Win A Copy Of 'Devil May Care' By Sebastian Faulks

CommanderBond.net is giving away a free copy of the brand new US mass market paperback edition of Devil May Care, the Ian Fleming centenary James Bond adventure by Sebastian Faulks.

Originally published on 28 May 2008 around the world, Devil May Care was quite possibly the most hyped-up literary 007 release to date.

This competition is open to all members of CommanderBond.net (CBn). You must be a registered member of the CBn Forums and answer the following question correctly to be eligible to win. Not yet a member of CBn? Register here now–it is free and only takes a minute!

How To Enter:

To enter, fill out the following questionnaire and send a Communiqué/Private Message on the CBn Forums to ‘CBn Competition’ (Subject: CBn May09 Faulks) by Midnight EST on 6 June 2009 (simply click on the link in this paragraph).

1. What type of flower featured prominently in the marketing for Devil May Care:

1. Rose
2. Orchid
3. Poppy
4. Tulip

2. What is your CBn Forum Screen Name?
3. What country/state do you live in?

'By Royal Command' Paperback Promotional Poster Revealed

The Young Bond Dossier has gotten the first look an at all-new promotional poster that is marking the upcoming paperback release of Charlie Higson’s By Royal Command.

Higson’s fifth Young James Bond adventure arrives on paperback in the UK on 28 May—the 101st anniversary of Ian Flemings birth.

The poster includes images of all five of Higson’s Young Bond novels as well as the ‘Before the name became a legend… Before the boy became the man…’ tagline.

Click Here To View

• Order the UK paperback edition of By Royal Command from Amazon.co.uk

Keep watching the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for all the latest literary 007 news.

Literary 007 Reviewed: Ian Fleming's 'The Man With The Golden Gun'

With 2008 marking the centenary of Ian Fleming, the newest CommanderBond.net review series, Literary 007 Reviewed, now continues with the author’s thirteenth James Bond adventure, 1965’s The Man with the Golden Gun.

As several CBn Forum members are already aware, every two months a James Bond adventure is chosen for members of the Blades Library Book Club to read. Proceeding in chronological order, the club first read Fleming’s The Man with the Golden Gun back in February 2006.

What follows are selected reviews from the Book Club Forum members. For further details on the club or to post your own review of The Man with the Golden Gun, simply click here.

Literary 007 Reviewed:
The Man with the Golden Gun

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… Bon-san

Difficult for me to rate this one. After much reflection I gave it three stars, but I would really put it at 3 and 1/2. To give it four seems unfair to some of the four star novels, but then again… Oh, I don’t know. Let’s just say it’s unrated from my point of view.

I have read The Man with the Golden Gun more times than any other Fleming story. Mostly, this has been an accident of circumstance. One time, I was home sick for days at my mother-in-law’s house and it was the only suitable thing I could find to read.

Another time, I picked it up because I wanted to re-read a few bits of that killer opening stanza, and I ended up reading it all the way through. I have also read it each time that I have gone through the full circuit of novels (Casino Royale to Octopussy).

And what’s interesting to me is that I find it imminently readable. There’s something about it I must like, despite my having had the usual feelings that it is unpolished, incomplete, underwritten, shallow, small-time, etc.

Now that I’ve just re-read Jim’s excellent articles (see here and here), I am quite happy to see that my enjoyment certainly arose out of the “new Bond” and sexual/political undertones. (Thanks Jim!)

In any event, it is a story that feels markedly different than the previous Fleming novels. But at the same time, there’s a good amount of that old Fleming magic in there. The opening passages represent one of my favorite bits of Fleming extant. And the rest of it, I don’t know, it’s captivating despite it’s feeling a bit different. New Bond, indeed–such an excellent way to describe it.

All in all, I am a fan of The Man with the Golden Gun. I think I may prefer it to Goldfinger.

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… Alvin Stardust

There’s a good story hiding in here, and some good set peices – that opening for one, and the gunfight on the train and in the swamp. But it’s a first draft and its obvious – the unfleshed out plot, even Mary Goodnight’s inexplicable hair colour change. I still can’t decide if Scaramanga is a good or weak villian.

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… manfromjapan

Just finished reading all the Bond books in order. I was hoping I would see The Man with the Golden Gun as an under-rated classic or something, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. The opening and closing chapters are great, especially the former. But the rest of the book was bland and boring. No real Bond girl. Scaramanga is just a thug. We get to go to Jamaica for the third time. It is a quick read, but nothing really happens and Fleming seems to be repeating himself. If I had read this one first, I don’t think I would have wanted to read the rest! I know Ian was seriously ill whilst writing this, but I don’t really know if he had enough of a base to write a Bond adventure on. I mean, this wouldn’t have even made an interesting short story!

Stil, l think Spy is worse though.

My order of preference – From Russia with Love / On Her Majesty’s Secret Service / Casino Royale / Doctor No / You Only Live Twice / Live and Let Die / Goldfinger / Thunderball / Diamonds are Forever / Moonraker / The Man with the Golden Gun / The Spy Who Loved Me

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… marmaduke

Rereading all of the Fleming originals twenty years later gave me the opportunity to re-evaluate The Man with the Golden Gun. I have to say that I was really impressed with The Man with the Golden Gun. This was a ‘stripped bare’ Fleming Bond novel (for reasons we are all well aware of). I took it this time at face value, i.e. not in comparison with Fleming’s earlier ‘large scale’ Bond adventures. Fleming’s class was still in evidence in creating what subsequent Bond writers struggled to achieve in my humble opinion. In a word ‘atmosphere’. The Man with the Golden Gun – a great novel!

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… Harmsway

As a Bond novel, The Man with the Golden Gun is just “okay”. It’s certainly an enjoyable read and moves along fairly quickly, but it just doesn’t all come together that well. The riveting opening is a lot of fun, but even that isn’t handled as well as it should have been (it just feels rushed to me).

My biggest gripe with the novel is that it just puts Bond back to business as usual, and it really cheapens the incredibly powerful events of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and You Only Live Twice. If I had my way, You Only Live Twice would have ended Fleming’s Bond, as he walked off into the sunset and possibly to his death at Russian hands.

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… Genrewriter

The last Ian Fleming novel is something of an oddity. It presents an excellent story with maybe the best beginning of any of the novels and provides an interesting opponent for Bond in the form of Scaramanga. The story stays fairly consistently interesting and exciting with a very good climax and closing scene. One can only wonder how good it could have been had it been put through some rewrites from Fleming. Sadly it was unfinished at the time of Fleming’s death so we’ll never know. Still, a very good read.

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… MkB

In The Man with the Golden Gun, we can see developing something strange in Bond’s world: nostalgia.

The first hints took place at the beginning of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, when Bond, on holidays, is daydreaming about his childhood on the beach in Royale-les-Eaux. Then, in You Only Live Twice, we can see him, depressed an drinking too much, more self-conscious of his failure and weakness, both physically and mentally:

‘The state of your health, the state of the weather, the wonders of nature – these are things that rarely occupy the average man’s mind until he reaches the middle thirties. It is only on the threshold of middle-age that you don’t take them all for granted, just part of an unremarkable background to more urgent, more interesting things.’

‘Until this year, James Bond had been more or less oblivious to all of them. Apart from occasional hangovers, and the mending of physical damage that was merely, for him, the extension of a child falling down and cutting its knee, he had taken good health for granted. The weather? Just a question of whether or not he had to carry a raincoat or put the hood up on his Bentley Convertible. As for birds, bees and flowers, the wonders of nature, it only mattered whether or not they bit or stung, whether they smelled good or bad.’

Starting from You Only Live Twice, Bond is ageing. He has to deal with past, with memories, with deliquescence. This is odd, because according to the filmography, Bond is a mythical hero, always in the present, always a “young man in his mid-thirties” (or rather mid-forties, in the movies).

Of course as pointed in the excellent article by Jacques Stewart, in The Man with the Golden Gun we see a New Bond in a New World, but nostalgia hasn’t been washed away. There’s an incredibly sad line (to me) in this novel, when Bond is at Kingston’s airport:

‘What were a couple of hours of heat and boredom in this island compared with memories of Beau Desert and Honeychile Wilder and his survival against the mad Dr. No? James Bond smiled to himself as the dusty pictures clicked across his brain. How long ago it all was! What had happened to her? She never wrote. The last he had heard, she had had two children by the Philadelphia doctor she had married.’

Thinking about this bright Honeychile Rider as a “dusty picture” is sad enough, but my heart sank when I thought about her as an American doctor’s wife. Can you imagine it? From a golden and shiny embodiement of Mother Nature, wilderness and freedom under the Sun and Ocean, to a middle-upper-class housewife in the north of Noth America?

And this “She never wrote”: as if Bond regretted it, as if he missed an old friend.
Oddly enough, Bond had a story before the beginning of the novels. He had had his lot of war experience, and a career in intelligence before Casino Royale. But as far as I can remember, there are no allusions to his war memories, lost friends etc. in the novels. Nostalgia seems to appear with the last three ones, just like if, before ageing, Bond had just been like a boy playing a game called war.

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for further reviews of Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 adventures in the upcoming months.

'The History Of 30 Assault Unit: Ian Fleming's Red Indians'

Another book centered on James Bond creator Ian Fleming and his 30AU (30 Assault Unit) by author Craig Cabell is due for release later this year.

To be published on 15 October is The History of 30 Assault Unit: Ian Fleming’s Red Indians.

The book follows the release of last year’s Ian Fleming’s Secret War (also by Cabell), which focused on the activities of Fleming and his role with the 30AU—a unit he set up during World War II in 1942, while he served as the personal assistant to the director of naval intelligence. It’s goal was to undertake top secret intelligence-gathering missions, going in before Allied troops to make sure vital information was not destroyed.

Cabell has said that the unit ultimately served as inspiration for the creation of the 007 character.

The History of 30 Assault Unit: Ian Fleming’s Red Indians will be published in hardback by Pen & Sword Military. Retailing for £19.99, it can currently be pre-ordered online:

• Order The History of 30 Assault Unit: Ian Fleming’s Red Indians from Amazon.co.uk

Cover artwork is not yet available, but we’ll update you as soon as it is.

For up-to-the-minute literary James Bond coverage, always turn your browsers to the CommanderBond.net main page. Be sure to check out our new Twitter feed as well.

'The Encyclopedia Of TV Spies'

James Bond and Jason Bourne may rule the silver screen when it comes to popular espionage entertainment, but the spy genre has also been thriving through numerous television programs for more than 50 years running.

From classic series like The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and The Six Million Dollar Man to modern adventures such as Alias, Chuck and Burn Notice, there have always been a wide-ranging selection of both dramas and comedies to please the TV spy fans.

Now, a newly released book from Dr. Wesley Britton will surely make it onto the ‘must buy’ lists for these fans. Entitled The Encyclopedia of TV Spies, this one-stop reference guide provides readers with anything and everything they could possibly want to know about television espionage.

Before Bond, before Maxwell Smart and Mrs. Emma Peel, we’ve enjoyed a wide variety of TV Spies. From 1951’s Dangerous Assignment to today’s Burn Notice, we’ve watched cloak-and-dagger adventures from popular successes like Alias and Mission: Impossible to thoughtful mini-series like The Sandbaggers to cartoons and even live animals in shows like Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp.

Our TV secret agents have worn masks and capes (Adventures of Zorro), fought in the historical past (Hogan’s Heroes, Jack of All Trades), been as stylish as Napoleon Solo in The Man From U.N.C.L.E., or have been as frumpy as George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

No one knows more about the wide vista of these undercover operatives than Dr. Wesley Britton, author of the highly-acclaimed 2004 history of the genre, Spy Television. Now, Britton has compiled the first indispensable reference book on television espionage unveiling the secrets behind our beloved favorites, the nuggets we might have missed, and the programs that disappeared without a trace after their short original runs.

Britton provides the behind-the-scenes creative process for TV spies drawn from both extensive research and his interviews with many participants. He uncovers the reasons why some dramas were either unforgettable hits or regrettable misses. But The Encyclopedia of TV Spies is more than a historical overview—Britton offers analysis of the elements that made key shows innovative and trend-setting and why some of the best productions ever made never jelled with the networks or audiences. And, like a “Special Edition” DVD, The Encyclopedia of TV Spies also includes extra features including articles on tie-in novels and how to collect TV spy music.

In short, no entertainment library is complete without The Encyclopedia of TV Spies, and no fan of television should be without it. Every reader should expect to discover surprises and suggestions for their own viewing, and will find themselves seeking out the best dramas and comedies available on DVD or online.

What others had to say about The Encyclopedia of TV Spies:

‘This is an invaluable reference book for anyone interested in the history of television, and that of spies on the small screen . . . They’re all here: contemporary spies, Western spies, war time spies, cold war spies, serious ones, funny ones, mysterious ones. . . You get the background on over 200 shows, the creators, the stars, the characters, with behind the scenes intrigue as well as that which was put on the screen. A triumph in research. A must read. More so, a must own.’

Marc Cushman, author of I Spy: A History and Episode Guide to the Groundbreaking Television Series

‘. . . this exhaustive directory covers television programs from 1951 to 2008, and it is a delightful stroll down memory lane . . . The Encyclopedia is rich with photographs, and each entry contains a concise but thorough synopsis, marvelously describing the show and tipping the hat to directors, producers, and actors. Dr. Britton clearly demonstrates his extensive knowledge of television espionage, packaging it in a way that is informative and, at the same time, very fun to read.’

Bill Raetz, author of the World Espionage Bureau novels

‘. . . Britton’s book is a long overdue and desperately needed reference work that should be a part of any serious TV library. It covers every conceivable aspect of the TV espionage genre and will satisfy both the curiosity of fans and the scholarly needs of researchers.’

Lee Goldberg, executive producer of Diagnosis: Murder

‘Covering the past six decades, with entries set out in alphabetical order, followers of all these secret missions and undercover operations will be surprised to find just how many television spies they did not know about . . . The contents are well set out, there are appendices and lists with all the dates and descriptions provided . . . this book is an entertaining and easy read.’

Roger Langley, author of Patrick McGoohan: Danger Man or Prisoner?

‘Finally an authoritative reference source for information on the spy stories that have graced and disgraced the small screen since the earliest days of television . . . Highly recommended for spy-fiction fans everywhere.’

T.H.E. Hill, author of Voices Under Berlin

‘. . . I learnt something new about many shows I’ve spent years watching, and learnt of plenty of new shows I should spend many years watching. This is truly a stunning collection of research covering every aspect of spies on television.’

Ian Dickerson, Honorary Secretary, The Saint Club

The Encyclopedia of TV Spies is published by Bear Manor Media. The 520-page paperback retails for $29.95 and can currently be ordered online:

• Order The Encyclopedia of TV Spies from Amazon.com
• Order The Encyclopedia of TV Spies from Bear Manor Media

The Encyclopedia of TV Spies is the fourth book by Dr. Wesley Britton. His previous books include Spy Television, Beyond Bond: Spies in Fiction and Film, and Onscreen and Undercover: The Ultimate Book of Movie Espionage.

For further information, head to the author’s official website at www.SpyWise.net.

Keep watching the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for the most up-to-date literary James Bond coverage on the web.

Final Cover Art For Titan's 'The Girl Machine'

CommanderBond.net can now bring you the final cover art that will adorn Titan’s latest James Bond comic strip collection, The Girl Machine.

This latest 007 collection will arrive in both the UK and US in July and can currently be pre-ordered online at a discounted price. Pre-order links follow at the end of this article.

The Girl Machine brings together the Beware Of Butterflies and The Nevsky Nude adventures in addition to the title story. All three were penned by Jim Lawrence and drawn by Yaroslav Horak and originally syndicated in 1973/74.

The legend continues! Stand by for more adventures with the world’s greatest and most famous secret agent, James Bond, as some of his most thrilling missions are collected for the first time ever in a deluxe collectors’ library edition! This bumper action-packed volume collects ultra rare Bond stories that have not been seen since their original syndication between 1973-74: The Girl Machine, Beware of Butterflies and The Nevsky Nude. Plus a brand new celebrity introduction and an exclusive selection of recently unearthed James Bond comic strip artwork that has never before seen print, this latest essential volume is not to be missed!

Keep watching the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for the most up-to-date illustrated James Bond coverage on the web.

Ian Fleming's James Bond Collection In Large Print

In the midst of the seemingly endless supply of literary James Bond releases last year, it appears that we overlooked a special collection of Ian Fleming titles.

Published by Ian Fleming Publications Limited and W. F. Howes Ltd in July 2008 was the James Bond 007 Complete Collection in Large Print.

These hardback editions of the books feature the same ‘Bond girl’ cover artwork that graced the May 2008 centenary hardbacks (which are now all out of print).

They also include the new author introductions that were first made available with the 2006 Penguin paperback reprints as well as promotional posters. Retail price per book is £17.95. For further information about ordering, click here.

Keep watching the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for the most up-to-date literary James Bond coverage on the web.

Collecting 007: John Gardner's James Bond In Large Print (4)

For collectors who specialize in the literary James Bond, there is a seemingly endless supply of different editions and printings available to search for. One such format is the Large Print editions. Meant to accommodate those who have poor vision, the typical large print edition of a book will have size 16 font or higher.

Numerous James Bond novels have been published in the Large Print format, including the Ian Fleming, John Gardner, Raymond Benson and Charlie Higson adventures. These editions of the novels are almost always printed in relatively limited quantities with the majority of them being stocked exclusively in libraries. Additionally, they often feature brand new jacket cover artwork that is not featured on any other printing of the book.

As a result of this, the Large Print editions of the Bond novels can be a bit more tricky to obtain for dedicated collectors.

Following up our Raymond Benson collecting guide, CommanderBond.net now continues with the James Bond novels written by author John Gardner from 1981 to 1996. Included are publication details, the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) identifiers, cover artwork and other related notes.

NOTE: Ordering links are provided for Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com, but do note that the overwhelming majority of these Large Print editions are out of print. However, one can often obtain a used copy via the Amazon Marketplace or at alternate used sites, such as eBay or AbeBooks.

All of the James Bond novels and novelizations written by John Gardner have been released in the Large Print format with the exception of 1989’s Licence To Kill.

Collecting 007
John Gardner’s James Bond In Large Print
PART 4

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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Never Send Flowers

Number of Large Print editions: 4

1 – UK Chivers Press/Windsor Hardback

Publication Date: April 1994

ISBN: 0-7451-7661-5

Dustjacket: Yes

Special Notes: The hardback edition of Never Send Flowers was published in the UK and US by Chivers Press/Windsor and Curley Publishing/Eagle, respectively. Both editions share the same cover artwork.

• Order the UK Large Print hardback edition of Never Send Flowers from Amazon.co.uk

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Never Send Flowers

Number of Large Print editions: 4

2 – UK Chivers Press/Paragon Paperback

Publication Date: November 1996

ISBN: 0-7451-3547-1

Dustjacket: No

Special Notes: The paperback edition of Never Send Flowers was published in the UK and US by Chivers Press/Paragon and Curley Publishing/Paragon, respectively. Both editions share the same cover artwork.

• Order the UK Large Print paperback edition of Never Send Flowers from Amazon.co.uk

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Never Send Flowers

Number of Large Print editions: 4

3 – US Curley Publishing/Eagle Hardback

Publication Date: April 1994

ISBN: 0-7927-1950-6

Dustjacket: Yes

Special Notes: The hardback edition of Never Send Flowers was published in the UK and US by Chivers Press/Windsor and Curley Publishing/Eagle, respectively. Both editions share the same cover artwork.

• Order the US Large Print hardback edition of Never Send Flowers from Amazon.com

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Never Send Flowers

Number of Large Print editions: 4

4 – US Curley Publishing/Paragon Paperback

Publication Date: November 1994

ISBN: 0-7927-1924-7

Dustjacket: No

Special Notes: The paperback edition of Never Send Flowers was published in the UK and US by Chivers Press/Paragon and Curley Publishing/Paragon, respectively. Both editions share the same cover artwork.

• Order the US Large Print paperback edition of Never Send Flowers from Amazon.com

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SeaFire

Number of Large Print editions: 3

1 – UK Chivers Press/Windsor Hardback

Publication Date: January 1996

ISBN: 0-7451-3197-2

Dustjacket: Yes

Special Notes: N/A

• Order the UK Large Print hardback edition of SeaFire from Amazon.co.uk

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SeaFire

Number of Large Print editions: 3

2 – UK Chivers Press Paperback

Publication Date: August 1996

ISBN: 0-7451-4722-4

Dustjacket: No

Special Notes: The paperback edition of SeaFire was published in the UK and US by Chivers Press and Thorndike Press, respectively. Both editions share the same cover artwork.

• Order the UK Large Print paperback edition of SeaFire from Amazon.co.uk

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SeaFire

Number of Large Print editions: 3

3 – US Thorndike Press Paperback

Publication Date: January 1996

ISBN: 0-7862-0411-7

Dustjacket: No

Special Notes: The paperback edition of SeaFire was published in the UK and US by Chivers Press and Thorndike Press, respectively. Both editions share the same cover artwork.

• Order the US Large Print paperback edition of SeaFire from Amazon.com

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GoldenEye

Number of Large Print editions: 1

1 – UK ISIS Hardback

Publication Date: December 1996

ISBN: 0-7531-5190-1

Dustjacket: No

Special Notes: In addition to the UK ISIS Large Print hardback edition, GoldenEye was simultaneously published in Australia by Bolinda Press/ALPAV with the same cover artwork (ISBN: 1-86340-656-5).

• Order the UK Large Print hardback edition of GoldenEye from Amazon.com

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COLD

Number of Large Print editions: 1

1 – UK ISIS/Compass Press Hardback

Publication Date: January 1997

ISBN: 0-7531-5189-8

Dustjacket: No

Special Notes: In addition to the UK ISIS/Compass Press Large Print hardback edition, COLD was simultaneously published in Australia by ALPAV with the same cover artwork (ISBN: 1-86340-657-3).

• Order the UK Large Print hardback edition of COLD from Amazon.com

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As always, keep turning to the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for the most complete and up-to-date news from the world of James Bond.

'James Bond: Omnibus Volume 1: The Graphic Novel Collection'

Late last year, CommanderBond.net first alerted readers that an all-new comic strip collection from Titan Books was on the way for late 2009.

Entitled James Bond: Omnibus Volume 1: The Graphic Novel Collection, we now have full details on what fans can expect from this latest 007 volume, which is due for release this September.

As suspected, this volume brings together numerous (11 of them, in fact) different comic strip adventures that have previously been featured in earlier James Bond collections from Titan. Limited to original Ian Fleming material, this volume will showcase the work of writers Henry Gammidge, Anthony Hern and Peter O’Donnell and artist John McLusky.

The full blurb follows:

The daring James Bond is back in a definitive bumper edition collecting Ian Fleming’s earliest literary adventures in comic strip form! For the first time, eleven of Bond’s most thrilling and dangerous missions appear in a single volume: “Casino Royale”, “Live and Let Die”, “Moonraker”, “Diamonds are Forever”, “From Russia With Love”, “Dr. No”, “Goldfinger”, “Risico”, “From a View to a Kill”, “For Your Eyes Only” and “Thunderball”!

With an exclusive introduction by Sir Roger Moore, this huge volume features beautiful women, thrilling action, incredible gadgets and the odd Vodka Martini, shaken not stirred…this ultimate collection of Bond’s best is not to be missed.

James Bond: Omnibus Volume 1: The Graphic Novel Collection will be released on 25 September in the UK and 8 September in the US. Pre-order links follow at the end of this article.

Cover artwork is forthcoming.

Collecting 007: Domino's Letter To Bond

When the fourth James Bond film, Thunderball, arrived in theatres in 1965, ‘Bondmania’ was truly at an all time high. Remaining today the most successful 007 film box-office wise, it is no surprise that companies were releasing an abundance of tie-in merchandise to capitalize on the film’s release.

One of these products was the film tie-in edition of Ian Fleming’s original novel by Pan. This special edition of the book (the 14th reset printing; Pan X201) featured a new cover with images from the film adaptation as well as one unique collector’s item: a personal letter from Domino to Bond.

Acting as a promotional piece for Players Cigarettes, the double-sided letter by Domino is based off of a conversation the two had over dinner on pages 152-155 in this particular edition of Thunderball, where she tells Bond of her one true love and the man of her dreams: the sailor on the front of the packet of Players.

This letter only came with this single printing of Thunderball by Pan. Unsurprisingly, many of the letters were lost or discarded throughout the decades that followed, making it a much sought after item for James Bond collectors.

As a side note, this item is referenced briefly in 2002’s Die Another Day: when Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Q (John Cleese) are discussing the Aston Martin Vanquish, a Players Cigarettes poster can be seen hanging on the wall behind the car.

The full text of the letter follows below:

Nassau
Friday

Darling,
I wondered at first whether I should write this letter, but I know you will understand. It hardly seems possible that we could be so far apart after what happened.
Carlo is kind. Of course I love him, and the children make up for everything.
But once in a while I remember… our first drive… our first supper together in the Casino. You ordered Champagne. And I told you about my hero – the sailor on the front of the packet of Players. (I believe you were jealous!)
This Christmas we’re coming to London. I know you’re terribly busy, but couldn’t you just find one spare evening when we could meet and talk and laugh about old times?
Do please say yes. And don’t let that horrible old ‘M’ give you any assignment over the holiday.

I think of you –
Ciao-
Domino

P.S. Came across this book in Nassau yesterday. You must read pages 152 – 155.

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for all the latest literary 007 coverage.