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  1. More On 'Never Dream of Dying'

    By David Winter on 2001-01-01

    IanFleming.org has taken a nice little look at Raymond Benson’s upcoming James Bond novel, Never Dream Of Dying. There’s little surprise that some of this material is exclusive to them, after all Benson is a member of their staff.

    Well here’s what they had to say:

    Raymond Benson, the author of the James Bond novels, confirms to 007 NEWS that James Bond will return this summer in Never Dream of Dying.

    Following on the heels of Bond’s exploits in Doubleshot, Benson pens Bond a journey in Paris after a police raid on a movie studio goes awry. And in typical Bond style, 007 meets up with Tylyn Migonne, a movie star.

    A French agent and friend of Bond goes missing and Bond takes up the case…

    Back From The Dead: Marc-Ange Draco, a friend of Bond who was reported to have died in John Gardner’s Nobody Lives Forever, is back again. Benson said Draco’s alleged death can be explained away because it was handled in a vague, unimportant way. “If you’re going to kill a major character like Draco, you had better make it memorable,” Benson said. “Draco is very much alive. As far as I’m concerned, it’s simple to say that the intelligence that MI6 received regarding Draco’s death was false.”

    Text From The Inside Cover: In Raymond Benson’s chilling new James Bond novel, Bond comes face to face at last with the most cunning criminal mastermind he has ever fought–the blind genius behind the brutal organization called the Union.

    It begins at a movie studio in Nice where a police raid goes horribly wrong, killing innocent men, women and even children. It continues in an English prison, where a dead man discloses an intriguing secret about the Union. The trail leads James Bond to Paris, where he meets the tantalizing movie star Tylyn Mignonne and embarks on a voyage of sensual discovery.

    But Tylyn is in mortal danger. Her husband, a volatile French film producer, has not forgiven his glamorous wife for ending their troubled marriage–and he is connected to the Union’s thugs.

    Meanwhile, Bond’s friend, French agent Mathis, has disappeared while tracking down the Union’s mysterious leader, Le Gerant. Bond’s journey takes him to a thrilling underwater brush with death, a chase through the Corsican wilderness, a surprise encounter with an old friend–and a final confrontation with a twisted criminal genius.

    Bond Goes To Cannes: The famous Cannes Film Festival, which Benson visited earlier this year, plays a key role. And Benson tells 007 NEWS that the sex scenes in this novel may even shock some fans. “The reasoning is that in Fleming’s day, his sex scenes were considered shocking. We had to do something that would push people’s buttons in today’s times,” Benson said.

    Never Dream of Dying will conclude Benson’s trilogy that had Bond pitted against the Union. However, does this mean the Union is a thing of the past? Perhaps not. We’ll all have to wait for the novel to find out.

    The book is due to be released in Great Britain on 3 May 2001. As yet a release date for the United States hasn’t been announced. You can pre-order your copy from amazon.co.uk.