ALOHA, MR. BOND

What could be better than a new Bond book? How about reading that new Bond book in Hawaii! Below is an advert from Honolulu Book Shops for John Gardner's For Special Services, released 40 years ago today.

Anniversary BONDS for 2022

HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to another year of The Book Bond. This year will see a NEW Bond adventure, With A Mind To Kill by Anthony Horowitz. 2022 also marks a few anniversaries. How time flies when you're having fun!

60th Anniversary

Ian Fleming's most experimental Bond novel, The Spy Who Loved Me, is told entirely from the point of view of the heroine, Vivienne Michel. Published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on April 16, 1962. Released the same year of the first James Bond film, Dr. No.

40th Anniversary

John Gardner's second James Bond novel, For Special Services, finds 007 teaming up with the CIA and the daughter of Felix Leiter.  The first U.S. edition was published by McCann and Geoghegan on May 3, 1982. The UK edition by Jonathan Cape (pictured) came in September.

30th Anniversary

John Gardner's 11th original James Bond novel, Death Is Forever, finds 007 is a race to stop a terrorist attack on the newly opened English Chunnel. The U.S. edition from Putnam was published in June. The UK edition (pictured) was released by Hodder & Stoughton on July 2, 1992.

25th Anniversary

Raymond Benson debuts as the new continuation author with Zero Minus Ten, a timely 007 adventure dealing with a threat to Britain's handover of Hong Kong to China. The UK edition (pictured) was released by Hodder & Stoughton on April 3, 1997. The U.S. edition from Putnam was released on May 5, 1997.

20th Anniversary

Raymond Benson's final Bond adventure, The Man With The Red Tattoo, sees James Bond returning to Japan. The UK edition (pictured) was released by Hodder & Stoughton on May 2, 2002. The U.S. edition from Putnam was released on June 10, 2002.

Other anniversaries include: From Russia With Love (65th), Colonel Sun (55th), Serpents Tooth (30th) Tomorrow Never Dies (25th), Die Another Day (20th), Double or Die and Hurricane Gold (15th), and Red Nemesis(5th).

Orion renews FOR SPECIAL SERVICES for 2020

A new paperback edition of John Gardner's second James Bond continuation novel, For Special Services, is released today on Orion Books. Below is the cover and synopsis.

In this heart-stopping thriller, James Bond teams up with CIA agent Cedar Leiter, to investigate a dangerous criminal, suspected of reviving the notorious organisation SPECTRE. The organisation was believed to have been disbanded years earlier following the death of its leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, at the hands of Bond (in You Only Live Twice), but it seems that this is far from true. 

Bond discovers that the revitalised SPECTRE has the most devastating, world-threatening plans: to gain control of America's military space satellite network.

Orion will release a new 40th Anniversary paperback edition of Gardner's first Bond book, License Renewed, in August 2021. So why release his second book now? Well, I expect the plan was to release a book to time with the release of the new Bond film, No Time To Die. But we all know what happened with that! 

So why not go ahead and get your Bond fix this Fall from For Special Services. It is one of the most cinematic of all the Gardner books.

"Read any good books lately?"

Purchase For Special Services (2020 edition) at Amazon.co.uk.

FOR SPECIAL SERVICES reprint in November

My old friends at CommanderBond.net have scored a sweet scoop. It appears Orion will release a new reprint of John Gardner's second James Bond novel For Special Services in November, and CBn offered a first look at the cover art on their Twitter.

Later this year, @orionbooks will republish John Gardner’s second James Bond novel, For Special Services. The book features the reappearance of SPECTRE. Here’s an early look at cover art. @TheBookBond @johngardnercom https://t.co/U7lnro17A2 pic.twitter.com/q2VSa46GfA

— Commander James Bond (@CBn007) July 23, 2020

The second coming

For some reason I've been thinking a lot lately about For Special Services, John Gardner's 1982 followup to his debut Bond novel License Renewed. The second in a series can be tricky. The Bond movies have a way of fumbling the second outings of a new actor (The Man With The Golden Gun, Licence To Kill, Tomorrow Never Dies, Quantum of Solace). I even think Anthony Horowitz's Forever and a Day is a rare #2 book fumble.

But For Special Services got it right. It gave us the new Bond in a fresh setting (America) and built on all the strengths of the first book. Even going with a white cover was somehow perfect. And I still think it has one of the most Bondian titles of all the Gardner books.

So here's remembering For Special Services, the second coming of Gardner's Bond.

You can see a nice newspaper ad for For Special Services HERE.

FOR SPECIAL SERVICES 1985 Coronet paperback

Continuing our look back at the 1985 UK Coronet paperbacks, here's John Gardner's second Bond novel For Special Services. Another great cover.

Check out the 1985 Coronet Licence Renewed and Role of Honour.

007 TRAVELERS track down the Book Bond

One of my new favorite James Bond destinations on the web is 007 TRAVELERS. Not only have they been providing up-to-the-minute SPECTRE coverage, but Pirita and Mika also travel around the world searching for 007 locations from both the books and films. The Finnish couple seem to have a special affinity for John Gardner locales, and that's fine by me! Today they've landed at Bond's Berlin hotel room in the Kempinski Hotel Bristol from Death Is Forever.

007travelers.blogspot.fi

In the past, Pirita and Mika have tracked down Paula Vacker's apartment in Helsinki from Icebreaker, the Strada Cucina Italiana Restaurant from For Special Services, and even the various locales inside Disneyland Paris where Bond had his adventures in Never Send Flowers.

Click here for a full list of 007 TRAVELERS book locations.

Keep up the great work Pirita and Mika!

Brush up on SPECTRE before 'SPECTRE'

The big news out of Pinewood Studios in the UK today was the announcement of the title and cast of the 24th James Bond film, SPECTRE. After announcing the title, director Sam Mendes said, "Those for you who have some knowledge of the Bond franchise and the legend of Bond will probably have some idea of what that refers to, but I couldn't possibly comment."

Of course, we know exactly what this means, and that's why Bond fans are buzzing today. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion) was created by Ian Fleming in his 9th Bond novel, Thunderball, released in 1961. Bond battled the worldwide criminal organization and it's mysterious leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, in three books: Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and You Only Live Twice. The Bond films featured SPECTRE as an antagonist until Diamonds Are Forever in 1971. For legal reasons, the filmmakers have been unable to use Bond's most famous foe until now.

Ian Fleming's SPECTRE trilogy.

John Gardner's SPECTRE trilogy.

While the return of SPECTRE is exciting news, it's actually not the big first comeback for the organization. The "hook" of John Gardner's second James Bond novel, For Special Services, was that SPECTRE was back! Gardner created his own SPECTRE trilogy (like Fleming, interrupted by one non-SPECTRE book) with For Special Services, Role of Honor, and Nobody Lives Forever. That last book, released in 1986, saw the final appearance of SPECTRE in book or film until today.

"So, concluded Bond as he cleared the tray away and got down to his books, SPECTRE walks again! But down what road this time?"

- On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Cover art for new JOHN GARDNER German reprints

The first three James Bond novels by John Gardner will be reprinted in German with original cover art by Michael Gillette. You'll recall that Gillette did the covers for the Centenary editions of the Ian Fleming novels in 2008. Below are Gillette's covers for License Renewed, For Special Services, and Icebreaker, which come courtesy of Simon Gardner. Publication dates are yet to be announced.

License Renewed

For Special Services

Icebreaker

Thank you, Simon.

A James Bond EXPLOSION!

Now that we're coming down from all the excitement over the release of the new Bond novel (Solo by William Boyd), and as we settle into the wait for the new Young Bond adventure from Steve Cole, here's a little something to keep our energy up. "It's a James Bond Explosion!" from John Gardner.

This is a header of a book display used in the early '80s for the U.S. edition of For Special Services. But what exactly did this display contain? Did it contain both License Renewed and For Special Services? And were these hardcovers or paperbacks?

Does anyone remember seeing this in bookstores back in the '80s?

From Italy FOR SPECIAL SERVICES

This is an Italian trade paperback edition of John Gardner's second James Bond novel, For Special Services (1982), with terrific cover art. Apart from the Conneryesque silhouette, the Saab, and the oh-so-'80s Bond girl, I love that the gun Bond is holding is the Heckler & Koch VP70, which is unique to this book. Gardner tried three different handguns for 007 before settling on the ASP in his fourth book, Role of Honor.

All the John Gardner James Bond novels were recently reprinted. Visit The Book Bond's special Gardner Renewed page for links to all the Gardner-Bond reprints in the U.S. and UK.

The Most Dangerous Covers Ever...

We've been talking a lot about James Bond cover silhouettes lately; from the U.S. silhouettes of the 1980s to the alleged "Brosnan" silhouette of 1990 to the move away from silhouettes on the new Classic covers from Vintage. So I thought it was time to post up these reprints of the first six John Gardner books in the UK by Coronet (No Deals, Mr. Bond was a first). These were released in 1987 and I always thought the new cover silhouette looked like Timothy Dalton, who was reigning as "The Most Dangerous Bond Ever" at the time. Look at the looser cut of his tux and the longer hair... I don't know, says Timmy D to me.

Oh course, Timothy Dalton would only make two Bond films, The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence To Kill (1989), and Coronet would revamp the Gardner (and Fleming) covers in the 1990s. So even if these silhouettes aren't inspired by Dalton, these were the books on the shelves during his era, so I will always think of these as "the Dalton editions."

FOR SPECIAL SERVICES 30th Anniversary

After his successful comeback in 1981's License Renewed, John Gardner's James Bond 007 returned in April of 1982 in For Special Services. The book was first published in the U.S. by Coward, McCann & Geoghegan and saw James Bond on loan to the CIA where he teams with Felix Leiter's daughter, Ceder, to stop a resurgent SPECTRE. As with its predecessor, For Special Services became a New York Times Bestseller. Bond was BACK!

For the record, For Special Services is still one of my favorite continuations novels with one of the very best titles. I always thought it was THE Gardner book that best lent itself to a film adaptation (although with the Craig era and new tone, I now think Icebreaker takes that honor).

For Special Services book was recently republished in new paperback editions from Orion in the UK and Pegasus in the U.S. It's worth revisiting in its anniversary year.

LICENCE RENEWED and FOR SPECIAL SERVICES now shipping

The first of the new John Gardner UK paperback reprints, Licence Renewed and For Special Services, are now shipping from Amazon.co.uk.

Icebreaker was originally scheduled to be included in this first release, but it will instead be in the next batch of four books due out May 10. The plan is to reprint all the John Gardner James Bond paperbacks with new cover designs by Dan Mogford. The scheduling has been a little fluid, but here is the release schedule as it stands today:

OUT NOW:

Licence Renewed

For Special Services

May 10, 2012:
Icebreaker

Role of Honour

Nobody Lives For Ever
No Deals, Mr. Bond

August 2, 2012

Scorpius

Win Lose or Die
Licence To Kill
Brokenclaw
The Man From Barbarossa
Death Is Forever

November 8, 2012
Never Send Flowers
SeaFire
GoldenEye
COLD

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

Limited John Gardner THE JAMES BOND COLLECTION box set released in UK

The John Gardner JAMES BOND COLLECTION box set from Orion Books has been released in the UK. Limited to an initial print run of 200, the set contains the new hardcover reprints of Gardner's first five 007 novels: Licence Renewed, For Special Services, Icebreaker, Role of Honour, and Nobody Lives For Ever. The books all feature their original UK cover art.

The set is currently 44% off at Amazon.co.uk, bringing the price down from £80.00 to £44.80.

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

The John Gardner James Bond Box Set features the original UK cover art (above).

First set of JOHN GARDNER U.S. reprints now shipping

The first three John Gardner U.S. reprints from Pegasus, License Renewed, For Special Services, and Icebreaker, have slipped out ahead of their official Oct 12 release date and are shipping NOW from Amazon.com. Below is the final cover art, which is a vast improvement over the originally planned art, IMO.

Click to enlarge

These first three books contain new introductions by Raymond Benson and Otto Penzler, and mark the first time the Gardner books have been published as trade paperbacks in the U.S. Role of Honor and Nobody Lives Forever are scheduled for release next year.

Check out our special Gardner Renewed page for links and the latest release date information on all the Gardner-Bond reprints in the U.S. and UK.

Thanks to Anders at From Sweden With Love for the higher res cover images.

UPDATE: Got 'em!

FIRST SET OF JOHN GARDNER 007 REPRINTS RELEASED TODAY

The first three hardcover reprints of the classic John Gardner James Bond novels are released today by Swordfish/Orion Books. The titles are License Renewed (first published in 1981), For Special Services (1982), and Icebreaker (1983). The books each feature their beautiful original cover art (above). The cover for License Renewed is done by Richard Chopping, who provided covers for many of the Fleming titles.

Rowland White, Non-fiction Publishing Director and Publisher of Swordfish says: “As I grew up in the 1980s, John Gardner’s Bond was, to a large extent, my Bond. I missed out on the chance to anticipate the publication of a new Bond from Ian Fleming. Instead I looked forward to my next fix of 007 from the hand of John Gardner. It’s a huge pleasure and privilege to now have the opportunity to publish new editions of these classic thrillers on the Swordfish list.”

John Gardner

Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd said “We are delighted that the 30th anniversary of the first Gardner Bond novel is being celebrated with such a lovely edition. I can’t imagine a more fitting tribute to one of our longest serving and most dedicated Bond authors.”

Simon Gardner, the author's son, said "My father, John Edmund Gardner, was extremely proud to have been asked to take on the role of Bond continuation novelist, and if he were alive today he would be overjoyed to see his Bond novels back in print for a new generation of fans to enjoy. On behalf of the family, I would like to say how pleased we all are that The Orion Publishing Group are re-printing these first five novels, complete with their original jackets. It is very exciting that these will be released under Orion's new imprint, Swordfish. We all find it hard to believe it is the 30th anniversary of the publication of Licence Renewed."

Personally, I'm extremely excited about the release of these books. I also grew up with Gardner's Bond. I can recall when and where I got every book, and who I was at the time. The Gardner books are really what made me such a fan of the literary 007. I also lobbied for 30th Anniversary editions, so this is a dream come true. I'm thrilled that younger fans can now rediscover John Gardner's James Bond for themselves.

Orion will release Role of Honor and Nobody Lives Forever in July. They will then release a Box Set of all five hardcover reprints in November, and then ALL the John Gardner James Bond novels in paperback with all-new cover art throughout 2012 and 2013. For the full release timeline, visit our special Gardner Renewed page.

Original ads for License Renewed, For Special Services, and Icebreaker

LINK: The best Bond car ever

"James Bond is back in a Saab Turbo."

Say what?

That's right. When James Bond returned in 1980 in the first John Gardner novel License Renewed, the author gave 007 a "fuel efficient" Saab Turbo 900. The car was nicknamed "the Silver Beast" and it appeared in the next two books, For Special Services and Icebreaker. Most younger fans now balk at the idea of James Bond driving such a "common" car, but for my money the Saab was the greatest Bond spy car of them all precisely because it was a common car. But oh the secrets it hid under its hood.

Click here for my look back at Bond's Beast.

.