Penguin, Doubleday Drum Up 'Devil May Care' Hype

James Bond fans anticipating Sebastian Faulks’ Devil May Care are approaching the home stretch, with publication of the book just weeks away. However, the hype has only just begun, reports The Wall Street Journal.

According to the article, the upcoming 007 novel will feature an initial UK print run of 100,000, while the U.S. print run will number 250,000. Both releases will be accompanied by lavish marketing campaigns.

In the UK, Devil May Care will be pushed by the largest marketing budget of any fictional Penguin title this year. This includes a swanky James Bond-themed party at London’s Fifty casino the night before the novel’s publication.

In addition, the July issue of Vanity Fair will contain extracts from the novel.

Bob Wietrak, vice president of merchandising at Barnes & Noble said, “We’re buying [Devil May Care] as a definite best seller. The downturn in the economy has prompted a demand for escapist fare.”

Stephen Rubin, president of Bertelsmann AG’s Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group admitted he hopes the success of Daniel Craig’s debut 007 movie, Casino Royale will push sales. “The whole thing was moribund. The Robert Ludlum franchise is completely re-energized because of what Matt Damon did in the Bourne movies. We think this is a greater opportunity.”

Devil May Care will be the first novel published under Penguin’s brand new Penguin 007 imprint and is the centrepiece of 2008’s Ian Fleming Centenary celebrations.

Most intriguingly, sources for the paper claim the book’s story revolves around the heroin trade and will feature a female character named Poppy. Both Penguin and Doubleday declined comment.

If true, these are the first clues to emerge about the book’s plot.

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for full coverage of Sebastian Faulks’ Devil May Care.

Bentley Chief Designer Discusses Limited Edition 'Devil May Care'

Yesterday, CommanderBond.net brought you the first details and images of the unique Special Series edition of Sebastian Faulks’ eagerly awaited James Bond novel, Devil May Care.

Limited to 300 copies worldwide, this luxury limited edition is inspired by the original 007 hardcovers of the 1950s and 1960s combined with the Bentley owner’s manuals of the era. The book will retail for £750 and will be available exclusively through Penguin007.com.

Today, we bring you a brand new Q&A with Bentley’s Chief Designer, Dirk van Braeckel, as he discusses how Penguin and Bentley developed this one of a kind collector’s item.

What was the design philosophy for the cover?

The design captures traditional craftsmanship qualities and techniques and reveals design cues we are passionate about, while also paying homage to the first edition Ian Fleming books. It was important that the design was complimentary to both Bentley and Bond and the history behind both brands meant that the book should be something to be admired and cherished forever.

How did you capture the spirit of Bond and the spirit of Bentley

Marrying Bond and Bentley had to derive from themes that linked both entities: passion, adventure and appreciation for the finer things in life. This helped shape the book into an item which would please people through an element of surprise but could also be admired as something which is unique and unobtainable to everyone.

How does the use of materials reflect materials in Bentley cars?

The choice of materials had to demonstrate the high quality and finishing evident in our cars. It was an opportunity to reflect on historical themes, for example the fluting on the inside book cover, along with the diamond stitching we use on the sport theme seat covers today. The juxtaposition of metal and leather is a theme we work with everyday, and is naturally explored in the design.

How did the idea for the pewter model Continental car come about?

Kate Whatmore, one of our young designers, is very proud of this feature. She wanted the book to have a feel of sophistication and history but to make it “Bond” it had to have something that was a bit unexpected. The element of surprise created from opening the book to find the car within allowed us to carry the Bond-Bentley theme throughout. The model car is handmade and numbered to the book, which makes it a complete entity especially as the model is the car featured in the book.

How closely did you work with Penguin?

Working with Penguin was a unique experience. We learned a lot from designing around an unfamiliar product and certainly learned a lot technically about Bentley craftsmanship in relation to a product other than a car. The people we met and worked with from Penguin were very supportive and enthusiastic about the prospect of the book, Bentley and Kate’s ideas for the design. It was a very positive experience.

What challenges did you face in both design and production?

In all areas of design there are problems that challenge you as a designer to produce the best solution you can. The feasibility of a design idea is always the greater challenge to achieve the best aesthetics and quality. Transferring our design knowledge from the car world to a book was a new challenge for us, but working closely with Penguin, we think we have come up with a unique product which is complementary to the history of Bentley and Bond that can be appreciated by all audiences.

Bentley Special Edition

The Special Series edition of Devil May Care will be published alongside the regular edition on 28 May, 2008.

Stay tuned to CommanderBond.net for all the latest Devil May Care news in the weeks leading up to its publication.

Bond And Bentley Join Forces For Limited Edition 'Devil May Care'

Penguin Books and Bentley Motors today announced they will join forces to produce a luxury, limited edition of Sebastian Faulks’ highly-anticipated James Bond novel, Devil May Care.

The Special Series edition, said to be inspired by the original 007 hardcovers of the 1950s and 1960s combined with the Bentley owner’s manuals of the era, will be published on 28 May. Retailing for £750, the book will be limited to 300 copies worldwide and available exclusively through Penguin007.com.

The full press release follows.

Bentley Motors designs limited collector’s edition of the new Bond book, Devil May Care

In a unique collaboration between three of Britain’s iconic brands—James Bond, Bentley Motors and Penguin Books—a special, limited edition of the new Bond book Devil May Care will be published on 28th May. Written by Sebastian Faulks at the invitation of Ian Fleming Publications to celebrate the Ian Fleming centenary, Devil May Care is one of the most eagerly anticipated publications of 2008.

Cars and James Bond have always had a strong association and, contrary to popular belief, Bond’s preference has historically been firmly with Bentley Motors. He owned three Bentleys in the course of the fourteen original novels written by Ian Fleming. It is fitting therefore that in Devil May Care—published to coincide with the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth—Bond is found once again in the driving seat of his favourite car.

To mark the reunion, Penguin approached Bentley to produce a luxury, limited edition of Devil May Care. The result is a beautiful and striking edition which takes its inspiration from hard-covers of the original 1950s and 1960s Bond books combined with the stylish Bentley owner’s manuals and handbooks of the era. Inside the book is a specially designed model pewter Bentley, described in detail by Fleming in Thunderball.

Bentley Chief Designer Dirk van Braeckel says, “Transferring our design knowledge from the car world to a book was a new challenge for us, but working closely with Penguin, we think we have come up with a unique product which is complementary to the history of Bentley and Bond that can be appreciated by all.”

Only 300 copies of the Special Series edition will be produced, costing £750 each, available exclusively from the Penguin James Bond books website (penguin007.com).

The design

Devil May Care – Special Series Edition

Evoking the feeling of the Cold War period in which Devil May Care is set, the edition is bound in Bodoniana style cases and finished in burnt oak leather sourced from the tannery in Italy which provides the hides for Bentley’s interiors. The iconic Bentley diamond pattern found on the radiator grille and upholstery of modern Bentley’s, is hand-stitched on the leather casing and the front cover and spine is finished with the silver Bentley ‘Flying B’—the radiator cap of the Bentley’s of Bond’s time.

The inside of the casing is trimmed in deep red hotspur leather and has the striking fluting used on the 1950s and 1960s Bentley interior upholstery. Each book has a unique edition number embossed on a black aluminium plate produced the same company that makes the Bentley engine plates.

Fleming described in detail a modified Bentley R type in Thunderball and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service which Bond loving called ‘the Locomotive’. The car never existed but, using Fleming’s exact specifications, a cast and polished 1:43 scale model of the car has been hand crafted by Bentley for this edition. The miniature is inserted into the book in a car-shaped hole and is individually numbered to match the plate on the inside cover. Each book is protected by a custom-made Plexiglass slip case, which will be sealed in protective and numbered wrapping.

Devil May Care is the centrepiece of Ian Fleming Publications’ celebrations to mark the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth.

Stay tuned to CommanderBond.net for a Q&A with Bentley’s Chief Designer, Dirk van Braeckel.

Sebastian Faulks' Forty Most Influential Books

CommanderBond.net previously reported that Sebastian Faulks would host Watersone’s first Writer’s Table where he would compile a top 40 book list that inspired him as an author. The list has finally been published in select Waterstone’s stores and their website, and includes a number of names associated with James Bond.

Coming in at #9 on the list is surprisingly Moonraker by Ian Fleming. In Faulk’s review, he praises it for its uniqueness. “Early Bond. He doesn’t sleep with the girl and the big dénouement is in Kent… It breaks all the rules and it really only has three scenes. But what good scenes they are.”

Topping the list at #1 is Colonel Sun author Kingsley Amis with Jake’s Thing (1978) followed by his son, Martin Amis at #2 with his 1978 novel Success. Additionally, George MacDonald Fraser’s World War II memoir also made the list. Fraser is best known to Bond fans for being a screenwriter on Octopussy.

The full list:

1. Jake’s Thing by Kingsley Amis
2. Success by Martin Amis
3. Tim All Alone by Edward Ardizzone
4. The Garden Of The Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani
5. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
6. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
7. The Waste Land by TS Eliot
8. The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
9. Moonraker by Ian Fleming
10. The Magus by John Fowles
11. Quartered Safe Out Here by George MacDonald Fraser
12. Towards The End Of The Morning by Michael Frayn
13. Loving. Living. Party Going by Henry Green
14. The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary
15. The Line Of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
16. The Price Of Glory by Alistair Horne
17. An Evil Cradling by Brian Keenan
18. The Lake by Yasunari Kawabata
19. The Unbearable Lightness Of Being by Milan Kundera
20. 20. The Whitsun Weddings by Philip Larkin
21. The Rainbow by DH Lawrence
22. The Adventures Of Dr Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
23. The Scent Of Dried Roses by Tim Lott
24. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
25. The House Of Elrig by Gavin Maxwell
26. The First Day On The Somme by Martin Middlebrook
27. Birds Of America by Lorrie Moore
28. The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch
29. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
30. The World Is Not Enough by Zoe Oldenbourg
31. Sabbath’s Theater by Philip Roth
32. The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger
33. One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
34. The Red And The Black by Stendhal
35. A Cruel Madness by Colin Thubron
36. War And Peace by Leo Tolstoy
37. A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler
38. A Fringe Of Leaves by Patrick White
39. Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth & Samuel Taylor Coleridge
40. Germinal by Emile Zola

For reviews of each book and why they were selected for this list, see Waterstone’s website

Faulks’ James Bond novel, Devil May Care, will be published worldwide on 28 May 2008.

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for all the latest literary James Bond news.

EXCLUSIVE: 'Devil May Care' Poster Revealed

CommanderBond.net is proud to bring you an exclusive look at Penguin’s promotional poster for Sebastian Faulks’ highly-anticipated James Bond novel, Devil May Care.

The poster features the now-familiar artwork of model Tuuli Shipster as the stem to a blood red flower. This, coupled with the strikingly simple tagline, “Bond is back”, is sure to set Bond fans’ tongues wagging in anticipation of the novel’s impending 28 May release date.

Penguin have also unveiled the promotional poster for the paperback edition of Charlie Higson’s fourth Young Bond novel, Hurricane Gold, which can be viewed exclusively at The Young Bond Dossier.

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for the most up-to-date James Bond news on the web.

'Devil May Care' UK Audiobook Cover Revealed

The cover artwork for the UK audiobook of Sebastian Faulks’ upcoming James Bond novel, Devil May Care, has been revealed on Amazon.co.uk.

Due out on 28 May, the same day that the hardback hits shelves, this audiobook edition will be read by British actor Jeremy Northam–a name that often came up on message boards as a possible 007 #6 contender a few years ago.

Fans will also want to remember that it is this edition of Devil May Care that will feature the brand new theme song by Cardiff band SAL.

The group won the contest held earlier this year to determine who would provide the official theme song to Faulks’ debut Bond adventure.

Alex Clarke, Penguin Editor of Devil May Care said at the time: ‘We were incredibly excited to see which track the public would vote for. They voted for SAL and we couldn’t be happier. SAL’s “Devil May Care” oozes the excitement and glamour of Bond and is a fitting theme tune to the book. A well deserved win – I can’t wait to hear it on the audio book in May.’

In related news, the US audiobook edition of Devil May Care will be read by British voice over artist Tristan Layton.

CommanderBond.net will keep you updated with all the latest news and details on Devil May Care. To keep track of all the upcoming 007 releases, events, television shows, and more–just keep your eyes on the CBn Calendar, located on the right panel of our main page.

Sebastian Faulks' Official Website Opens

The official website for Devil May Care author Sebastian Faulks has been launched at www.sebastianfaulks.com.

The new site includes a biography of the author as well as a detailed look at his past novels and stories (with extracts featured for all of them).

The News & Appearances section will keep fans up-to-date with all the upcoming events Faulks will be attending–and there are quite a few of them lined up for 2008 so far.

There is also a section dedicated solely to James Bond’s return in Devil May Care, something a quote from The Observer signifies as ‘the biggest literary thrill of 2008.’

In related news, CommanderBond.net reported a few days ago that Faulks and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had sat down for a discussion regarding the writers that had most affected their lives at the London Book Fair.

Faulks himself has written an article about the meeting in The Observer‘s ‘My week’ column. Check it out online.

Devil May Care, due for worldwide release on 28 May, is set in 1967 when ‘Bond is damaged, aging and in a sense it is the return of the gunfighter for one last heroic mission.’

CBn will keep you updated with all the latest news and details on Devil May Care. To keep track of all the upcoming 007 releases, events, television shows, and more–just keep your eyes on the CBn Calendar, located on the right panel of our main page.

Sebastian Faulks To Host Waterstone's Writer's Table

Sebastian Faulks will host Watersone’s first Writer’s Table during which he will compile a list of 40 books that influenced him as a writer according to theBookseller. The list will include children’s books, poetry, non-fiction, and modern bestsellers.

“Quite a few of the books I would have liked on my table are, alas, out of print; but I hope that everyone will find something worthwhile to read or re-read in this list of forty. There are no duds here, only winners.”

Selected books will be highlighted on Waterstone’s website and store beginning on 1 May. Faulks will also write about why he selected each book in the list.

Faulks’ James Bond novel, Devil May Care, will be published worldwide on 28 May 2008.

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for all the latest literary James Bond news.

Gordon Brown Talks With Sebastian Faulks

The 10 Downing Street website hosts a unique tête-à-tête with British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and James Bond novelist, Sebastian Faulks, filmed at the London Book Fair yesterday.

The Independent carries a report on the unscheduled meet, in which the duo discussed the writers that had most affected their lives.

The Prime Minister admitted to being a fan of 007, having read “most of the James Bond novels a long time ago”. He also expressed his admiration for another 007 author: Kingsley Amis. However, Mr Brown prefers Amis’ pre-Colonel Sun work, admitting he favoured the writer’s output around the time of his 1954 novel, Lucky Jim, “before he got to his ‘more means worse’ phase, his elitist phase: Kingsley Amis the radical.”

Check out the whole interview on the 10 Downing Street website.

Faulks’ James Bond novel, Devil May Care, will be published worldwide on 28 May 2008.

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for all the latest literary James Bond news.

SAL Wins 'Devil May Care' Theme Song Contest

Cardiff band SAL will provide the official theme song to Sebastian Faulks’ upcoming James Bond novel, Devil May Care, Penguin and MySpace announced today.

The contest, held on the official Devil May Care MySpace page, drew over 500 entrants, each hoping to provide the first ever theme song to a 007 novel.

SAL’s track can be heard on the MySpace page. Additionally, it will feature on the Devil May Care audiobook. The song will also be available for free digital download via penguin.co.uk and iTunes.

The full press release follows.

Penguin and MySpace announce winner of James Bond soundtrack competition
Cardiff band SAL voted in by the MySpace community

London – 17th March 2008: Cardiff-based band, SAL have today received the exciting news that their track will be given pride of place on the audio book for Devil May Care, the eagerly awaited new James Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks. SAL’s track will be exposed to a potential audience of millions, securing them a place in 007’s history.

More than 500 musicians submitted original work through the book’s MySpace profile (http://uk.myspace.com/devilmaycarebook) in the hope their track would be chosen as the official theme tune to Devil May Care. The book is due to be published on 28th May 2008 to mark the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth.

After careful deliberation by a panel of expert judges, SAL’s track was selected for the shortlist alongside four other artists and then put to a public vote. Within the MySpace community SAL emerged as a clear winner after the tracks were put to a public vote within the MySpace community.

SAL is a four-piece punk/rock outfit who are made up of Catrin Wyn Southall, Lee Lavis, Chris Saunders and Denley Calais Slade. SAL’s debut album ‘Dysfunctional’ was produced by Greg Haver of Manic Street Preachers and Catatonia fame and released in 2005. SAL are currently working on their second album and regularly perform at gigs across the UK.

The high-profile judging panel which chose SAL’s track for the shortlist included the book’s author Sebastian Faulks and respected figures from the world of literature and music, including cult music producer Jazzie B and Matthew Fleming, great nephew of original Bond author Ian Fleming. Dom Cook, Head of Music for MySpace UK and Alex Clarke, editor of Devil May Care were also judges.

Dom Cook, Head of Music for MySpace UK, comments: “A big congratulations to SAL! The result of this competition really demonstrates the creativity and talent which can be found within the MySpace community, as well as the importance of fans being able to engage with, and support artists in this way.”

Alex Clarke, Penguin Editor of Devil May Care commented, “We were incredibly excited to see which track the public would vote for. They voted for SAL and we couldn’t be happier. SAL’s ‘Devil May Care’ oozes the excitement and glamour of Bond and is a fitting theme tune to the book. A well deserved win – I can’t wait to hear it on the audio book in May.”

Cat Wyn Southall, frontwoman of SAL, says: “It feels great to know that there’s so many people out there who liked our song enough to vote for us. We feel very proud to have a SAL song as the theme for Devil May Care!”

SAL’s track, Devil May Care, is the first theme tune to accompany a James Bond book and will be featured on the Devil May Care audiobook, published 28 May 2008. It will later be made available as a free digital download via Penguin (penguin.co.uk) and iTunes.

MySpace users can listen to the winning track by visiting: http://uk.myspace.com/devilmaycarebook

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for all the latest news on the upcoming James Bond novel, Devil May Care.