Two Moneypenny short stories now FREE on Kindle

IFP is offering Samantha Weinberg's two Moneypenny short stories in a FREE Kindle collection called The Moneypenny Diaries: Secret Chapters. 

Kate Westbrook, niece of the intrepid Miss Moneypenny and editor of her famous diaries, has uncovered two more of her aunt's formerly-classified adventures. 

 Short stories First Date and For Your Eyes Only, James offer a tantalising (and candid) glimpse into the life of James Bond's confidante and co-conspiritor: the ever-resourceful Miss Moneypenny...

 

"First Date" was originally published November 11, 2006 issue of The Spectator and "For Your Eyes Only, James" first appeared in the November 2006 issue of Tatler. 

The Moneypenny Diaries: Secret Chapters is available at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

RAYMOND BENSON Bond novels and MONEYPENNY DIARIES released as eBooks

The six James Bond novels by Raymond Benson and the three Moneypenny Diaries novels by Kate Westbrook a.k.a. Samantha Weinberg have been released by IFP as eBooks. The eBooks sport terrific new cover art and are available for the Kindle from Amazon in the U.S. and UK.

James Bond eBooks by Raymond Benson

Zero Minus Ten - Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk

The Facts of Death - Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk

High Time To Kill - Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk

Doubleshot - Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk

Never Dream of Dying - Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk

The Man With The Red Tattoo - Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk

The Moneypenny Diaries eBooks

Guardian Angel - Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk

Secret Servant - Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk

Final Fling - Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk

Thanks to IFP for the cover images.

MONEYPENNY DIARIES TRILOGY released as audiobooks

Great news today! [Dark] over at the CBn Forums has discovered that all three novels in The Moneypenny Diaries trilogy by Kate Westbrook (a.k.a. Samantha Weinberg) have been released as unabridged audiobooks in the UK.

All three audiobooks, Guardian Angel, Secret Servant, and Final Fling are read by actress Eleanor Bron and can be purchased at AudioGo.

Click here to read my interview with author Samantha Weinberg.

A Bond by any other name

I'm always fascinated to learn rejected or working titles for the James Bond books. Here's a list of Bond books by some proposed original titles:

The Double-Oh Agent (Casino Royale)
You Asked For It (Casino Royale US paperback title)
The Undertaker's Wind (Live And Let Die)
Monday's Are Hell (Moonraker)
Too Hot To Handle (Moonraker US paperback title)
The Richest Man In The World (Goldfinger)
Death Leaves An Echo (For Your Eyes Only)
Paris Courier (From A View To A Kill)
The Belles Of Hell (On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
The Golden Gun (The Man With The Golden Gun)
Trigger Finger (The Living Daylights)
Meltdown (License Renewed)
You Only Die Once (Nobody Lives Forever)
Tomorrow Always Comes (No Deals, Mr Bond)
Licence Revoked (Licence To Kill)
Blonds Prefer Gentlemen (Gardner choice for unknown book)
No Tears For Hong Kong (Zero Minus Ten)
The World is Not Enough (The Facts of Death)
A Better Way To Die (High Time To Kill)
Doppelganger (Doubleshot)
Red Widow Dawn (The Man With The Red Tattoo)
Out of Breath (SilverFin)
Double M (Blood Fever)
Shoot the Moon (Double or Die)
Lagrimas Negras (Hurricane Gold)
The Shadow War (By Royal Command)
Endgame (Moneypenny Diaries: Final Fling)

I've yet to learn of any rejected titles for Devil May Care.

Moneypenny makes it to America

Samantha Weinberg's excellent series of Miss Moneypenny novels are at long last making their way to America. Book 1, The Moneypenny Diaries, is published by Thomas Dunne Books and can be purchased now on Amazon.com.

Weinberg's "Diaries" comprise a trilogy of novels, all three of which have been released in the UK. No word yet on when the next two books, Secret Servant and Final Fling, will make it across the pond.

Read my exclusive interview with Samantha Weinberg aka "Kate Westbrook" HERE.

Starlog reports Oberhauser in BY ROYAL COMMAND

Warning: Nostalgia Alert.

Back before the internet told us, well, everything, the way us rabid fanboys got the latest James Bond news was from Starlog magazine. While Starlog was, technically, a magazine devoted to the Sci-fi genre, it always had a particular fondness for 007, and I can recall with excitement seeing in Starlog the first photos of Roger Moore in A View To A Kill (“He still looks great! Really!”), and Starlog’s famous Moore/Connery cover (right) was the opening salvo of 1983’s “Battle of the Bonds.”

That’s why it’s a pleasure to report that the current issue of Starlog (#366) contains a Young Bond scoop (of sorts). The main feature is a very fine interview with Samantha Weinberg, author of sister series The Moneypenny Diaries (which is just being released in the U.S.), but in a smaller article about the other 2008 Bond releases, there’s this little gem about Young Bond 5:

“Meanwhile, Charlie Higson is expected to accomplish his mission by delivering his fifth and final Young Bond novel, By Royal Command, for publication in September. This story features Hannes Oberhauser, Bond’s skiing and climbing teacher, and an important figure during his adolescence -- one whose murder, decades later, 007 avenges in Octopussy.”

For the record, we actually got this news from Charlie and first reported it here, so it’s possible we are the source for Starlog. But, hey, this is still cool news that’s worth repeating, and I love the idea that fans who don’t obsessively follow all the latest news on the net will discover this choice bit of By Royal Command coolness the way we did back in the day...in Starlog!

Bonding in 2008 (Updated)

Welcome to 2008, a year that promises to be a HUGE year for the Bond fan. Not only do we have a new film going into production in just a few day's time, but there is an avalanche of new James Bond books ready to pour forth from Ian Fleming Publications and their publishing partners. Below is a list of what fans can expect from the literary 007 in 2008.

Ian Fleming Centenary stamps
The Royal Mail will pay tribute to James Bond starting January 8 when it releases a series of stamps featuring different covers of the original Ian Fleming novels.

German Young Bond releases
February sees Charlie Higson's fourth Young Bond novel is released in Germany as Reden ist Silber, Schweigen ist tödlich (Talk is Silver, Silence is Deadly). Book 3, titled Goldenboy in Germany, will be released as an audiobook read by actor Rufus Beck.

The Bond Code: The Dark World of Ian Fleming and James Bond
This unofficial paperback by Philip Gardiner promises to "radically reappraise everything we thought we knew about James Bond and his creator" by decoding occult clues, ciphers, and codes within the Ian Fleming novels. Sounds pretty kooky, but at least it's an original approach to a Bond study. Release date March 1. Amazon.com

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Ian Fleming's other hero, that magical car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang takes flight in a new illustrated collectors edition on April 8.

Double or Die U.S. edition
The third Young Bond adventure finally makes it to America on April 22. Charlie Higson's Double or Die will be published as a hardcover by Hyperion Books for Children and an audiobook by Random House. The book sports cool new atmospheric cover art by artist Kev Walker. "Double or Die is a new start for Young Bond in the states and I’m very excited about its release," says Charlie Higson.

Dr. No radio adaptation
In April, BBC Radio 4 will present a radio dramatization of the 7th Ian Fleming James Bond novel, Dr. No, with Toby Stephens (Die Another Day) voicing 007.

For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond
This non-fiction book by Ben MacIntyre is set to coincide with the Imperial War Museum exhibit of the same name. For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond looks at the influences that went into the creation of James Bond. Publication date in the UK is April 7 (Amazon.co.uk) and in the U.S. on April 29 (Amazon.com).

French Hurricane Gold
On April 15 Gallimard Jeunesse will release Hurricane Gold in France under the title Menace sur l'Eldorado (Threat on the El Dorado).

Bound Bond: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design
This exhibit will be on show at the Fleming Collection gallery from 22 April to 28 June 2008. Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design charts the role of artists and designers in creating and defining the Bond look from Casino Royale through Young Bond, The Moneypenny Diaries, and Devil May Care. No word yet if there will be an accompanying book...but here's hoping!

The Moneypenny Diaries: Final Fling
Was Miss Moneypenny murdered? The Moneypenny Diaries trilogy concludes on May 1 with the UK hardcover publication of Final Fling by Kate Westbrook (aka Samantha Weinberg). Amazon.co.uk

James Bond The Authorized Biography paperback
May 1 also sees the first UK paperback reprint in 30 years of John Pearson's James Bond The Authorized Biography.

The Moneypenny Diaries U.S. edition
While Miss Moneypenny takes her "final fling" in the UK, she's just getting started in the U.S. with the long overdue publication of book 1, The Moneypenny Diaries on May 13. I've gotten a sneak peek of the U.S. cover art, and it's spectacular!

Devil May Care
Clearly THE Bond literary event of 2008 is the highly anticipated worldwide release of Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks ("writing as Ian Fleming") on May 28. Set in 1968, Devil May Care picks up where Fleming left off. "It's the return of the gunfighter for one last mission," says author Faulks. The book is being release in hardcover by Penguin 007 in the UK (Amazon.co.uk) and by Doubleday in the U.S. (Amazon.com). Audiobooks and large print editions are planned for the same day, as are dozens of international editions. Prepare for Bondmaina!

Hurricane Gold UK paperback
On May 28, Charlie Higson's golden 2007 bestseller Hurricane Gold will be published in paperback with slick new cover art to match the other books in the series. It will also contain a preview extract from Young Bond 5.

Ian Fleming reprints
Along with Devi May Care, IFP and Penguin 007 are celebrating the Centenary of Ian Fleming's birth by reprinting all 14 original Ian Fleming James Bond novels in hardcover with new cover art by Michael Gillette on May 29. Click here for the full list.

Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories
On May 29 Penguin will release a volume that for the first time collects all the Ian Fleming James Bond short stories, including Quantum of Solace, the title of which is being used for the new James Bond film. (Amazon.co.uk)

The Paradise Plot
Titan Books continues reprinting the classic James Bond comic strips with The Paradise Plot due on June 27 (Amazon.co.uk). The collection will also contain the story Deathmask. Lois Chiles provides the introduction.

By Royal Command
The fifth book in the Young Bond series, By Royal Command, comes out in hardcover in the UK on September 4th. The book finds young James battling spies in the Austrian Alps and England. The British Royal Family will also be involved in Young Bond's final adventure. Of all his books, Charlie Higson says this one will be the most Bond-like in themes and scoop and hints that it will echo OHMSS. I'm betting this will be the Bond book to beat this year. Expect an audiobook edition as well. (Amazon.co.uk)

SilverFin Graphic Novel
James Bond returns to the world of the graphic novel in an adaptation of the bestseller first Young Bond novel SilverFin by Charlie Higson. With artwork by Kev Walker, this is a must buy on October 2 (Amazon.co.uk).

The Union Trilogy
Pegasus Books will release a Raymond Benson James Bond omnibus in October 2008. The collection will contain 'The Union Trilogy" -- High Time To Kill, Doubleshot, and Never Dream of Dying -- plus the complete uncut version of the short story Blast From The Past (never before published in English).

Polestar
Titan Books second release of 2008 is Polestar due November 4 (Amazon.com). No word yet what other stories the collection will contain.

And there WILL be even more...

CBn swings with Final Fling cover art

CommanderBond.net has exclusively revealed cover art for the final book in Samantha Weinberg’s Moneypenny Diaries trilogy, Final Fling. The artwork is once again by Stina Persson who did the cover for the Secret Servant paperback.


Final Fling will be released in the UK in May 2008 and available to pre-order now on Amazon.co.uk. CLICK HERE to read plot details about this final Moneypenny novel.

U.S. Moneypenny Diaries available for pre-order

On Tuesday CommanderBond.net broke the news that Samantha Weinberg's Moneypenny Diaries trilogy is finally coming to U.S. Now we have the first volume available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Both Amazon and the publsiher's website show the title as just The Moneypenny Diaries, suggesting the book may not carry the Guardian Angel subtitle like the UK edition. So unless I learn otherwise, I'm going to refer to this U.S. edition as just The Moneypenny Diaries.

The Moneypenny Diares will be released as a hardcover on May 13, 2008, under St. Martin's Press Thomas Dunne Books imprint. Price is $23.95.

Moneypenny coming to America

CommanderBond.net has scored a major Bond literary scoop with the news that Samantha Weinberg's excellent Moneypenny Diaries trilogy is finally coming to American bookstores.

The first book, The Moneypenny Diaries: Guardian Angel will be released in the U.S. on May 13, 2008, under St. Martin's Press Thomas Dunne Books imprint, which specializes in suspense and mainstream novels. The book will be a hardcover and retail for $23.95.

Guardian Angel was first published in the UK in 2005.

Final Fling official plot teaser

It appears the information floodgates are starting to open on the big 2008 Bond releases. Over the weekend we got the Hurricane Gold paperback cover art, the SilverFin Graphic Novel has just appeared on Amazon...and now we score the official plot teaser for Samantha Weinberg's concluding chapter in her Moneypenny Diaries trilogy, Final Fling.

(Warning: Contains spoilers for those who have not read the first two novels.)

FINAL FLING combines the excitement of a cold war spy thriller with the mystery of a contemporary detective story. In the 1964/65 volume of her private diaries, Jane Moneypenny reports her demotion from the position of M’s secretary as the British Secret Intelligence Service is hit by a series of defection scandals. Facing considerable personal danger, she combines forces with 007 in a resolve to smoke out the mole she is convinced is buried deep in the heart of the Office. But, when Bond is sacked and M is forced into retirement, Moneypenny finds herself on her own…

Forty-two years later, Miss Moneypenny’s niece and heir, Kate Westbrook, starts to suspect that her aunt’s death was no accident. She is sure the clues to what happened lie in the search for the mole. As she pieces them together, however, she realizes that there are significant forces who are determined to prevent her finding the truth.

From the glamour of 1960s Jamaica to the treacherous beaches of the Outer Hebrides, FINAL FLING reveals just how far people are prepared to go to defend – or betray – their beliefs, and relates the life and death, and surprising final love, of the world’s most famous fictional secretary.

Bond is sacked? M is forced into retirement? Sounds like Final Fling is going to be a substantial (and maybe controversial) contribution to the James Bond continuation canon.

Final Fling is due for release in May 2008 and can be pre-ordered now on Amazon.co.uk.

Final Fling available for pre-order

The final book in Samantha Weinberg’s Moneypenny Diaries trilogy, Final Fling, is available to pre-order on Amazon.co.uk.

The Amazon listing shows the book as a hardcover and the release date as May 1, 2008 (we’ve heard it will be May, but the day might change). The listing also confirms our scoop from last May -- that Miss Moneypenny’s final adventure will indeed be called Final Fling.

Final Fling joins a crowded month of Bond releases. May 2008 will also see the release of Sebastian Faulks Devil May Care, the SilverFin graphic novel, the paperback edition of Hurricane Gold, and a paperback reprint of John Pearson’s James Bond the Authorized Biography.

CLICK HERE to read some exclusive details about this final Moneypenny novel.

More details of Miss Moneypenny’s Final Fling

We have for you today some exclusive news on the next (and final) volume of Samantha Weinberg’s Moneypenny Diaries trilogy.

We already shared with you that the title will be Final Fling, now, according to our Top Secret sources, we’ve learned that locations will include Jamaica, the Outer Hebrides (an island chain off the west coast of Scotland), Cambridge, and London.

The storyline will be almost evenly divided between the adventures of Miss Moneypenny and the modern adventures of author “Kate Westbrook.” There is also a romance -- but whose...that we couldn’t discover.

The cover design will be similar to the paperback Secret Servant. The book will be released in May 2008, but the exact day of release is not yet set.

Secret Servant paperback released

The paperback edition of Secret Servant by Samantha Weinberg (aka Kate Westbrook) is officially released today in the UK.

Secret Servant is the thrilling second book in Samantha’s Moneypenny Diaries Trilogy. In it, Miss Jane Moneypenny travels to Russia where she’s swept up in Cold War intrigue and uncovers dark secrets about her own past.

The book also reveals details of exactly what happened to Commander Bond during his infamous “visit” to Russia between You Only Live Twice and The Man With The Golden Gun.

Samantha Weinberg is currently at work on the concluding chapter of the series, Final Fling, which takes place during the same time period as the recently announced Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks. Both books will be released in 2008.

Thus far, the Moneypenny novels have only been published in the UK.

Moneypenny takes a ‘Final Fling’

Looks like it’s THE week for big Moneypenny Diaries Vol. 3 news. Yesterday Bond And Beyond gave us the UK hardcover and paperback release dates, and while it has not yet been officially announced by Ian Fleming Publications, The Young Bond Dossier has received solid intel that the title of Moneypenny 3 will be:

FINAL FLING

As the title suggests, Final Fling will be the concluding chapter of Samantha Weinberg’s Moneypenny Diaries saga.

Samantha Weinberg talks Moneypenny

Author Samantha Weinberg (aka "Kate Westbrook") has written a fascinating article about Miss Moneypenny in the November 11 issue of The Times Magazine. The article can also be read online HERE.

The Moneypenny Diaries author has been on a creative roll lately. Not only has November seen the publication of her second Moneypenny novel, Secret Servant, but she also published two short stories: For Your Eyes Only James and Moneypenny's first date with Bond.

Samantha also makes a pretty fetching Miss Moneypenny herself (above). Hey, maybe when casting comes around for Bond 22... Just saying.

Second Moneypenny short in The Spectator

A second original James Bond/Miss Moneypenny short story by author Samantha Weinberg (aka Kate Westbrook) has been published in the November 11th issue of The Spectator, a UK weekly magazine focused on political and current events. The story is included as part of a special James Bond pullout supplement.

"Moneypenny's First Date With Bond" chronicles the first meeting between 007 and M's loyal secretary. The story has also been published online at www.spectator.co.uk (registration is free).

In addition to the short, The Spectator's Connoisseur's Guide to James Bond  includes a second article by Samantha about Miss Moneypenny's unique relationship with Bond, as well as a lengthy article about 007 by Young Bond author Charlie Higson.

The first Moneypenny-Bond short story, "For Your Eyes Only, James," was published in the November issue of Tatler magazine.

BOOK BOND REVIEW: Miss Moneypenny is BACK

The Moneypenny Diaries series really "clicks" with Samantha Weinberg's deft second book, Secret Servant. Like espionage itself, you're not too sure where things are headed nor what information is relevant, until a startling revelation suddenly makes your vision clear and you realize EVERYTHING is relevant and danger abounds. Secret Servant reveals this series to be a single narrative, reaching all the way into the present. It also reveals it to be intricately layered, ambitious, and very very clever.

Secret Servant uses a structure similar to the first book of the series, Guardian Angel. In the first half of the novel Miss Jane Moneypenny is generally an observer. This first half is tricky for the author and a little challenging for the reader as Miss Moneypenny is pretty passive. In this regard, it's very much a personal diary (Bond fans will delight in the "behind the scenes" take on Bond's assassination attempt on M). But because it's a diary there is also unique tension in how suddenly, and dramatically, the world can change in a day. In Secret Servant there are several of these dramatic entries which turn the world and the narrative on its head, including that most startling and transforming of all days, November 22, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was killed.

The second half of the book sees Miss Moneypenny thrown (convincingly) into a mission of her own (this time without James Bond by her side). Here the book assumes a more conventional thriller narrative, and a very good one at that. Unlike Guardian Angel, the mission in Secret Servant remains modest in scale (maybe because it doesn't included 007) and is much better for it. But the paired down scale still delivers plenty of Cold War suspense and some genuine Bondian action. Miss Moneypenny's hotel-room encounter with a sadistic Russian masseuse feels like something out of Fleming.

What is most surprising about Secret Servant, and what makes it the better of the two Moneypenny novels IMO, is the emergence of a contemporary story-line involving the consequences to fictional author Kate Westbrook (niece of Miss Moneypenny) over the publication of the first book. The real author, Samantha Weinberg, very cleverly interweaves the adventures of "Kate" throughout the novel, creating a parallel story -- a parallel diary of sorts -- which eventually ties into the story of Miss Moneypenny and provides the most intriguing springboard for the third book. It's also fun to ride the shift in tones between Miss Moneypenny's formal and domestic writing style and the more modern, independent style of Kate. Their voices and points of view define their worlds as clearly as the subtle change in font.

Unlike the first book, James Bond is largely absent for Secret Servant. That's okay. He's not missed. In Secret Servant, Miss Moneypenny and "Kate Westbrook" confidently assume front and center of this series, hurtling along with the reader toward an exciting (and possibly tragic?) climax in volume 3 -- which cannot come soon enough for this reader.

New Bond-Moneypenny short story in Tatler

Here's a treat for Bond literary fans! The November issue of Tatler magazine, on stands now, features an original James Bond/Miss Moneypenny short story by Moneypenny Diaries author Samantha Weinberg (aka Kate Westbrook).

Titled "For Your Eyes Only, James" the fully illustrated story runs approximately 3,000 words and describes a weekend Bond and Moneypenny spend in Royale-les-Eaux in 1956 (setting of Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, Casino Royale). Author Weinberg says she hopes the story is "fun in a rather risque manner."

This is the first James Bond short story since Raymond Benson's "Live At Five" appeared in TV Guide in the 1999.