Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Steve Cole updates YOUNG BOND progress

Steve Cole has posted to his official blog an update on his progress with his Young Bond books:

"Well, since last I wrote I’ve written two drafts of my third Young Bond, finished off the second Young Bond, and been visiting a lot of schools and theatres."

Steve has been commissioned to write four Young Bond novels. His first, Shoot To Kill, was released in 2014. His next, Heads You Die, will be released in the UK on May 5, 2016.

Sunday, December 27, 2015

SPECTRE on Blu-ray and DVD, February 9, 2016

I don't think this has been officially announced yet, but according to Amazon.com, the new James Bond film SPECTRE will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in the U.S. on February 9, 2016.

The latest Bond film pulled from a host of literary sources, including: Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, You Only Live Twice, Octopussy and Colonel Sun (the Kingsley Amis estate even gets an acknowledgement in the credits).

Pre-order SPECTRE on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Season's Greetings from IFP

Ian Fleming Publications have sent out a holiday card using artwork inspired by their big 2015 release, Trigger Mortis.

and
The Book Bond

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

A tale of three silhouettes

Here's another international James Bond paperback with cover features worth taking a closer look at. What I like about this 1990 Portuguese edition of John Gardner's Win Lose or Die is that two of three 007 silhouettes that grace the cover were never used on the Berkley paperbacks of the 1980s (and later on the Benson paperbacks).

The silhouette on the right you'll recognize as first appearing on the U.S. paperback edition of License Renewed and later on the John Gardner hardcovers. But those other two never found their way onto any book as far as I know. I especially like the one on the left that shows Bond reaching into his jacket. You'll also notice that the "James Bond" title treatment is from the Berkley editions, and the background is similar to that used on the UK hardcover of Scorpius, so this is an interesting combination of elements.


And if you think I'm silly for obsessing on silhouettes, check out: SILHOUETTE-GATE.

Happy Holidays to all.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Mixed BOND

James Bond with Sean Connery's head and Roger Moore's body gazes out at us from the cover of a 1991 Italian edition of Scorpius by John Gardner. I like the title treatment with the scorpion and the Avante Carte logo behind OO7. And Bond against a light streaked marble wall kinda recalls SPECTRE.



Scorpius was John Gardner's seventh James Bond novel. It was first published by Putnam in the U.S. on May 9, 1988. UK publication by Hodder & Stoughton was on June 2, 1988 (one of the few Bond novels to be published first in the U.S. first).

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

U.S. TRIGGER MORTIS paperback in September

Amazon.com now has a listing for the U.S. paperback edition of Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz. Release date shows as September 6, 2016 from Harper Paperbacks. No cover art yet.

The UK paperback from Orion will be released May 5, 2016.

Pre-order the Trigger Mortis U.S. paperback at Amazon.com.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Another unofficial JAMES BOND novel hits the market

Another unofficial James Bond novel, BOND on the ROCKS by Curtis Cook, has been self-published under the Berne Convention's "life plus 50" rule of copyright, which, apparently, puts James Bond in the public domain in several counties (not just Canada, according to this book). Below in the cover and plot description:

James Bond faces his most diabolical challenge of all time -- modern life. The cultural icon that role-modeled behavior of men for generations was pushed into retirement 20 years earlier in a feminist rebellion at Regents Park. He has blown through the personal fortune he accumulated as an irresistible and heavy-drinking super spy and survives on a modest pension in a world stumbling toward globalization, privatization and war. He is a jobless senior citizen on the brink of losing his Chelsea flat to the bank. "Very sad, very troubling but actually very funny all at once. We witness the real-world frailties, humiliations, joys, quirks and anguish of human struggle that the mythical hero has always managed to keep off-camera."

Mary Goodnight calls on him and is appalled at the pathetic version of the man she had once served and loved. She connects him with the former 006 who is now CEO of a flourishing private corporation in the emerging international security industry. Despite misgivings over the loyalties and principles of private enterprise, Bond finds the incentives, perks and female staff highly appealing. He is dispatched to Saddam Hussein's Baghdad to locate and buy off a Russian physicist who absconded with plans for an advanced missile defense system. But the physicist is a stubborn, Soviet-era Communist who resists all offers to relocate to the West. With a major bonus at stake, Bond resorts to enhanced interrogation to uncover the missing plans - a bad move.

Banned in the U.S., "Bond on the Rocks" (unsanctioned by the Franchise) is still available at reasonable cost in Canada, Japan, Cuba, New Zealand, China and many other countries that adhere to the "life plus 50" rule of the Berne Convention.

Unlike the recently released Licence Expired, Bond on the Rocks is currently available on the U.S. Amazon. It also says inside that it's "Printed in the USA." Seems this one is pushing the Bern Convention rule, so if you want it, I would act fast. I'm still amazed this is happening at all.

Friday, December 4, 2015

TRIGGER MORTIS UK paperback coming in May

The UK paperback edition of Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz will be released on May 19, 2016. The book will be published by Orion. No cover art yet.


Pre-order the Trigger Mortis UK paperback at Amazon.co.uk.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

JAMES BOND: VARGR #2 released

Dynamite's James Bond VARGR #2 is released today. This is the second installment in a six issue graphic novel series by Warren Ellis.

James Bond is in Berlin, alone, unarmed and with no idea of the forces ranged in secret against him. If he can make it to the Embassy, he might survive for a few hours more. But he's getting into that car with that woman, which means he has only minutes to live...

You can purchase VARGR #2 and see all the variant covers and sample pages at the Dynamite website. Issue #3 is due out January 6.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

New YOUNG BOND covers for Kindle

IFP has refreshed the covers of all five Charlie Higson Young Bond novels for their Kindle eBook editions. The new covers match the art on Kindle edition of Steve Cole's Shoot To Kill. Love these.

Amazon

Amazon

Amazon

Amazon

Amazon

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Is there a new unofficial James Bond book out there?

The new anthology, Licence Expired: The Unauthorized James Bond, was scheduled for release yesterday in Canada. Amazon.ca still shows the book as not yet released, but publisher ChiZine appears to have had a launch party in Toronto. Have any of our friends in Canada spotted one in bookstores?


Here's a rundown on the book (explaining how it even exists) as well as a listing of all the stories and authors from ChiZine:

In Paris, James Bond meets his match over appetizers and cocktails—with an aperitif of industrial espionage and chilly sadism. Off the coast of Australia, he learns about a whole new level of betrayal under the scorching light of a ball of thunder. In Siberia, he dreams of endless carnage while his fate is decided by one of his most cunning enemies and perhaps the greatest of his many loves.

And in Canada, James Bond finds freedom.

In January 2015, the world’s most famous secret agent entered the public domain in Canada—one of the few remaining countries in the world that subscribe to the Berne Convention and allow copyright to extend not 70 but just 50 years past the death of the work’s creator. Licence Expired: The Unauthorized James Bond, lives in this shadow space of copyright law: a collection of 19 new, exciting, transformative James Bond stories by a diverse crew of 21st-century authors.

Collected herein are new stories about Secret Agent 007, as the late Ian Fleming imagined and described him: a psychically wounded veteran of the Second World War and soldier of the Cold War, who treated his accumulated injuries with sex, alcohol, nicotine, and adrenaline. He was a good lover but a terrible prospect.

He was James Bond.

And in Licence Expired, James Bond is back.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction by Matt Sherman
• Foreword: The Bitch is Dead Now by David Nickle
• “One Is Sorrow” by Jacqueline Baker
• “The Gale of the World” by Robert J. Wiersema
• “Red Indians” by Richard Lee Byers
• “The Gladiator Lie” by Kelly Robson
• “Half the Sky” by E.L. Chen
• “In Havana” by Jeffrey Ford
• “Mastering the Art of French Killing” by Michael Skeet
• “A Dirty Business” by Iain McLaughlin
• “Sorrow’s Spy” by Catherine McLeod
• “Mosaic” by Karl Schroeder
• “The Spy Who Remembered Me” by James Alan Gardner
• “Daedelus” by Jamie Mason
• “Through Your Eyes Only” by A.M. Dellamonica
• “Two Graves” by Ian Rogers
• “No Mr. Bond” by Charles Stross
• “The Man with the Beholden Gun: an e-pistol-ary story by some other Ian Fleming” by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer
• “The Cyclorama” by Laird Barron
• “You Never Love Once” by Claude Lalumière
• “Not an Honourable Disease” by Corey Redekop
• Afterword by Madeline Ashby

Licence Expired: The Unauthorized James Bond  is listed on Amazon.ca and Indigo.ca, although it appears it cannot be purchased if you have an address outside of Canada.

UPDATE: The book is indeed released, but get getting a copy outside Canada is a bit of a trick. Amazon.ca will only ship to addresses within the country. But copies are starting to circulate via secondhand dealers. Happy hunting!

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Finnish TRIGGER MORTIS

Check out the cover for the Finnish edition of Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz from publisher Karisto. It certainly does its own thing. Although it does use blueprint feature as seen on the UK edition.


With thanks to James Bond The Secret Agent, the new Swedish Bond blog by Stephan Bäckman.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Pegasus releases final three JOHN GARDNER titles in U.S.

The final three John Gardner James Bond U.S. reprints from Pegasus Books are being released this week. The books are Never Send Flowers, SeaFire, and Cold Fall (U.S. title). It doesn't appear that Pegasus will release Gardner's two novelizations, License To Kill and GoldenEye, as Orion did in the UK.


Purchase:

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

Monday, November 2, 2015

Midtown Comics VARGR #1 exclusive

The first issue of Dynamite Comics new James Bond series is released on Wednesday and Midtown Comics in New York is offering a retro cover exclusive by Robert Hack that I can't resist! Check it out below.


You can order Midtown's VARGR #1 exclusive from the Midtown Comic website.

Thanks to Tanner at the excellent Double O Section blog for this discovery. 

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

SUN inspires SPECTRE


The official Ian Fleming Publications website reports that the new James Bond film SPECTRE, which had its Royal premier in London on Monday, features a pivotal scene from the first 007 continuation novel Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis. I've not yet seen the movie (U.S. release is November 6), so I don't know what that scene is, nor does IFP reveal it. They just tease:

The Colonel Sun scene which features in SPECTRE is one of pivotal importance both to the film and the book and fans are encouraged to identify which part stems from Amis’ pen.

Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. commented that "The Fleming family and The Kingsley Amis Estate hope that fans of SPECTRE will be encouraged to reach for this thrilling book by one of the finest writers of the 20th century."

Of course, this isn't the first time an element from a continuation novel had found its way into a James Bond film. Check out: Déjá vu, Mr. Bond: The surprising similarities between the continuation novels and the James Bond films.

Colonel Sun was recently reprinted by Vintage Books in the UK and is available from Amazon.co.uk.

Friday, October 23, 2015

WIN a signed copy of Trigger Mortis and an Aston Martin Driving Experience

Here's a chance to win a signed copy of Trigger Mortis and an Aston Martin Driving Experience via the good folks at buyagift. Open to UK residents only.


Thursday, October 22, 2015

SHOOT TO KILL released in paperback

The paperback edition of Steve Cole's debut Young Bond novel, Shoot To Kill, is released today in the UK. I don't yet have the book in hand so I don't know whether it contains a preview or teaser for his next book, Heads You Die, but I hope so!


In Shoot To Kill young James Bond travels to Hollywood where he battles a mad movie mogul. You can read my review of the book HERE.

Purchase Shoot To Kill at Amazon.co.uk.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Christopher Wood, 1935 - 2015

Photo: Graham Rye, OO7 Magazine.

James Bond screenwriter and novelist Christopher Wood has died. Roger Moore announced the news on his Twitter. Wood was 79 years old.

Christopher Wood wrote two of the best Roger Moore James Bond films, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979). He also penned the novelizations for those films. In the UK his novelization were published in hardcovers by long-time Bond publisher Jonathan Cape. Wood's novelizations remain fan favorites.


In 2006 Wood published a book about his experiences working in the world of James Bond called James Bond, The Spy I Loved.

You can read more about the life and work of Christopher Wood at his Wikipedia page.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Vintage Books COLONEL SUN released today

Today see's the release in the UK of Vintage Book's new paperback edition of Colonel Sun by Kingley Amis. This is the first reprint of Colonel Sun since 1995. The cover art matches the artwork on Vintage's current set of Ian Fleming trade paperbacks.


Purchase Colonel Sun now at Amazon.co.uk.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

HEADS YOU DIE will be released in a Limited Edition hardcover

Steve Cole has confirmed on his official blog the his next Young Bond novel, Heads You Die, will be released in both paperback and a limited edition hardcover. This from Steve:

"Heads You Die comes out next May in paperback and in a special Collector’s Limited Edition Hardback. I’ll keep you informed as to what you can expect as we get closer to publication…"

Great news!

You can pre-order the paperback edition of Heads You Die now at Amazon.co.uk.

UPDATE: The limited edition hardcover is now available for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk.

Saturday, October 10, 2015

The next Young Bond is HEADS YOU DIE

Steve Cole revealed the title and cover art for his next Young Bond novel, HEADS YOU DIE, at the Cheltenham Festival today. No other details have been released (at least I haven't seen a press release yet), but here's a good look at the cover.


It looks like rough water is going to somehow play a part in the next Young Bond adventure. Maybe an adventure set at sea? That could be fun and unique.

Heads You Die will be released on May 5, 2016 and can be pre-ordered at Amazon.co.uk.

New YOUNG BOND title and cover to be revealed today

Steve Cole has posted the following to twitter. The event takes place at 1:15 PM (GMT).

Thursday, October 8, 2015

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TYPEWRITER released in UK


Today sees the release in the UK of The Man with the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters edited by Fergus Fleming. The book is a collection of unpublished letters by James Bond creator Ian Fleming sourced from the Fleming Archive, the Cape Archive and private collections from around the world.

Before the world-famous films came the world-famous novels. This book tells the story of the man who wrote them and how he created spy fiction's most compelling hero.


Purchase The Man With The Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters at Amazon.co.uk

The book will be released in the U.S. (with a slightly different dust jacket) on November 3 and can be pre-order at Amazon.com.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

WIN a signed copy of the CASINO ROYALE Folio Edition

Ian Fleming Publications and The Folio Society are holding a competition to give away two copies of the new illustrated Casino Royale Folio Edition signed by artist Fay Dalton. The image below includes all the details.

Click to enlarge.

The Casino Royale Folio Edition will be released this month and can be pre-ordered now.

Monday, October 5, 2015

CASINO ROYALE – Folio Illustrated Edition

The Folio Society is releasing a beautiful new illustrated edition of Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, Casino Royale. Here's a preview.
This lavish edition, with artwork by acclaimed illustrator Fay Dalton, and an introduction by Booker-Prize winning author John Banville, pays homage to the enormous success of Ian Fleming’s iconic novels. Few characters have come to define a genre as James Bond has done, and this introduction to his world, with its merciless villains, spectacular dangers, ill-fated romances and exotic settings, is Fleming at his best.
Bound in blocked cloth
Set in Miller Text with Folio
192 pages
Frontispiece and 6 colour illustrations
Pictorial slipcase
9" x 6¼"

The Casino Royale Folio Edition will be released this month and can be pre-ordered now.

Thanks to Dan Rawling for the tip.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Dynamite reveals JAMES BOND: VARGR #2

Dynamite Comics has released a plot summery and alternate covers for James Bond: VARGR #2 by Warren Ellis. The second installment of this six issue graphic novel series will be released on December 2, 2015.

James Bond is in Berlin, alone, unarmed and with no idea of the forces ranged in secret against him. If he can make it to the Embassy, he might survive for a few hours more. But he's getting into that car with that woman, which means he has only minutes to live...

You can pre-order VARGR issues #1 and #2 at Dynamite Comics.

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Steve Cole confirms May release for next YOUNG BOND

Steve Cole has confirmed that his next Young Bond novel will be released in May 2016. Steve posted the following on Facebook.

Special Young Bond event at Cheltenham Festival next Saturday, where I'll be revealing the title and cover of my second adventure for Jimmy B, out next May (and launching the paperback edition of Shoot to Kill). http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature/whats-on/2015/young-bond/

This jibes with a current Amazon listing that shows Steve Cole's "Untitled Young Bond" coming out on May 5, 2016. This listing is for a paperback edition, so it's looking likely that the next Young Bond book will not get a hardcover release as did Steve's first book, Shoot To Kill.

The paperback edition of Shoot To Kill will be released on October 22 and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.co.uk.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Discover where SPECTRE began

Vintage Books has released THE SPECTRE TRILOGY, a new paperback that collects the Ian Fleming novels: Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice. The book also includes an introduction by Bond film producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, which would appear to make this the official literary tie-in with the latest Bond film (IFP stopped doing novelizations after Die Another Day).



You can purchase THE SPECTRE TRILOGY at Amazon.co.uk (UK) and Amazon.com (U.S.).

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Glenn Fabry "Virgin Art" edition of VARGR #1

Dynamite Comics is offeing a special edition of James Bond: VARGR #1 by Warren Ellis. This $50 "Virgin Art" edition features a cover by artist Glenn Fabry and comes "without any trade dressing."

Glenn Fabry perfectly captures the world's greatest spy on this super-rare variant edition, presented without any trade dressing! In this issue, James Bond returns to London after a mission of vengeance in Helsinki, to take up the workload of a fallen 00 Section agent. But something evil is moving through the back streets of the city, and sinister plans are being laid for Bond in Berlin.

Purchase the "Virgin Art" special edition of James Bond #1 at Dynamite Comics.

Thanks to the Matthew Bradford aka Tanner for the clarifications. You can see the cover art for VARGR #2 at his excellent Double O Section spy blog.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

COLONEL SUN reprint coming from Vintage

Here's some great news. Vintage will release Colonel Sun by Kingley Amis with cover art that matches their recent Ian Fleming paperbacks. This is the first reprint of Colonel Sun since 1995, and it's always exciting to have this first continuation novel as part of a current set of Bonds.

The first ever Bond continuation, originally published by Jonathan Cape in 1968, now finally back in print and published to coincide with the forthcoming Bond film Spectre.

Lunch at Scott's, a quiet game of golf, a routine social call on his chief M, convalescing in his Regency house in Berkshire - the life of secret agent James Bond has begun to fall into a pattern that threatens complacency … until the sunny afternoon when M is kidnapped and his house staff savagely murdered. The action ricochets across the globe to a volcanic Greek island where the glacial, malign Colonel Sun Liang-tan of the People's Liberation Army of China collaborates with an ex-nazi atrocity expert in a world-menacing conspiracy. Stripped of all professional aids, Bond faces unarmed the monstrous devices of Colonel Sun in a test that brings him to the verge of his physical endurance.

Colonel Sun will be released on October 15 and can be pre-orded at Amazon.co.uk.

Thanks to Dylan Green and Leigh Burne for the alerts.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TYPEWRITER coming Oct. 8

Today I have details of a spectacular new book coming our way October 8, The Man with the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters edited by Fergus Fleming. The book contains numerous unpublished letters by James Bond's creator sourced from the Fleming Archive, the Cape Archive and private collections from around the world.

Before the world-famous films came the world-famous novels. This book tells the story of the man who wrote them and how he created spy fiction's most compelling hero.

On 16 August 1952, Ian Fleming wrote to his wife, Ann, ‘My love, This is only a tiny letter to try out my new typewriter and to see if it will write golden words since it is made of gold’. He had bought the gold­plated typewriter as a present to himself for finishing his first novel, Casino Royale. It marked in glamorous style the arrival of James Bond, agent 007, and the start of a career that saw Fleming become one of the world’s most celebrated thriller writers. And he did write golden words. Before his death in 1964 he produced fourteen bestselling Bond books, two works of non-fiction and the famous children’s story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. 
Fleming’s output was matched by an equally energetic flow of letters. He wrote constantly, to his wife, publisher, editors, fans, friends and critics, charting 007’s progress with correspondence that ranged from badgering Jonathan Cape about his quota of free copies – a coin was tossed; Fleming lost – to apologising for having mistaken a certain brand of perfume and for equipping Bond with the wrong kind of gun. His letters also reflect his friendships with contemporaries such as Raymond Chandler, Noël Coward and Somerset Maugham. 
Before the world-famous films came the world-famous novels. This books tells the story of the man who wrote them and how he created spy fiction's most compelling hero.

The Man With The Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters can be pre-ordered now at Amazon.com (U.S.) and Amazon.co.uk (UK).

Monday, September 21, 2015

Next YOUNG BOND title and cover revealed Oct. 10

The title and cover art for Steve Cole's next Young Bond novel will be revealed at a special launch event for the paperback edition of Shoot To Kill on October 10. Steve shared this information via his Twitter:


For more information and tickets to this Young Bond event visit the Cheltenham Festivals website.

Sunday, September 20, 2015

TRIGGER MORTIS No. 007 sells for $1,368

The limited signed edition of Trigger Mortis No. 007 sold on eBay for $1,368.93 (£878.00). It received 46 bids. The book was part of a set of 1000 limited editions from Goldsboro Books that sold out in pre-orders within a few days in July.

Trigger Mortis No. 007 was held back and auctioned by Goldsboro with 100% of the sale benefiting Save The Children UK.

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz is available now in hardcover from Orion in the UK (Amazon.co.uk) and Harper Collins in the U.S. (Amazon.com).

You can read my review HERE.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

SPECTRE: The Complete Comic Strip Collection

Here's another literary tie-in with the new James Bond film. James Bond: Spectre: The Complete Comic Strip Collection will be released by Titan Books in the UK on October 23 and in the U.S. on November 24. The book will include a forward by SPECTRE screenwriter John Logan. Notice how the cover art uses a similar background color as the SPECTRE poster?

The daring James Bond is back, this time in a lavishly put together collection celebrating the iconic SPECTRE storylines. Featuring Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, You Only Live Twice and The Spy Who Loved Me. These fully restored and thrilling stories are based on the original Ian Fleming James Bond novels.

Wait, The Spy Who Loved Me a SPECTRE story? Well, yes. The criminal organization was written into the original Daily Express comic strip from which these Titan collections are composed.

SPECTRE also played a large role in the Daily Express continuation Bond strips throughout the 1970s with the organization being run by a female Blofeld know as "Madame Spectra."

Pre-order James Bond: Spectre: The Complete Comic Strip Collection on Amazon.com (U.S.) and Amazon.co.uk (UK).

Monday, September 14, 2015

Amazon lists "UNTITLED YOUNG BOND" for May 2016

Amazon.co.uk now has a pre-order listing for Steve Cole's next Young Bond novel. The site shows the yet untiled book set for release on May 5, 2016 in paperback.

So does this mean there will not be a hardcover edition as there was with Steve's first book, Shoot To Kill? Or is this a listing for a paperback that will be released after the hardcover, which means we might actually be getting the book earlier in the year?

At the moment, news of the new book is embargoed, so I'm afraid I don't have any answers. But it's good to see that another Young Bond will be heading our way next year.

Steve Cole's first Young Bond novel, Shoot To Kill, will be released in paperback on October 22, 2015. Might it contain a preview of Book 2?

Related:

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Recreating James Bond's meals from the Fleming novels

The UK Daily Mail Online has a terrific piece about New York photographer Henry Hargreaves's "Dying To Eat" project in which he recreated and photographed several James Bond meals from the orginal Ian Fleming novels. The meals were cooked by fellow food artist, Charlotte Omnes.

Little neck clams and fried chicken Maryland with bacon and sweet corn from Live And Let Die

 As Elliot Carver would say: "Delicious."

Click here to see all the meals at the Daily Mail.

First look inside VARGR #1

Dynamite has revealed several preview pages from the first issue of VARGR, their new six-part James Bond graphic novel series by Warren Ellis with art by Jason Masters.



VARGR #1 will be released on November 4, 2015.

Thanks to the excellent blog Double O Section for this discovery. Click on over to the site to see a two-page ad for VARGR running in all Dynamite comics this week.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Listen to TRIGGER MORTIS read by David Oyelowo

Here's an audio clip of David Oyelowo reading the new James Bond novel Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz.



Download the Trigger Mortis audiobook free with your 30-day trial at Audible.co.uk.

David Oyelowo's reading of Trigger Mortis is also available as an Audio CD from Orion in the UK (Amazon.co.uk) from Harper Collins/Blackstone in the U.S. (Amazon.com).

Thursday, September 10, 2015

TRIGGER MORTIS No. 007 is being auctioned for charity

Back in July Goldsboro Books in London offered a limited signed and numbered edition of Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz. The 1000 copies sold out in pre-orders within a few days. Well, 999 did. Because one book was held back and is now on eBay. Trigger Mortis No. 007 is being auctioned with 100% of the sale benefiting Save The Children UK.


Click view and bid on Trigger Mortis No. 007.

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz is available now in hardcover from Orion in the UK (Amazon.co.uk) and Harper Collins in the U.S. (Amazon.com). You can read my review HERE.

Video takes you inside UNLOCKING BOND exhibition

Here's a nice video showing the preparations and a peek inside the Trigger Mortis: Unlocking Bond pop-up exhibition in Waterstone's Piccadilly in London. You also get to see author Anthony Horowitz at the launch event last Monday.


Trigger Mortis: Unlocking Bond runs through Sunday, September 13, 2015 at Waterstones Piccadilly in London. CLICK HERE for more details.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

'TRIGGER MORTIS' REVIEW: No experiments, Mr. Bond.


This review contains SPOILERS.

The last few official James Bond continuation novels have each in their own way been experiments. Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks attempted an out-and-out Ian Fleming imitation. Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver rebooted the literary Bond into the present day. Solo by William Boyd offered a moody meditation on an aging 007. These were all experiments I very much enjoyed (yes, even Devil May Care, haters). So what would be IFP's next experiment?

With Anthony Horowitz's Trigger Mortis, this time the experiment is to attempt no experiment at all. Instead, Horowitz delivers a straightforward, furiously entertaining James Bond adventure set comfortably within the world and rules of Ian Fleming's classic 007 (the novel is set in 1957 right after the events of Goldfinger). In doing this, Horowitz hits the bulls-eye and gives us a James Bond continuation novel that easily stands among the very best (if not the best).

Horowitz's choices are all conceived from and aimed at the gut. Placing James Bond into the world of formula 1 auto racing -- perfect! It's amazing that no other continuation novelist, or screenwriter for that matter, has thought of this idea. Bond and auto racing are a natural fit, especially in the dangerous early days of the sport. (This idea actually came from Ian Fleming as Trigger Mortis incorporates an unpublished Fleming outline, "Murder on Wheels"). The book jacket tells us Bond Girl Jeopardy Lane is "a girl like no other Bond has encountered." No, she isn't. No experiments! She's a classic Bond Girl very much like the others in the best possible way. Likewise, the villain, Jason Sin, is typically foreign and typically fiendish. The book has rockets toppling and American motels exploding. And having Bond endure a buried alive ordeal... Again, why has this idea taken so long to dig up?

Horowitz clearly has an instinct for Bond and he knows exactly which classic notes to play. Like Fleming, he seems to be writing a book to entertain himself -- a book meant to be taken on vacation. The chapters are short and tight and the action never becomes laborious with over description. Tension is maintained perfectly. And by the end of the book, when Bond is racing to stop the destruction of the Empire State Building aboard a speeding R-11 subway train, Horowitz is firing on all thrusters, perfectly capturing the essence of Fleming's Bond with passages such as:

Bond was filthy again. The wind had blasted him with years of accumulated dirt and soot. He could taste it in his mouth. It had penetrated his skin. The very clothes he was wearing had turned black. But he didn't care. He grinned and his white teeth flared in the darkness. This was the moment of reckoning.


Now, granted, the inclusion of Pussy Galore could be considered an experiment, or at least the attention-getting stunt of this book. But it's a stunt that works. This is the Pussy of the novel Goldfinger, not the film, so she is a black-haired "former" lesbian. And it's here that Horowitz has the opportunity to rework the Bond canon for the better. Pussy's sexual transformation at the hands of 007 in Goldfinger certainly seems ridiculous today. So in Trigger Mortis, Horowitz redeems the character–and Fleming–by having Pussy return to her natural lifestyle following her adventure with Bond. Yes, apparently 007 does not have a license to bestow heterosexuality. Pussy was just waiting for the right Bond Girl to come along.

Now, if one so chooses, everything I've said here in praise of Trigger Mortis could also be turned into a negative. The book doesn't experiment. It doesn't strive to give us a deeper understanding of James Bond. The plot is familiar and follows the familiar formula. But if this is a problem for anyone, they have only themselves to blame. Because IFP and their Bond authors have now provided a full buffet of James Bond adventures appealing to different tastes and imaginations. Fans can choose their own style, era, and approach. Trigger Mortis now rounds all that out with a main dish of classic Bond.

For me, this is exactly where I want to be and where I want to stay for a while. No more experiments. No more authors. You have me, Mr. Horowitz. Now take me around the world one more time.

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