Calvin Dyson reviews DOUBLESHOT

With news of Raymond Benson's upcoming Felix Leiter novel, The Hook and the Eye, it seems like the right time to share Calvin Dyson's latest Benson Bond book review. This time, Doubleshot is in the gun barrel. Enjoy.

Anniversary BONDS for 2025

HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to another year of The Book Bond. Here's a rundown of the Bond novels that will be celebrating notable anniversaries this year. Break out the bookmarks and champagne!

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70th Anniversary

Ian Fleming's third Bond novel finds 007 tangling with the megalomanic Elon Musk. I mean Hugo Drax! Moonraker was published by Jonathan Cape on April 5, 1955 in the UK, and in the U.S. by Macmillian on September 20, 1955.

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60th Anniversary

Ian Fleming's final James Bond novel was published posthumously by Jonathan Cape in the UK on April 1, 1965. It was released in the U.S. in August 1965, by New American Library.

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40th Anniversary

John Gardner took 1985 off, but that didn't mean there wasn't a 007 novel that year...if you knew Jim Hatfield. CLICK HERE for the strange tale of this first unofficial James Bond novel, which turns 40 this year.

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30th Anniversary

John Gardner's novelization of the great comeback James Bond film GoldenEye released in November 1995. A rare hardcover edition was published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton.

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25th Anniversary

Raymond Benson's fourth original James Bond novel, Doubleshot, turns 25. The book was published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton on May 4, 2000. The U.S. edition from Putnam was published on June 5, 2000. 

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20th Anniversary

The terrific Young Bond series by Charlie Higson was launched 20 years ago with the first book, SilverFin. Published in the UK by Puffin on March 3, 2005. The U.S. edition from Hyperion was published on April 27, 2005. 

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10th Anniversary

Anthony Horowitz's excellent debut continuation novel Trigger Mortis turns ten this year. Released simultaneously in the UK and U.S. on September 8, 2015.

Happy reading!

RAYMOND BENSON eBook omnibus released today

James Bond: The Raymond Benson Years is released today from Ian Fleming Publications. This eBook-only omnibus collects all six original Raymond Benson James Bond novels for the first time: Zero Minus Ten, The Facts of Death, High Time to Kill, Doubleshot, Never Dream of Dying, and The Man with the Red Tattoo.

You can purchase James Bond: The Raymond Benson Years on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, or directly from Ian Fleming Publications.

The Benson PROOFS

Here are the U.S. uncorrected proofs for Raymond Benson's six James Bond novels, which have just listed for sale on eBay. (I'm thinning out my Bond collection.) But I realized I never did a post to document them, so here they are!

2020 Anniversary BONDS

HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to another year of The Book Bond. 2020 marks a few anniversaries, any one of which is sure to make someone feel old!

60th Anniversary

Ian Fleming's For You Eyes Only 

Published April 11, 1960

A departure from the full-length James Bond novels, For Your Eyes Only is a stunning collection of five stories that sends 007 to Bermuda, Berlin, and beyond, and places him in the dangerous company of adversaries of all varieties.

30th Anniversary

John Gardner's Brokenclaw

Published August 2, 1990

During a vacation trip to San Francisco, James Bond confronts a complex espionage plot and his deadliest enemy yet--Fu-Chu Lee, an evil super-criminal known to both the underworld and intelligence agencies as Brokenclaw.

25th Anniversary

John Gardner's GoldenEye

Published November 1995

Once Xenia worked for the KGB. But her new master is Janus, a powerful and ambitious Russian gang that no longer cares about ideology. Janus's ambitions are money and power; its normal business methods are theft and murder. And it has just acquired GoldenEye, a piece of high-tech space technology with the power to destroy or corrupt the West's financial markets. But Janus has underestimated its most determined enemy. . . James Bond

20th Anniversary

Raymond Benson's Doubleshot

Published May 4, 2000

The criminal conspiracy called the Union has vowed its revenge on the man who thwarted its last coup - James Bond. As the Union's mysterious leader sets out to destroy Bond's reputation and sanity, 007 edges closer to the truth about their elaborate plan to destroy both SIS and its best agent.

Other anniversaries include Moonraker (65th), The Man With The Golden Gun (55th), The Quasimodo Gambit (25th), SilverFin (15th) and Trigger Mortis (5th).

Benson's BOND - UK hardcovers

Over the weekend I shared the Raymond Benson James Bond U.S. hardcover first editions. Here now are the UK hardcover firsts from Hodder & Stoughton.

The Hodder books featured striking cover art with series art established on the 1995 Coronet paperbacks and first used on a hardcover with John Gardner's COLD. However, the publisher changed it up with the last two books, producing covers that were a bit disappointing in comparison (IMO). Hodder also published Benson's three film novelizations in hardcover. Tomorrow Never Dies remains the rarest of all the Benson UK firsts.

Publication dates:

Zero Minus Ten – Hodder & Stoughton, April 3, 1997.
Tomorrow Never Dies – Hodder & Stoughton, November 6, 1997.

The Facts of Death - Hodder & Stoughton, May 7, 1998.

High Time To Kill - Hodder & Stoughton, May 6, 1999.
The World Is Not Enough – Hodder & Stoughton, November 18, 1999.

Doubleshot - Hodder & Stoughton, May 4, 2000.

Never Dream of Dying - Hodder & Stoughton May 3, 2001.

The Man With The Red Tattoo – Hodder & Stoughton, May 2, 2002.
Die Another Day - Hodder & Stoughton, November 7, 2002.

Benson's BOND - U.S. hardcovers

In 1997 Raymond Benson succeeded John Gardner as the official James Bond continuation author. Benson returned many of the classic elements to the series (such as Bond's Walther PPK) and chose not to continue some of the changes of the later Gardner years, such as MircoGlobe One. Per the request of IFP (then still Glidrose), Benson made M a woman as a concession to the film series.

Benson delivered six terrific original James Bond adventures with each book powered by a clear thematic "hook." They were books written by a hardcore James Bond fan and certainly appealed to this hardcore fan. I'll still argue that Benson's third book, High Time To Kill, is one of the very best of all the James Bond continuation novels.

In the U.S., all six Raymond Benson Bond books were published in hardcover by Putnam with nice uniform cover art. This new series art was an improvement (IMO) over Putnam's Gardner series cover art which had also remained uniform during his reign. Benson's three novelizations, Tomorrow Never Die, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day, where not published in hardcover in the U.S.

Publication dates:

Zero Minus Ten – Putnam, May 5, 1997.

The Facts of Death - Putnam, June 15, 1998.

High Time To Kill - Putnam, June 7, 1999.

Doubleshot - Putnam, June 5, 2000.

Never Dream of Dying - June 4, 2001.

The Man With The Red Tattoo – Putnam, June 10, 2002.

The Benson paperbacks were published by Jove in the U.S. You can check out those covers HERE.

RAYMOND BENSON U.S. paperbacks

I've been looking back at the John Gardner Bond books a lot lately, so I thought it was time to throw a little Raymond Benson into the mix. I'll kick off with his U.S. paperbacks because this one of my favorite sets. I love the uniformity of the design and the location specific backgrounds. These paperbacks were released by Jove, who after a one book break with Cold Fall, returned to their "James Bond in" series design (with the lightning bolt underline) with Benson.

Of course, Raymond Benson also produced three novelizations during his run as continuation novelist. Those paperbacks, released by Triangle, can be see below.

And as long on we're on the subject of Benson U.S. paperbacks, here's a bonus. Below are three prototype covers for Tomorrow Never Dies (using the Cold Fall series art), Zero Minus Ten, and Die Another Day. One thing I like about the DAD cover is that it uses a tagline that was never used for the film: "He's never been cooler." (Taglines pretty much vanished from Bond film marketing after GoldenEye.) And while books with these covers were never actually produced, you'll still see this artwork on listings at Amazon.com, etc.

Publication:

Tomorrow Never Dies – Triangle, November 1997.

Zero Minus Ten – Jove, July 1998.

The Facts of Death - Jove, August 1999.

The World Is Not Enough - Triangle, October 6, 1999.

High Time To Kill - Jove, June 5, 2000.

Doubleshot - Jove, June 5, 2001.

Never Dream of Dying - Jove, April 30, 2002.

Die Another Day - Triangle, November 5, 2002.

The Man With The Red Tattoo – Jove, April 28, 2003.

Benson is back in 'The Union Trilogy'

Pegasus Books has released a Raymond Benson James Bond omnibus, The Union Trilogy. The collection includes the novels High Time To Kill, Doubleshot, and Never Dream of Dying.

As a bonus, the book also includes the full version of Raymond's first Bond short story "Blast From The Past." This uncut version has never before been published in English.

Raymond Benson was the James Bond continuation author from 1997 to 2002.

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk

Blast from the past: Benson returns in 2008

Great news today! K1Bond007.com reports that Pegasus Books will re-publish a selection of Raymond Benson's James Bond novels in an omnibus edition in October 2008.

The collection will contain the "Union Trilogy"-- High Time To Kill, Doubleshot, and Never Dream of Dying... plus, as a bonus, the complete uncut short story Blast From The Past.

Blast From The Past originally appeared in the January 1997 issue of Playboy in a truncated version (image right). The full-length version was published in Italian and in French. This will be its first appearance in English.

Raymond will provide a new introduction to the book. A title for the collection has not yet been selected. Pegasus hopes to publish a second volume of Benson's remaining 007 novels and short stories in 2009.

Benson enjoys Italian renaissance

The James Bond continuation novels by Raymond Benson may be out of print in the U.S. and UK, but Italian fans are enjoying a Benson Bond renaissance!

Italian publisher Alacran is reprinting all the Benson Bond novels in attractive new “I Misteri” editions. The latest release is Benson’s 2000 Bond novel Doubleshot (art right) which finds 007 battling a mad matador and his own doppelganger.

Thus far Alacran has released Zero Minus Ten (in 2005), The Facts of Death and High Time To Kill (both in 2006). Next up will be Benson’s 2001 Bond novel, Never Dream of Dying.

Alacran is also publishing several of Raymond’s non-Bond novels, including A Hard Day’s Death, a rock ‘n’ roll mystery which has never been published in English.