Sunday, July 30, 2017

Tabloid claims BOND 25 based on NEVER DREAM OF DYING

UK tabloid the Mirror has a splashy report that the next James Bond film will be based on Raymond Benson's 2001 continuation novel Never Dream of Dying.

James Bond will travel to Croatia in the 25th instalment of the 007 franchise. The film has the working title Shatterhand and the plot sees Daniel Craig’s spy battle a blind supervillain.
It is based on the 1999 [sic] thriller Never Dream Of Dying by US author Raymond Benson, who also wrote Bond books Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day and The World is Not Enough
The novel opens with a police raid on a French movie studio that goes badly wrong, while an actress with a sordid past leads Bond to his final target.

Before you get too excited, remember that in July 2013 the Sun reported that Bond 24 would be based on Sebastian Faulks 2008 continuation novel Devil May Care. That movie became SPECTRE. So I wouldn't go "Banco" on this news.

About the only thing I could see coming to pass is the use of the title Shatterhand. This, of course, is Blofeld's cover name in Ian Fleming's You Only Live Twice. If Daniel Craig returns (which has not yet been officially confirmed), I could see a continuation of the SPECTRE storyline in which Bond has his final battle with Blofeld a.k.a. Shatterhand in Japan. And it's a great title.

But what about the use continuation novels, Benson or otherwise? While elements from the continuation novels have appeared several times [read: Déjá vu, Mr. Bond], SPECTRE was the first Bond film to finally credit use of a continuation novel element, namely the torture scene from Colonel Sun. So it looks like continuation novels are now in the mix. And Never Dream of Dying, which finds Bond in the world of the movie business, is a terrific book.

Never Dream of Dying U.S. and UK first editions.

At the moment, the only official news about the next James Bond film is that it will be written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade and will be released in the U.S. on November 8, 2019.

UPDATE: Raymond Benson has posted the following to his Facebook:

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Did the new Bond TITLE arrive last night?

No one teases Bond fans better than Anthony Horowitz. Even though he has yet to even start writing his next James Bond book, hearing stuff like this is the best:


Anthony Horowitz's "James Bond book 2" will be released by Jonathan Cape in the UK in 2018. You can read the press release HERE.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

James Bond KILL CHAIN #1 released

Dynamite's newest James Bond 007 story arc Kill Chain has kicked off with issue #1. The story is by the Hammerhead team of Andy Diggle with artwork by Luca Casalanguida.  The issue comes in six variant covers. The image here is Cover C by Luca Casalanguida.

When a counterespionage operation in Rotterdam goes catastrophically wrong, James Bond finds himself in the crosshairs of a plot to smash NATO. Someone is assassinating allied agents, and 007 is the next target in the kill chain. Having kept the peace for decades, the old alliance is collapsing, pitting MI6 against its former ally - the CIA! Dynamite Entertainment proudly presents the return of writer Andy Diggle and artist Luca Casalanguida as they plot the return of James Bond's oldest and deadliest foe: SMERSH!

You can purchase Kill Chain #1 at Amazon.com or Midtown Comics. Issue #2 is set for release on August 16, 2017.

Monday, July 10, 2017

The first JAMES BOND novelization turns 40

It was 40 years ago that the great James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me was released to theaters. Along with the film came the very first James Bond novelization. James Bond, the Spy Who Loved Me (so titled to differentiate it from the Fleming novel) was penned by screenwriter Christopher Wood and is generally considered as the best of all the Bond novelizations. Some even compare it favorably to Fleming!

In the UK, James Bond , the Spy Who Loved Me was released in hardcover by the original Bond publisher Jonathan Cape, which make it seem all the more like a "legit" Bond novel.

UK hardcover.

The novelization also saw release in paperback in the U.S. and UK with covers more in line with what one expects from a movie novelization.

U.S. paperback

UK paperback

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