30TH ANNIVERSARY OF LICENSE RENEWED

In April of 1981 James Bond returned in John Gardner's License Renewed. The book was first published in the U.S. by Merek (a division of Putnam). It would be published in May in the UK by Jonathan Cape. The novel saw James Bond updated and transported, un-aged into the 1980s. It became a New York Times Bestseller and spawned a series of 14 original books by Gardner (click here for details on new reprints of all 14 books).

License Renewed proved that James Bond could have a literary life beyond his creator, Ian Fleming. That legacy continues today with the soon-to-be-released Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver. But today we look back and remember the first James Bond continuation novel and novelist to launch a successful new series. It was Gardner, John Gardner, and the book was...

The James Bond novels by John Gardner:

• Licence Renewed (1981)
• For Special Services (1982)
• Icebreaker (1983)
• Role of Honor (1984)
• Nobody Lives Forever (1986)
• No Deals, Mr. Bond (1987)
• Scorpius (1988)
• Win Lose or Die (1989)
• Licence To Kill (1989) - novelization
• Brokenclaw (1990)
• The Man From Barbarossa (1991)
• Death Is Forever (1992)
• Never Send Flowers (1993)
• SeaFire (1994)
• GoldenEye (1995) - novelization
• Cold Fall (1996)