LINK: Bond break (Wild About Harry)

LINK: James Bond - the 'final' Jonathan Cape editions

Our friend Peter Crush is back with a look at the final Jonathan Cape hardcover printings of the Ian Fleming James Bond novels. All four parts are below:

James Bond - the 'final' Jonathan Cape editions: (Part 1)

James Bond Last impressions Part 2: Firsts & Lasts side-by-side

The 'last impressions' (Part 3): Dr No to Thunderball - compared

Ian Fleming 'last impressions' (part 4): The final four books!

This inspired me to have a look at my own "final" hardcovers. I picked these up in 1987 during my first trip to England. Not a complete set, but all still in beautiful condition.

Keep 'em coming, Peter!

LINK: Advance printings: Why I don't think we've found them all...

Another breakthrough post by our friend Peter Crush at James Bond First Editions. This time Peter tells us about advanced printings of the Fleming Bond books. This is all new to me! Click the headline or the image below to learn all about them.

LINK: Boots 'Booklovers' books - amongst the 'very first,' of the 1sts

Another knockout post by Peter Crush at James Bond First Editions. I had never heard of the Boots Booklovers editions. Now I know all about them! Click the headline link or the image below to learn all about them yourselves.

LINK: Do Ian Fleming book collectors badly need a new film too?

If you are not familiar with the website James Bond First Editions, then you've got a treat coming! It's a terrific site with a blog by Peter Crush that is sensational. Case in point is his post today about the impact Eon's current delay might be having on the books. Some really keen insights here backed up with stats. You can read by clicking the headline above or the image below.

LINK: Deciphering Fleming: Uncorrected proofs

Here's an excellent article by Peter Crush about Ian Fleming proofs. Click the headline or the image below to have a read at James Bond First Editions.

JOHN CORK on the 70th Anniversary edit controversy

When it comes to James Bond, there's no one whose opinion I respect more than John Cork. John has weighed in on the controversy over edits made to the upcoming 70th Anniversary Ian Fleming James Bond novels. This is well worth your time. Click the image below to read at 007 Magazine.

Variety reports 70th ANNIVERSARY editions will be edited

Today's Variety is reporting that IFPs new 70th anniversary editions of Ian Fleming original James Bond books will contain edits to remove perceived racist content. You can read the full article HERE. Below is an excerpt:

A commonly used pejorative term used for Black people by Fleming, whose Bond books were published between 1951 and 1966, has been removed almost entirely and replaced with “Black person” or “Black man.” In other instances, references have been edited.

For example, in “Live and Let Die” (1954), Bond’s opinion of Africans in the gold and diamond trades as “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much” has been altered to “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought.”

Another scene in the book, set during a strip tease at a Harlem nightclub, was originally “Bond could hear the audience panting and grunting like pigs at the trough. He felt his own hands gripping the tablecloth. His mouth was dry.” This has been revised to “Bond could sense the electric tension in the room.” A segment in the book describing accented dialogue as “straight Harlem-Deep South with a lot of New York thrown in,” has been removed.

For some additional context, both U.S. editions of Live and Let Die and Diamonds Are Forever were edited for sensitivity back in Fleming's day, so this isn't entirely new. But these edits appear to be going further than those and I'm sure this news is going to draw a lot of comment from Bond fans.

For me personally, I want the original unedited texts. Full stop. I was very happy when the U.S. editions were finally updated with the UK texts in 2002. Fleming's words and thoughts should remain unchanged, even if offensive. History and art should not be altered. But a disclaimer is certainly appropriate and I think a good idea.

But I also understand IFPs dilemma. They are marketing these editions to a mass audience and they have to deal with the times we are in. For those who want the unedited texts, you can certainly still find those. And maybe some day the texts will be returned to the original. I'm not sure if these changes will make these 70th Anniversary editions more collectible or less so, but they better have some pretty spectacular cover art to overcome the taint that I think these will forever have for Fleming purists.

Cover art above is from a 1970 Pan edition of The Man With The Golden Gun. UK cover art for the 70th Anniversary editions have not been revealed.

UPDATE: IFP have issued a statement HERE.

WITH A MIND TO KILL trailer and exclusive extract

Today our friends at Penguin Random House have released the official trailer and an exclusive extract from Anthony Horowitz's new Bond novel, With A Mind To Kill. Watch the trailer below (via my new YouTube channel) and read the exclusive extract HERE.

With A Mind to Kill will be released this week in the U.S. and UK. You can purchase at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Special UK editions are also available from Waterstones and Goldsboro Books.

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.

Ultra-rare The Man With The Golden Gun variant shows up in donation bin

3AW News has a report on a rare variant edition of Ian Fleming's The Man With The Golden Gun with embossed golden gun on front board that turned up in the donation bin of a charity bookstore in Sunshine, Australia.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Thanks to Patrick Donahue for the alert.

ANTHONY HOROWITZ appearance schedule

Here's a full list of Anthony Horowitz's upcoming UK appearances promoting his new Bond novel, Forever and a Day.

Waterstones Leadenhall: Lunchtime signing (June 1st)

Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall (June 1st)

Waterstones, Canterbury (June 6th)

Daunt Books, Marylebone (June 7th)

Waterstones Glasgow: Lunchtime signing (June 11th)

Waterstones Edinburgh (June 11th)

Waterstones Manchester (June 12th)

Waterstones Reading (June 13th)

Waterstones Brighton (June 14th)

Chiswick Book Festival (Sept. 15th)

Appledore Literary Festival (Sept. 22nd)

Henley Literary Festival (Oct. 3rd)

Cheltenham Literary Festival (Oct. 6th)

Forever and a Day will be released in the UK this Thursday, May 31. It can be purchased at Amazon.co.uk.

IFP celebrates 60 years of DR. NO

The Ian Fleming Publications website is celebrating the 60th anniversary of Ian Fleming's Dr. No. Their page doesn't show the first U.S. edition (which spelled out "Doctor"), so I thought I'd share it here from my own collection. This was published by Macmillan. I've always liked this cover.

Check out DR NO 60th Anniversary at Ian Fleming Publications.

LINK: Interview with NATHANIEL PARKER

The official Ian Fleming website has an interview with Nathaniel Parker, the stage and voice actor who has narrated all the Young Bond audiobooks. Click the headline to read.

Parker will be narrating the next Young Bond, Red Nemesis.

LINK: Donald E. Westlake's Sort-of James Bond Book Coming Out Next Year

Tanner over at the awesome Double O Section spy blog has details on a "sort of" James Bond novel by Donald E. Westlake coming out next year.

Titled Forever and a Death, the story was presumably adapted from an unused film treatment Westlake created for what would have been Pierce Brosnan's second James Bond movie.

Click here on the headline and read the full report on this rogue mission at Double O Section.

LINK: Exclusive Interview With James Bond Comic Book Writer Warren Ellis

The excellent Double O Section spy blog has an exclusive interview with Warren Ellis, who has penned two James Bond graphic novels, VARGR and the upcoming EIDOLON. Click on the headline to have a read.

"I never really thought of myself as an 'official' 007 continuation author before. I quite like that. Thank you." -Warren Ellis

A hardcover collected edition of VARGR (James Bond #1-6) will be released on July 5 and can be pre-ordered now on Amazon.com (U.S.) and Amazon.co.uk (UK). Eidolon begins in James Bond #7.

LINK: How the U.S. TRIGGER MORTIS cover came to be

Stephan Bäckman at the excellent James Bond Secret Agent blog has a terrific post about how artist Patrick Léger created the retro cover art for the upcoming U.S. paperback edition of Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz. The post includes different cover designs sketched by the artist. Click on the headline or link below to have a read.

This is how the US paperback TRIGGER MORTIS cover came to be.

The Trigger Mortis paperback will be released on September 6, 2016. It can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com.

1960s JAMES BOND comics from Japan reprinted

In 1964 the famous Japanese artist Takao Saito produced four loose adaptations of the Ian Fleming novels Thunderball, The Man With The Golden Gun, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and Live And Let Die. The stories were serialized in a monthly comic book and then later collected. Even though they were officially licensed, Glidrose put a stop to the series in 1967.

After remaining out of print for many years, these adaptations are once again available in four collected editions from Big Comics. Tanner over at at the excellent spy blog Double O Section, who broke this news, has all four in hand and has posted a terrific overview and review here:

Classic Japanese James Bond Comics Reprinted and Reviewed

The new James Bond Japanese comic reprints can be purchased from Amazon.jp.

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.

LINK: Interview with Richard Schenkman

The blog Artistic Licence Renewed (literary007.com) has a must-read interview with Richard Schenkman who published the great James Bond fanzine BONDAGE from 1974 to 1989. He even shares his thoughts on the continuation novels:

"I never did quite understand why the movie producers steadfastly refused to consider adapting any of the new novels into films, but that was their call to make. I thought there were some great stories in those continuation novels, but the powers that be made the decision to keep the worlds entirely separate."

Click the headline have a read. You can also check out my full bibliography of the fanzine: 15 YEARS OF 'BONDAGE'.