‘Comingsoon’ have reported that a new James Bond Documentary will be making it’s way to our screens on October 5th. Everything Or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007, focuses on Albert R Broccoli, Harry Saltzman and Ian Fleming, and is described as a ‘ thrilling and inspiring narrative behind the longest running film franchise in cinema history’. Click here to read the full story.
News about fresh James Bond reprints seem to come in by the hour these days. Right now it’s about the next consignment of Orion Books’ brand new John Gardner paperback reprints. According to The Book Bond the novels ‘Scorpius’, ‘Win, Lose or Die’, ‘Licence to Kill’, ‘The Man from Barbarossa’ and ‘Death is Forever’ are now shipping to readers and bookstores. Orion’s final four Bond paperbacks by John Gardner are due out in November 2012, by which time all the Gardner-Bonds will be available in print again.
Together with the recent omnibus reprints of Raymond Benson’s James Bond continuations, and the fresh print run – with new cover design – of Charlie Higson’s Young Bond series all official continuations (not counting film tie-ins here) centring on the character ‘James Bond’ will be available for 007’s 60th anniversary in 2013. Plus one new entry by William Boyd.
When ever was there more material to get about literature’s most celebrated secret agent?
Never.
As always thanks to John Cox and The Book Bond for the tip.
John Cox’s The Book Bond – the go-to place for news and curio about the printed Bond – just alerts us Vintage’s new series of Ian Fleming reprints has its first seven books listed as ‘in stock’ at Amazon.co.uk now. Pre-ordered copies should already be shipping, express delivery is listed as optional, so buyers can expect their copies soonish. Book-stores will likely display them within days.
You can read The Book Bond’s original report here and discuss Vintage’s two different print runs in this thread of the CommanderBond.net forums.
Thanks to John Cox for the heads up.
In a brilliant move reminiscent of a SPECTRE scheme Mark O’Connell, author of ‘Catching Bullets – Memoirs of a Bond Fan’, managed to secure his book not just one but two high profile names to add a foreword and an afterword to his tome. Mark Gatiss of ‘Sherlock’ fame – and himself not exactly a newbie to the deadly secret agent genre with his own Lucifer Box – penned a fitting preface to the witty memoirs. And Maud Adams, the one actress to return into James Bond’s arms in a significant role in two different Eon productions, closes the tale with an afterword.
You can discuss the book and related news in this thread
Thanks to Mark O’Connell for the alert.
This is Splendid Books’s own press release announcing the event:
Sherlock star Mark Gatiss writes foreword for Catching Bullets: Memoirs of a Bond Fan
Writer and actor Mark Gatiss, star of the BBC drama Sherlock, has penned the foreword to Splendid Books’ forthcoming title Catching Bullets: Memoirs of a Bond Fan.
“We are absolutely delighted that Mark Gatiss, who is a huge Bond fan, has written a superbly witty and incisive foreword,” says Shoba Vazirani, Editorial Director at Splendid Books.
“Author Mark O’Connell has penned a very funny, interesting and poignant book in Catching Bullets: Memoirs of a Bond Fan and Mark Gatiss’ foreword complements it perfectly.”
In addition former Bond girl Maud Adams, who starred with Roger Moore in the 007 film Octopussy has contributed an afterword to the book. “To have Mark Gatiss and Maud Adams flanking the shoulders of Catching Bullets: Memoirs of a Bond Fan is a true honour,” says Mark O’Connell. continue reading…
Do fans of Fleming’s Bond dream of new material by the master? A lot of them do indeed. And for German fans amongst them the dream does come true this autumn, a full 59 years after ‘Casino Royale’ was first published.
Cross Cult, renown German publisher specialised in quality comics and 
graphic novels (WHITEOUT, FROM HELL, THE WALKING DEAD) as well as genre fiction ( STAR TREK, CASTLE and TORCHWOOD novels, amongst others) picks up the Fleming originals. This is the first time the entire run of 14 James Bond books by Ian Fleming gets a complete and consistent edition in Germany, and with Michael Gillette’s unique cover artwork, if you please. It marks also the very first time German readers get a complete, unaltered and unabridged translation of all original 007 novels and short stories .
Previous German translations date back to the first editions of the early 
1960s. Due to post-war sensibilities and a generally less liberal atmosphere the books then were heavily edited and omitted all chapter titles, many descriptive passages, brand names and at times even whole chapters. The result were distorted and chopped affairs, missing out a lot of the atmosphere the originals were so rich with. It’s a testament to Fleming’s talent his works in their German translation sold well for decades, in spite of the desecration they had to suffer. continue reading…
Since yesterday YouTube offers first samples of the James Bond audiobooks that are going to be released come September by AudioGo. Here is a snippet of ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’ read by Kenneth Branagh. If you follow this link you will find samples of all the audiobooks. One particular treat for fans may be ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ read by Rosamund Pike.
Thanks to Martin Eccles for the alert.
Today John Cox’s website The Book Bond, dedicated to the latest news in James Bond’s literary world, revealed an interesting development. Vintage Books, the current holder of a ten year licence to publish Ian Fleming’s Bond novels, intends to publish the fourteen books with two entirely different cover artworks, the classic series (see their covers here), and what Vintage call their contemporary James Bond series. The first seven of these can be seen at The Book Bond’s story here.
While the classic series adopts a distinctively minimalistic, yet ingenious approach – minus the author’s name! – the contemporary series features a much more conventional photographic artwork that nonetheless wasn’t seen in this manner on Bond covers before. The theme is a man’s silhouette alone in the middle distance, put into the various settings of the respective novels, all done in b/w, with the title in gold. The most intriguing detail is the claim ‘There is only one Bond’ on each cover.
You can discuss this news here
Read the Book Bond story here
Thanks to John Cox for the alert.
SpyVibe’s ‘For Your Shelf Only’ series of collector interviews continues.
In its second instalment Jason Whiton talks to a member of a most exclusive club: Bond continuation author Raymond Benson. He reveals some details about his own experiences with collecting Bond memorabilia, and he talks about another interesting field of Bond-related collecting.
Read the story here
Thanks for the heads-up to Jason!
Ian Fleming Publications has announced the release of 12 James Bond Audio Books to be released later this year. Individually read by some of the best British talent, the project 3 years in the making, aims to create an exciting, modern take on these classic stories.
According to today’s News Tank story future Bond continuation author William Boyd went on the record with some very serious – and for lit-Bond fans most encouraging! – comments. Boyd’s Bond will be middle-aged at 45 and moreoriented at the original character, with a less exotic love interest and an emphasis on credibility, depicting Bond as a human being, a troubled and nuanced character. Boyd expressed a preference for the literary version of 007 and assures his book won’t feature the staple diet of the cinema Bond.
Thanks to Zencat and his blog The Book Bond for turning up this information!
Read his story here
Discuss this news here