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!

GOLDENEYE getting a Cross Cult release in 2024

German publisher Cross Cult, who have been re-releasing all the John Gardner James Bond novels with new cover artwork by Michael Gillette, will release Gardner's GoldenEye novelization in June 2024. I love this cover!

Thanks to Double O Section and The GoldenEye Dossier for the alert.

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).

Final JOHN GARDNER paperback covers revealed

Orion has revealed cover art for the final four John Gardner paperback reprints. Never Send Flowers, SeaFire, GoldenEye and COLD will be released in the UK on November 8, 2012.

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

Thanks to Louisa Gibbs at Orion for the first look.

Brosnan the bearded Bond

Here's a wild Bond cover you've never seen. Because it was never actually used. This is a prototype cover for the UK paperback edition of John Gardner's GoldenEye novelization (from my own collection). The photo used here was Pierce Brosnan's first publicity shot as 007. At the time, he was filming Robinson Crusoe, hence the beard and long hair. Pretty cool, eh? Ironically, Brosnan would end his tenure as Bond sporting a very similar look in Die Another Day.

One thing I really like about this cover is the fact that it fits in with the James Bond series design of the time. When the novelization was finally released in November 1995, the final cover was not in this style. That's also a very early version of the GoldenEye logo.

CONFIRMED: New Gardner paperbacks to include Licence To Kill and GoldenEye

Great news! Ian Fleming Publications has confirmed that the Orion paperback reprints of the John Gardner James Bond novels will include his two novelizations, Licence To Kill (1989) and GoldenEye (1995).

Original UK paperback editions of Licence To Kill and GoldenEye

CLICK HERE for more information on the upcoming John Gardner James Bond reprints in both the UK an U.S.