JAMES BOND 007 under the Christmas tree

As I contemplate the holidays and another year without a new OO7 book or film, I'm feeling nostalgic for John Gardner's License Renewed. While the book was released in April of 1981, I received it as one of my Christmas presents that year. 

While I had found my dad's stash of Ian Fleming novels and had sampled some of them, this was the gateway book that made me a fan of the literary OO7. This was a Bond who walked in a world I was familiar with. And when For Special Services appeared the following year, I was a goner!

So here's a toast to License Renewed and the return of James Bond in 1981. We had a book every year and a movie every two years. It was all about entertainment, and James Bond never died. It was a great time to be a Bond fan.

Below are a few John Gardner-related posts you might enjoy. Happy Holidays.

THE RENAISSANCE OF '81

Rick Tulka's LICENSE RENEWED

BOND'S BEAST - WHEN OO7 DROVE A SAAB

JOHN GARDNER U.S. (true) first edition hardcovers

GARDNER LIVES FOREVER

Here's a full page from the June 15, 1986, Muncie Star with a review of John Gardner's Nobody Lives Forever. This beautifully captures the world in which the book was released. The review even says that Pierce Brosnan will soon be making his first Bond film, The Living Daylights. Yep. And check out those movies! Like paging through my old Bond fanzines, I love seeing my favorite OO7 books and films frozen in time like this.

Click to view and save full size.

Anniversary BONDS for 2024

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!

70th Anniversary

Ian Fleming's second Bond novel brings 007 to the United States on the trail of gangsters and pirate treasure. Live and Let Die was published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on April 5, 1954.

60th Anniversary

Ian Fleming sends James Bond to Japan in You Only Live Twice, published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on March 26, 1964. It was released in the U.S. in August by the New American Library.

40th Anniversary

John Gardner planned to take a break after his inital three book contract, but 1984 saw the suprise publication of his fourth Bond, Role of Honor, relased by Putnam in the U.S. in September and Jonathan Cape in the UK on October 4.

30th Anniversary

John Garder nears the end of his run with his 13th orginal Bond adventure, SeaFire, first published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton in August 1994 and by Putnam in the U.S. in September. 

25th Anniversary

My favorite Raymond Benson Bond novel, High Time To Kill, turns 25 this year. The book was published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton on May 6, 1999. The U.S. edition from Putnam (pictured here) was published on June 7, 1999.

10th Anniversary

Steve Cole continues the Young Bond series with his debute novel, Shoot To Kill, which finds young James in action in Hollywood. The book was released in the UK by Random House on November 6, 2014. There was no U.S. release.

Happy reading!

JAMES BOND AFTER FLEMING by Mark Edlitz

Mark Edlitz, author of the superb The Lost Adventures of James Bond, is back with a new book, James Bond After Fleming: The Continuation Novels. I'm a big fan of the James Bond continuation novels (obviously), so this is a book I'm very excited about! I've actually had the pleasure of seeing an advance copy, and I can tell you this is a top-notch piece of work and a must-have for fans of the literary James Bond and beyond.

Ian Fleming wrote twelve original James Bond novels and two collections of short stories. Despite the cultural importance of Fleming’s 14 books, they represent just a fraction of the Bond novels. Since Fleming’s death, his estate has authorized the publication of numerous Bond novels and spin-off works. 

These continuation novels include scores of books about Bond’s dangerous adventures, movie novelizations, a pseudo-biography, and various spin-off series about the teenage Bond, the Secret Service’s beloved secretary Miss Moneypenny, and the next generation agents in the Double O division. 

For the first time ever, Mark Edlitz offers a comprehensive overview of every exciting Bond adventure in one illustrated volume. Whether you are fully immersed in Bond’s world or new to the spy game, James Bond After Fleming is an essential reference book that is a must-have for any Bond fan.

Purchase James Bond After Fleming: The Continuation Novels at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

CALVIN DYSON | John Gardner 007 Era Wrap Up

My favorite Bond YouTuber, Calvin Dyson, wraps up his read-through of all the John Gardner James Bond novels with a final thoughts video. I've really enjoyed his Gardner reviews and I look forward to his read-through and reviews of the Benson books next.

NEVER SEND FLOWERS blooms at 30

It's another anniversary day. This time it's Never Send Flowers by John Gardner, released in the UK on July 15, 1993. To mark the occasion, here's a review from back in the day.

I've always liked Never Send Flowers. For me, it was a step up after The Man From Barbarossa and Death is Forever. I've always suspected Gardner was influenced by Silence of the Lambs and initially decided to write a James Bond horror novel. He seems to really be going for horror atmosphere. But he's not a horror writer, and after a few chapters he seems to give up on that approach and the book turns into a tale of James Bond in the world of make believe and the theatrical, culminating with a climax in EuroDisney. People poke fun at the idea of 007 at Disneyland. But I think the climax works and is in keeping with the theatrical theme. I also liked that the U.S. edition (released in May) went with black for their cover color this time.

If you want to give Never Send Flowers a try, you can buy the 2015 reprints at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Celebrating ICEBREAKER

 Ian Fleming Publications celebrates the 40th Anniversary of John Gardner's Icebreaker, released in the UK on July 7, 1983.

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Summer of '83

This summer sees two important James Bond 40th anniversaries. The first is the anniversary of the Roger Moore Bond film Octopussy, released in June 1983. I loved Octopussy when I saw it that summer and I still love it today. It will always be one of my favorite James Bond films. Remember when Bond movies provided fun and fantasy? Long live Octopussy!

Unfortunately, we never got a proper tie-in edition of Fleming's Octopussy and this was before the resumption of the novelizations (with the exception of these). As with For Your Eyes Only, the closest we came was a Marvel comic book adaptation written by Steve Moore with art by Paul Neary. The FYEO adaptation was published as two standalone comics, a paperback book, and a magazine. For Octopussy we just got the magazine. But you can bet I snapped it up and still have it. 

But there was another Bond release that summer that had me just as excited. John Gardner's third 007 novel Icebreaker was released by Putnam in April in the U.S. and July in the UK. Boy, was this a different James Bond from the movies! I admit at the time I didn't fully appreciate Icebreaker as it felt a little too different, not just from the films, but from Gardner's first two books that stuck closer to the Bond formula. But from day one I loved the title and idea of a largely snowbound 007 adventure set in the Arctic Circle. With subsequent re-reads, Icebreaker has become my favorite Gardner book and one of my favorite continuation novels in general. Long live Icebreaker!

Happy 40th Anniversaries to Octopussy and Icebreaker. For me these were both All Time Highs.

30 years of FOREVER

It was 30 years ago that John Gardner's 11th original James Bond novel Death Is Forever arrived in the U.S. bookstores. This was one of handful of titles that was released first in the United States. While not one of my favorite Gardner books, it was a thrill to have a new Bond every year and all the Gardner books remain special to me. 

Here's a review of the book from 30 years ago today. Is 007 forever? I think we know the answer to that!

The Indianapolis Star.

My own copy of Death Is Forever, purchased in 1992, has a sticker on the cover pitching it as a "Super Value!" I normally strip off any stickers to have a clean cover. However, when a sticker says something Bond specific, as this one does ("Bond is Back"), it stays. And this wasn't added later in a clearance sale. I bought all the Gardner books the instant they hit the bookstores and this sticker was there on day one. Would love to know the story behind it and how many books may have it.

You can buy the recent reprint editions of Death Is Forever at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Cross Cult to release DEATH IS FOREVER

Our friends at Commander Bond.net report that after after a six-year hiatus, German publisher Cross Cult will resume publication of the John Gardner James Bond novels next year. Below is the cover art for Gardner's 1992 novel Death is Forever, due for release on June 3, 2023.

Thanks to @CBn007 on Twitter for the alert. Click here to see more covers.

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.

LINK: The Writer, The Spy and The Silver Beast - John Gardner's 007

Very nice post on the official Ian Fleming Publications website about John Gardner's Bond and his choice of automobile. Click the headline to have a read.

LICENCE RENEWED 40th Anniversary edition

A new 40th Anniversary paperback edition of John Gardner's Licence Renewed is released today in the UK by Orion Books. It includes a new introduction by author M. J. Arlidge.

A brilliant nuclear scientist and a known terrorist - James Bond's most dangerous mission yet. 

Ian Fleming's 007 returns in an original, authorised Bond thriller with a new introduction from Sunday Times bestselling author M J Arlidge

The first of John Gardner's novels featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent. Bond has been assigned to investigate one Dr. Anton Murik, a brilliant nuclear physicist who is thought to have been meeting with a terrorist known as Franco. Together they plan to hijack six nuclear power plants around the world and start a global meltdown, unless Bond can stop them...

You can purchase the Licence Renewed 40th Anniversary paperback at Amazon.co.uk.

Rick Tulka's LICENSE RENEWED: Bonus

Today we conclude our special 40th anniversary celebration of John Gardner's License Renewed with a special bonus post. Collector Gary J. Firuta has been able to provide the three illustrations missing from the group we've been enjoying from the collection of Delmo Walters Jr. So now we have them all! Below are Rick Tulka's illustrations for Parts 6, 7, and the concluding Part 12.

A very big thank you to Delmo Walters Jr. and Gary J. Firuta for sharing these fantastic illustrations. You can revisit each of them below:

Bond for the '80s

Meeting with M

Ascot subterfuge

Lovely Lavender

Caber clobbered

Night flight!

Sniper's roost

Air Murik

Meltdown

Caber gets the boot

Rick Tulka's LICENSE RENEWED: Caber gets the boot

Continuing our special 40th anniversary celebration of John Gardner's License Renewed with another illustration by Rick Tulka. These appeared in a New York Post serialization of the book in July/August 1981 and are from the collection of our good friend Delmo Walters Jr.

Today Bond has his final battle with henchman Caber in the back of Anton Murik's C-130.

If this once again seems strangely familiar, that's because Bond has his climatic fight with henchman Necros in the back of a C-130 in the 1987 Bond film, The Living Daylights. Eon Productions appeared to freely harvest ideas from the Gardner books. It's shame they never did a proper adaptation, starting with License Renewed.

Tomorrow: Bonus

Rick Tulka's LICENSE RENEWED: Meltdown

Continuing our special 40th anniversary celebration of John Gardner's License Renewed with another illustration by Rick Tulka. These appeared in a New York Post serialization of the book in July/August 1981 and are from the collection of our good friend Delmo Walters Jr.

Today Bond desperately tries to halt Anton Murik's mad plan to initiate several simultaneous nuclear power plant meltdowns.

It might interest yopu to know that the original announced title for License Renewed was "Meltdown."

Tomorrow: Caber gets the boot

Rick Tulka's LICENSE RENEWED: Air Murik

Continuing our special 40th anniversary celebration of John Gardner's License Renewed with another illustration by Rick Tulka. These appeared in a New York Post serialization of the book in July/August 1981 and are from the collection of our good friend Delmo Walters Jr.

Today we find James Bond and Lavendar Peacock captives aboard Anton Murik's C-130 aircraft control center.

Tomorrow: Meltdown

Rick Tulka's LICENSE RENEWED: Sniper's roost

Continuing our special 40th anniversary celebration of John Gardner's License Renewed with another illustration by Rick Tulka. These appeared in a New York Post serialization of the book in July/August 1981 and are from the collection of our good friend Delmo Walters Jr.

Today we find 007 closing in on Anton Murik's fashion show assassin in Perpignan, France.

Tomorrow: Air Murik

Rick Tulka's LICENSE RENEWED: Night flight!

Continuing our special 40th anniversary celebration of John Gardner's License Renewed with another illustration by Rick Tulka. These appeared in a New York Post serialization of the book in July/August 1981 and are from the collection of our good friend Delmo Walters Jr.

This time Tulka shows us Bond's late night escape from Anton Murik's Scottish castle in his fully equipped Saab 900 Turbo.

Yes, James Bond drove a Saab in the first three John Gardner books, and it was awesome! At least I thought so. Check out my post: BOND'S BEAST - WHEN OO7 DROVE A SAAB.

Tomorrow: Sniper's roost

Rick Tulka's LICENSE RENEWED: Caber clobbered

Continuing our special 40th anniversary celebration of John Gardner's License Renewed, here's another terrific illustration by Rick Tulka. These appeared in a New York Postserialization of the book in July/August 1981 and are from the collection of our good friend Delmo Walters Jr.

Today's image sees Bond victorious in his Highland wresting match with henchman Caber (with an assist from Q-branch).

Click to enlarge.

Tomorrow: Night flight!