Script to 'The Diamond Smugglers' discovered

Terrific article by Jeremy Duns in the Times about his discovery of a screenplay adaption of Ian Fleming's 1957 non-Bond novel, The Diamond Smugglers. Click to read:

How Ian Fleming's book on gems was neglected

Variant By Royal Command cover art appears (briefly) on Amazon

Owen Richardson’s cover art for the U.S. hardcover edition of Charlie Higson’s By Royal Command has appeared on Amazon.com.

Interestingly, this cover is slightly different than what we showed you last month. While the key art is the same, you’ll noticed this cover does not have the new title treatment that is to feature on all the new U.S. Young Bond novels starting with the paperback Hurricane Gold in April.

We have confirmed with our friends at Disney Books that the cover art we brought you last month is the final art. This Amazon artwork appears to be an earlier concept, which means you might want to snatch it while you can as it will almost certainly be updated.

By Royal Command will be released on May 18, 2010 and can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com.

UPDATE: Wow, that was fast. The artwork has already been updated. Amazon has also updated the cover art for the Hurricane Gold paperback.

Young Bond turns 5

It was five years ago today that Charlie Higson’s first Young Bond novel, SilverFin, was released in the UK by Puffin Books.

To date, there have been five Young Bond novels; SilverFin, Blood Fever, Double or Die, Hurricane Gold, and By Royal Command; one short story, A Hard Man To Kill (featured in the companion book, Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier); one Graphic Novel adaptation, SilverFin: The Graphic Novel; and an online RPG, The Shadow War.

The series has sold over 5 millions books and has been translated into 25 languages.

Happy birthday to Young Bond and congratulations to Charlie Higson and all the folks at IFP for their great success with this series.