CommanderBond.net

And yet another discovery by doublenoughtspy. When it rains it pours.

New James Bond 'Companion' Coming in Fall
'James Bond: The Man and His World' by Henry Chancellor

UPDATE (July 6): The cover art and book details. Nice!

'James Bond: The Man and His World'
' COVER ART and publishers notes from the new "bedside companion."

UPDATE (October 20): Now shipping!

'The Man and His World' Currently Shipping
Henry Chancellor's new James Bond "bedside companion" published

A very big thank you to Brian Smith of Bond and Beyond -- the best place to buy James Bond merchandise, both old and new, on the web.

'James Bond: The Man and His World'
A CBn review by Charles Helfenstein

Just to reiterate what I said in the article, I really hope this book includes ALL the Bond novels (as Benson's 84/88 Companion did) and not just the Fleming books. I will be very disappointed if it doesn't.

Two great books to get now. Really looking forward to this one.

I hope so too. I also hope he does the films, but I guess thats not a necessity. The problem I had with the Benson's Bedside companion is that the edition I had only went up to 1984 (although I do realize theres an ed. that goes to 1988)

I wonder if this one will include the films (like Benson's)? Something tells me it might not. I think IFP is really trying to develop a James Bond "line" rooted in Fleming and independent of the films. Presonally, I would sacrifice film coverage for expanded coverage of the Gardner and Benson novels any day.

Same here. There are more than enough books about the films, and most of them aren't worth the paper they're printed on (yes, "The Essential Bond" and others, this means you ). A book focusing on the literary 007 would be most welcome, and, yes, it should include everything, right up to "SilverFin".

Gotta agree. Time for complex and complete literary coverage.

Agreed - it would be good to see a new emphasis on the literary side of Bond. I'm keeping my fingers crossed (along with IFP and EON) that Bond fans who read Casino Royale in anticipation of the next film are drawn to read all of Fleming's entertaining series. And Amis, Benson, Gardner and Higson of course.

One consequence of the above might be some new Bond novels. And if the books are up to snuff, lo and behold, EON might be able to rejuvenate the film series by using the books as a basis for screenplays.

Anyway, my Bond Companions are all here at CBn.

Sounds like this could be one of the upcoming projects from IFP Higson referred to a while ago. With a CV like that and a gig like this from IFP, my money's already on Chancellor as being the next adult continuation novelist. I think there would be more interested than there was with Benson: 1. Off the back of Higson's success with SILVERFIN. 2. Because the guy has worked in the British media, so he should be able to network himself some half-decent coverage. 3. His agents are PFD, one of the largest in the UK (clients include Edward Fox, Ewan McGregor, Keira Knightley, Ruth Rendell and Nick Hornby). 4. Because he looks like he might be one of the candidates to play Bond himself, and the media are tarts. Dashing young Cambridge-educated historian takes over from Fleming. It's a story.

Anyone fancy a bet?

This post has been edited by spynovelfan: 8 May 2005 - 21:52

Oh, it definitely is. At the L.A. signing Higson said IFP was doing a new "bedside companion" with "a really good author" and that it would "be out in fall." But he didn't know if IFP wanted that info out there yet so we didn't report it.

But then doublenoughtspy found the book already right there on Amazon (not sure how long it's been there for anyone to discover).

Check this out:

http://www.pfd.co.uk/clients/chancelh/b-aut.html

"The definitive biography of Ian Fleming's James Bond"? Sounds more like another Pearson-type effort, an actual continuation novel. Nothing here to suggest any focus whatsoever on Amis, Gardner, Benson, etc. - looks like it's available from 1 September, though, and not October.

My head hurts.