks (Mass Market Paperback – USA)
• 30 June: The Girl Machine by Ian Fleming, Jim Lawrence and Yaroslav Horak (Titan Books – USA)
• 8 September: James Bond: Omnibus – Volume 1 (Titan Books – USA)

Miscellaneous Releases

• 1 January: The Little Book of Bond by Michael Heatley (Hardback – USA)
• 2 March: Daniel Craig: The Illustrated Biography by Tina Ogle (Paperback – UK)
• 1 April: Daniel Craig: The Illustrated Biography by Tina Ogle (Paperback – USA)
• 6 April: For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond by Ben Macintyre (Paperback – UK)
• 1 June: Revisioning 007: James Bond and Casino Royale by Christoph Lindner (Paperback – USA)
• 6 August: Being A Scot by Sir Sean Connery (Paperback – UK)
• ? September: Untitled James Bond Racing Game (Activision)

007 Actor Birthdays

• 2 March: Daniel Craig (2006-Present) – 41 y/o
• 21 March: Timothy Dalton (1987-1989) – 63 y/o
• 16 May: Pierce Brosnan (1995-2002) – 56 y/o
• 25 August: Sean Connery (1962-1967;1971;1983) – 79 y/o
• 9 September: George Lazenby (1969) – 70 y/o
• 14 October: Roger Moore (1973-1985) – 82 y/o