Saturday, April 28, 2007

Young Bond Series II - The Fettes Years?


Here’s a little Saturday speculation for you. We all know the Young Bond series is planned for five books, ending in James’ expulsion from Eton in the summer of 1934. Now with Book 4, Hurricane Gold, coming out this year, it looks like the series may be concluding sooner than we thought.

So what’s next? Will Ian Fleming Publications really walk away from Young Bond and focus exclusively on adult Bond novels? Or can the Young Bond brand continue? And if so, what would a Young Bond Series II look like?

Charlie based his Young Bond series on the information contained within 007’s official obituary in Ian Fleming’s You Only Live Twice. Returning to the source, we see the obit actually contains far more information on his following years at Edinburgh's Fettes College (his father’s school) than about his brief stay at Eton:

It must be admitted that his career at Eton was brief and undistinguished and, after only two halves, as a result, it pains me to record, of some alleged trouble with one of the boys' maids, his aunt was requested to remove him. She managed to obtain his transfer to Fettes, his father’s old school. Here the atmosphere was somewhat Calvinistic, and both academic and athletic standards were rigorous. Nevertheless, though inclined to be solitary by nature, he established some firm friendships among the traditionally famous athletic circles, at the school. By the time he left, at the early age of seventeen, he had twice fought for the school as a light-weight and had, in addition, founded the first serious judo class at a British public school.

- Ian Fleming You Only Live Twice, Chapter 21, Obit

If Charlie Higson can conjure five 300+ page novels from “brief and undistinguished,” imagine what he (or another author) could do with famous athletic circles, light-weight boxing, and judo! Also, we know what happened to Bond in Paris at the age of 16 (if you don’t, read the Fleming short story From A View To A Kill).

I think a Young Bond Series II - The Fettes Years is a very real possibility and one that holds great potential -- just as I think a World War II set “Commander Bond” series would be a winner. But I’ll save that for another Saturday.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Young Bond 4 is HURRICANE GOLD


Press Release
Puffin and Ian Fleming Publications announce that Hurricane Gold is the title of the new book in Charlie Higson’s bestselling Young Bond series, to be published on 6th September 2007.

For the first time in the history of the series, Hurricane Gold will be published in hardback, priced £12.99. The eagerly awaited next installment will be a special treat for Young Bond fans. In keeping with the theme of the title, it will have a gold cover with luxury debossed lettering and gilt-edged pages.

Hurricane Gold, the fourth adventure in a planned series of five, is set in Mexico and on an island off the Mexican coast. A safe haven for criminals, the only way off the island is through the deadly Avenida de la Muerte. It is on this island that James finds himself trapped, among some of the world’s most evil criminals.

The Young Bond books have to date sold over half a million copies combined. The series was launched with SilverFin in March 2005 and was followed by Blood Fever in January 2006 and Double or Die, published in January this year.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

BOOK BOND REVIEW: Young Bond gets smart in DOUBLE OR DIE

Minor Spoilers

Charlie Higson’s third Young Bond novel, Double or Dieis the center pivot on which the Young Bond series turns. Double or Die both pulls from past books and points to the future. In Double or Die we get a clear sense that the Young Bond series is one large story – how James became BOND. Whereas SilverFin infused Bond with a fearless instinct and Blood Fever developed his brawn, Double or Die works his brain (and ours).

This time out, Higson builds a Young Bond novel on a metaphor. Double or Die is an adventure of the mind – the skull. This is clear from the Flemingesque prologue in which an Eton professor muses on the mind as a “hungry machine” (this might have been a good title). Higson plays this motif throughout. References to the mind and skulls abound. The henchman has an oversized skull-like head; Bond examines pickled brains at the Royal College of Surgeons; and the object at the end of Bond’s quest also perfectly ties into this theme (but I will not spoil it).

Brainpower also drives the narrative. Bond and his band of friends must decrypt puzzles and crossword clues contained within a mysterious cipher. Bond discovers he has a talent for calculating gambling odds under pressure (gambling -- a ferociously mental activity when done right -- gets terrific play in this novel). Likewise, Bond’s greatest physical struggle in this novel is also a mental one, as he must keep his mind from caving into the effects of severe alcohol posing, a literally gut wrenching sequence that makes one wonder how 007 ever developed a taste for martinis.

Where Blood Fever was bright and expansive, Double or Die is dark and contained, even claustrophobic (just as you would except the inside of a head to be). While this may make it a lesser Bondian adventure for some, the smaller canvas allows Higson to work in greater texture and detail, making Double or Die the most vivid and visual of all the Young Bond novels to date. Higson’s screenwriting skills are in full bloom here. Bond’s discovery of a dead professor in Cambridge is a powerfully cinematic moment, as is his car chase and the effects of its fiery finale.

With its various London locations -- including an illegal casino and prizefight den called “Paradice” -- Double or Die is the Young Bond novel that showcases its period setting the best. Higson peppers the book with delightful slang and idioms of the period. Long forgotten brand names are resurrected like product placement circa 1933. The book’s timeframe is compressed into an action-packed weekend, which makes it unique among Bond novels (and echoes Fleming’s own third book, Moonraker).

While the body count in Double or Die is lower than Blood Fever, Higson doesn’t skimp on the gore, especially during the terrific climax on the London Docklands and inside an abandon pneumatic railway (wonderful Bondian locations both). The gore will certainly delight the target audience, as well as seasoned Bond fans. The fact that henchmen, Wolfgang, comes away from each encounter with young James missing another body part is grisly good fun.

All the Young Bond novels contain inside references for Fleming fans to discover, and Double or Die is no exception. Noteworthy here is Bond’s use of a familiar alias; his sighting his future London headquarters; a reference to a famous casino; and his first delivery of “Bond, James Bond” across a gaming table. We even hear Bond called “Young Sherlock Holmes” at one point, which may or may not be a nod to the 1985 movie that gave us a pint-sized version of THAT classic English literary hero. Double or Die also contains a postscript unlike anything that has yet appeared in a Young Bond novel. I will leave it to the reader to decide whether it belongs in the Young Bond universe (I’m somewhat unsure myself).

Absence of a Bond Girl (or any female for that matter) is missed during the first two thirds of the book, but the arrival of the perfectly named Kelly Kelly and her “Monstrous Regiment” (a sort of cockney street urchin version of Pussy Galore's Flying Circus) is a highlight of the final third. Higson again toys with romance, but he’s mindful about offending the prepubescent sensibilities of his youngest male readers. At the risk of getting a schoolyard beating, I admit that I’m looking forward to the “love story” Higson promises will feature in his fifth Young Bond novel, By Royal Command.

As a villain, Sir John Charnage is not quite in the same league as Higson’s past creations, although his fetish for collecting poisons is pure Bond. But Higson may be underplaying Charnage in order to set up a larger villain for a future book (there is a nice climatic twist in this regard). Plot-wise, Bond’s motivations and justifications for not going to the police might not hold up under intense scrutiny -- but why scrutinize James Bond? These are adventures for the Right brain, not the Left. (Ah, there we are back talking about the brain.)

The measure of any James Bond continuation novel, and novelist, is how they compare to Ian Fleming. Charlie Higson matched Fleming with his second Young Bond novel Blood Fever. Now, with the complex and thrilling Double or Die, Higson appears to be steering the Young Bond series toward even loftier literary achievement.

Amazon leaks YOUNG BOND 4 title?

The Canadian and Japanese Amazon websites have leaked what appears to be the title of Young Bond 4...

Hurricane Gold

The Japanese site shows a release date of September 6, 2007. The Canadian site shows a late October release. Both sites show the book as a 400 page hardcover.

In a second surprise, the Japanese Amazon shows an additional listing for a Hurricane Gold Collectable Limited Edition. Not sure if this is similar to the SilverFin and Blood Fever Collectors Editions, as those were Waterstone’s exclusives not available online.

Probably best to wait for official confirmation from IFP before we take this title to heart (I remember Raymond Benson’s High Time To Kill first appeared on Amazon under its working title “A Better Way To Die”). But for the moment, it looks like Young Bond 4 is Hurricane Gold...and I like it!

UPDATE: The title is confirmed!

UPDATE 2: Puffin tells me they are not yet sure yet if there will be a Hurricane Gold Limited Edition.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Bond-Wilder rematch in the works?


Yesterday Matt Weston alerted us to the possibility of Babushka’s return in a future Young Bond novel. Today he reports back with yet another clue found in The Young Bond Rough Guide to London to a retuning character; Wilder Lawless.

Of course, Wilder is the girl who rides a horse named Martini and throughly beat Bond in their infamous wrestling match in SilverFin (she beat him less so in U.S. edition which edited out all mention of Wilder’s “powerful thighs”).

Now in her Rough Guide character profile, it is noted that Wilder is a "free-spirited Scottish lass who helps Bond in SilverFin and looks destined to ride back into Bond's life."

Back into Bond’s life, eh? Now this could mean she’ll reappear in either books 4 or 5…or is it possible she’ll return in some future continuation novel when Bond is more, um, enthusiastic about Wilder’s penchant for getting physical?

(And if that sounds like I’m lobbying for a Young Bond Series II: The Fettes Years...I am. Because like the world, five books is not enough.)

Thanks to Matt Weston. Happy Easter everyone!

Thursday, April 5, 2007

YOUNG BOND 4 IN SEPTEMBER!

We have exciting news today! Looks like Charlie Higson's fourth Young Bond novel will be published in September 2007. Yes, THIS year! Here’s the news as it appeared today on the official Young Bond website:

“A treacherous road trip in Mexico.... The deadliest challenge yet! Young Bond 4 will be published in the UK in hardback in September 2007. Further exciting news to be released soon.”

Aside from the Limited Collector’s Editions, this marks the first time a Young Bond novel will be published as a hardcover in the UK.

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