Wednesday, October 1, 2014

ANTHONY HOROWITZ TO WRITE NEW JAMES BOND NOVEL!

Ian Fleming Publications have just announced the next adult James Bond continuation novel will be written by Anthony Horowitz. Here's the full press release which just landed in my email:

ANTHONY HOROWITZ TO PEN NEW JAMES BOND NOVEL INSPIRED BY ORIGINAL UNSEEN FLEMING MATERIAL

Ian Fleming Publications Ltd., The Ian Fleming Estate, the Orion Publishing Group, and HarperCollins US and Canada are delighted to announce that international bestselling and award-winning writer Anthony Horowitz is at work on an official new James Bond novel. Currently dubbed Project One, the novel is due for worldwide release on 8th September 2015.

The new book by Horowitz – a lifelong fan of Ian Fleming – will be set in the 1950s and will be unique among the modern James Bond novels, in that a section will contain previously unseen material written by Fleming to which Horowitz has had exclusive access.

Jessie Grimond, great-niece of Ian Fleming, said: “In the 1950s Ian Fleming wrote several episode treatments for a James Bond television series. But it never came to be made and he ended up turning most of the plots into the short stories that are now in the collections For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy and The Living Daylights. However, there are a few plot outlines which he never used and which, till now, have never been published, or aired. Given that Anthony is as brilliant a screenwriter as he is a novelist, we thought it would be exciting to see what he would do with one of them.”

The treatment chosen by Horowitz, which will serve as a starting point for his novel, is entitled Murder on Wheels, and follows Bond on a mission into the world of motor racing. Familiar characters in the TV treatment include ‘M’ and Miss Moneypenny.

One of the country’s most prolific and successful writers, Horowitz has over 40 books to his name. His recent Sherlock Holmes novel, The House of Silk, sold in more than 35 countries, whilst his bestselling teen spy series, Alex Rider, has sold more than 19 million copies worldwide. As a TV screenwriter he created both Midsomer Murdersand the BAFTA-winning Foyle’s War.

Horowitz said: "It's no secret that Ian Fleming's extraordinary character has had a profound influence on my life, so when the estate approached me to write a new James Bond novel how could I possibly refuse? It's a huge challenge – more difficult even than Sherlock Holmes in some ways – but having original, unpublished material by Fleming has been an inspiration. This is a book I had to write."

Lucy Fleming, niece of Ian Fleming, said: “We are thrilled that Anthony has taken on the Bond mantle, and can’t wait to read his novel. Anthony is a brilliant writer, as his millions of fans around the world demonstrate. He has an exceptional skill for writing spy thrillers in particular, and it is this coupled with the original Fleming material and his knowledge of and enthusiasm for Bond, which makes for a really exciting proposition.”

Malcolm Edwards, Deputy CEO and Group Publisher, Orion Publishing Group, said: “James Bond and Anthony Horowitz is a match made in publishing heaven. Anthony is a writer of exceptional skill and I have no doubt he will deliver a book that will resonate and delight Bond fans around the globe. For our part, we will publish the book in a way that celebrates the legacy of literary Bond and mount a campaign that will make publication day one of the biggest publishing events of 2015.”

Jonathan Burnham, Senior Vice President and Publisher, HarperCollins US, said: “HarperCollins is thrilled to be publishing the new James Bond novel in the United States and Canada. Anthony Horowitz is an author of exceptional skill and range – his Sherlock Holmes novel, House of Silk, displayed his amazing ability to reanimate fictional characters to create a new and powerful narrative. The combination of this talent, his inventiveness and brilliance as a novelist, and his access to hitherto unpublished Fleming material, makes this a uniquely exciting event for all James Bond fans.”

The book will be published by Orion Publishing Group in the UK, and by HarperCollins in the United States. The book rights were sold in the English language by Jonny Geller of Curtis Brown, on behalf of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd and The Ian Fleming Estate. International rights will be offered at the forthcoming Frankfurt Book Fair on October 6.

Further announcements about the project will follow in 2015.

I thought Horowitz's recent official Sherlock Holmes novel, The House of Silk, was brilliant, so I'm very excited about this choice. And James Bond in the world of auto racing... Yes please!

9 comments:

  1. I wonder if this will be set before Casino Royale? As CR does to lead to LALD

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  2. Oh, now this sounds very promising indeed. I'd like to think that when a writer has a respect and reverence for the character, the result will be worthwhile. Could be a case of "fourth time's a charm". Faulks, Deaver and Boyd rated average in my book, so here's hoping that Horowitz nails it and gives this Bond fan the book he's been waiting for.
    Very exciting news, thanks for the heads-up!

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  3. I'm a big fan of Horowitz, Foyle's War and Alex Rider, so I think he's an excellent (and overdue) choice! I'm shocked it's taken them this long to mine the last of Fleming's outlines and notes. That part's very exciting too! I am really surprised that we're getting two period Bond novels in a row though. I thought IFP's plan seemed to be alternating period and contemporary ones. But I prefer period (and Horowitz is great at period), so I'm thrilled!

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    1. this is different set in the 50s which is also the time where the event of the novel CR LALD took place so this is different. Only question is it before or after CR and LALD and before MR or after? All the other period novel are set in the 60s after Ian Fleming but this could be between Ian Fleming novels

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  4. Brilliant choice. Alex Rider were the true spirit of Young Bond and he'll do a tremendous job.

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  5. Horowitz: about time
    50s set: avoids any heavy, post YOLT "trauma". Great news.
    Murder on Wheels: silly title and plot straight from the Saint or Persuaders. Would have been better without the naff Fleming marketing tag. Let H. write his own?
    Stirling Moss was Lewis Hamilton; no, he wasn't. Thank goodness

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  6. All of the continuation authors have said that they're fans of Fleming and Bond in some way so Horowitz's comments in this area don't really resonate with me. However, a number of literary Bond fans have been keen on AH for the job and seem to think that this time IFP have made the right choice so I feel fairly confident. I don't want to get my hopes up too much though due to the last three lackluster efforts. It's good to be positive but disappointment is a horrible feeling. I'll keep my fingers crossed though. :)

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  7. G'day my name is Roy and when I was 10 years old I used to deliver milk to Sean Connery's mum and dad. Sean, when he was 9 years old, used to work for the same milk company. Like many others I have grown up with Bond. Skyfall, was not a Bond movie. I was so disappointed. Waiting three years instead of two, to see the next Bond movie. I was so ticked, that I went home and wrote Bonds first assignment, set in the mid 50's and called it, Balaclava. With Kris Marshall as Q, Honeysuckle Week's as Sam Wainwright, nicknamed; Moneypenny, Tom Chambers as 007 and Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen) as 'M'. The only person I could trust with my story was Anthony Horowitz, so I sent it to him. So very, very glad to have just read that the next Bond novel is to have a British writer (and hopefully the same screenwriter and his wife Jill producing it) and that, that writer has heaps of runs on the board. Being an avid watcher of Foyle and Barnaby and the same person writing the next Bond assignment, I will not be disappointed. Thank you, Ian Fleming Publications, I know you have made the right choice asking; Horowitz, Anthony Horowitz.

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  8. Uncross your fingers, 3rd of October, because "James Bond will return in Anthony Horowitz, Project One" (or whatever the title will be) Roy

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