LINK: Literary Bond Superior to Movie Version

Here's a good article on The Daily Beast championing the book Bond over the movie Bond. Click the headline to have read.

Compare Ian Fleming’s fictional creation in his novels to what we see on the screen and the differences start piling up. It's the books, not the films, that should be the standard Bond, writes Allen Barra.

LINK: The Curious Case Of Colonel Sun: Kingsley Amis's Missing Bond Novel

Aug Stone revisits the only James Bond novel to remain out of physical print, discussing its place within the mythology of 007 and Amis's sizeable contribution to the franchise. Click headline to read at The Quietus.

CASINO ROYALE is also at an all-time high

Sure, Skyfall is tearing up the worldwide box office, but Ian Fleming's very first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, is also being celebrated with honors this Autumn.

Ian Fleming Publications reports that the 1953 novel has been selected as one of the twenty featured titles for World Book Night 2013. Held on 23rd April 2013, UNESCO’s International Day of the Book encourages people to read with 20,000 volunteer "Givers" across the UK and Ireland handing out half a million books directly to the hardest to reach potential readers.

World Book Night is now calling for members of the public to apply to be a Giver. Each Giver will receive 20 free copies of their chosen book to distribute. Applications will close on 23 January 2013, and successful applicants will be informed by mid-February 2013.

To apply to give away free copies of Casino Royale, and to read more about World Book Night, please visit their website.

Also, the Casino Royale audiobook read by Dan Stevens has been shortlisted for Audiobook of the year in the 2012 Specsavers National Book Awards. The awards take place in London on December 4th.

On their newly redesigned website, IFP comments, "We are extremely proud that this interpretation of Ian Fleming’s first novel Casino Royale has already been marked out by this great honour."

Amazon.co.uk

SKYFALL is an all-time high

I know I didn't post anything about the release of Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond film, but did I really need to? I don't think this one was going to slip past any Bond fan.

The film is doing stellar box office -- it's already the second highest grossing movie of all time in the UK and was #1 in the U.S. opening weekend. I've seen the film twice and the only word I can come up with is miraculous. It's just a miracle of a Bond movie -- I can't believe it can still be this good. Congrats to Danjaq and all the creators of Skyfall for keeping The Movie Bond at the top of his game.

But I'm still bummed we didn't get a novelization.

Final 4 JOHN GARDNER reprints released in the UK

The final four John Gardner James Bond reprints from Orion are now shipping from Amazon.co.uk. With the release of Never Send Flowers, SeaFire, GoldenEye and COLD, the Orion set becomes the first complete and uniform set of John Gardner novels and novelizations ever released.

Visit our special Gardner Renewed page for links to all the Gardner-James Bond reprints in the U.S. and UK.

James Bond The Authorised Biography eBook released

The most obscure but most excellent James Bond continuation novel, James Bond The Authorised Biography by John Pearson, is released today as an eBook by Ian Fleming Publications. Amazon does not yet have the cover art posted, but thanks to our friends at IFP, I have it for you right here:

James Bond has graced our bookshelves and screens for over fifty years. The martini-drinking, super-smooth character has become an icon and national treasure. Like most of the many million James Bond fans around the world, John Pearson assumed that the world's most famous spy was no more than a figment of Fleming's highly charged imagination. Then he began to have his doubts. He finally became convinced that James Bond was not only real but alive and well in Bermuda. With candour, Bond began to recount the story of his life to Pearson, revealing the most amazing series of adventures only hinted at in Ian Fleming's novels. This sensational biography promises to show a side of Bond never seen before.

Purchase the James Bond The Authorised Biography eBook from Amazon.com (U.S.) and Amazon.co.uk (UK).