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.

Michael Gillette covers for ROLE OF HONOR and NOBODY LIVES FOREVER

The James Bond novels by John Gardner are being reprinted in Germany with original cover art by Michael Gillette (who did the covers for the Ian Fleming Centenary editions in 2008). License Renewed is out already; For Special Services and Icebreaker are due next month. Now two more Gillette covers have been revealed. Role of Honor and Nobody Lives Forever will be published on July 27, 2015, and can pre-ordered along with the rest of the books at Cross Cult.

Role of Honor

Nobody Lives Forever

CLICK HERE to check out the other John Gardner Bond novel covers by Michael Gillette. The artist also illustrated the cover of a new German reprint of Colonel Sun.

Thanks to Simon Gardner.

Second wave of UK JOHN GARDNER reprints now shipping

The second wave of John Gardner UK reprints from Orion are now shipping from Amazon.co.uk. The books are Icebreaker, Role of Honour and Nobody Lives For Ever.

Orion is reprinting all the John Gardner James Bond books in paperback with terrific new cover designs by Dan Mogford. Next up will be No Deals, Mr. Bond and Brokenclaw on July 5 (no, I don't know why Brokenclaw is being released out of order).

Visit our special Gardner Renewed page for links and release date updates for 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."

ROLE OF HONOR and NOBODY LIVES FOREVER now shipping in the U.S.

The next two John Gardner U.S. reprints from Pegasus, Role of Honor and Nobody Lives Forever, are now shipping from Amazon ahead of the official May 1 release date. Below is the final cover art, which is different from what we see online.

Now, for some reason, Pegasus has decided with these two books to do a somewhat different fusion of their own series design and the UK covers from Orion. While they've changed the font for "John Gardner", they've retained the title font from the UK edition on the covers and, most critically, the spines. Gardner's name also falls in a different spot on the spines. These means these two books don't exactly match Pegasus' first three releases, nor their next two.

Hmmm...

Okay, this doesn't matter to those who just want to read the books. But for us crackpot collectors who wanted a uniform set of new Gardners on our shelves, it's a little off-putting that they are now...not uniform. But they are still great to have.

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.

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).

MORE JOHN GARDNER PAPERBACK COVER ART REVEALED

More cover art for the new UK paperback editions of John Gardner's James Bond novels have been revealed on Amazon.co.uk. This time we get a first look at Role of Honour, Nobody Lives Forever, and No Deals, Mr. Bond.

Click to enlarge

I love that Role of Honour has a blimp on the cover, and the mace on No Deals is appropriate, but a scorpion on Nobody Lives Forever? I don't recall a scorpion in the book -- I was hoping for a vampire bat (the book contains a terrific sequence in which a vampire bat is dropped into the shower with Bond). But this is probably because the original UK hardcover featured a scorpion on the cover, so...

These three books are due out on May 10, 2012. Check out our special Gardner Renewed page for pre-order links and the latest release date information on all the Gardner-Bond reprints in the U.S. and UK.

ROLE OF HONOR and NOBODY LIVES FOREVER U.S. reprints in May 2012

1984 U.S. 1st edition

Listings have just appeared on Amazon for the U.S. trade paperback reprints of Role of Honor and Nobody Lives Forever from Pegasus. The listings show a release date of May 1, 2012.

There's no indication whether these editions will contain new introductions as will Pegasus' License Renewed, For Special Services, and Icebreaker reprints due for release on October 12, 2011.

It's also worth noting that Pegasus will release a new hardcover edition of John Gardner's 1974 Sherlock Holmes novel, The Return of Moriarty.

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

Orion releases ROLE OF HONOR and NOBODY LIVES FOREVER

Orion Books have released the next two hardcover reprints of the classic John Gardner James Bond title, Role of Honor (first published in 1984) and Nobody Lives Forever (1986). The books each feature their beautiful original cover art (above).

Today also sees the release of the License Renewed audiobook.

Simon Gardner says, "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."

Orion will 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.