ON HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE paperback released

The UK paperback edition of Charlie Higson's On His Majesty's Secret Service is released today by Ian Fleming Publications. The paperback features revised text, exclusive content, and dynamite new cover art. The book supports the National Literacy Trust.

On His Majesty's Secret Service was a special one-off Bond novella to celebrate the coronation of King Charles. Higson authored the popular and acclaimed Young Bond series and really delivered with his first adult Bond novel.

My hope is that IFPL and Charlie will settle down together in a marriage that was always meant to be, and Charlie Higson will become the new official continuation novelist. I so miss the days of Gardner and Benson when we got a new Bond book every year. I'd love nothing more than a decade of regular James Bond adventures from Charlie Higson.

In the meantime, On His Majesty's Secret Service can be purchased from IFPL, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

Spybrary interviews Charlie Higson

Spybrary's Shane Whaley is joined by special guests Charlie Higson and Mark Ashby to discuss the revised paperback edition of On His Majesty's Secret Service, and what could have been for Young Bond.

LINK: ‘Bond’s gone woke!’ Charlie Higson on the row around his ‘metrosexual’ 007

Nice article by Charlie Higson in The Guardian for those who care to read and think. Click the headline above.

"I believe that as long as Bond can remain an outrageous fantasy he will endure. No Time to Die experimented with grounding Bond and giving him a reality. I prefer the cocktail-fuelled rush of the night before."

Higson's superb On His Majesty's Secret Service is released in paperback in the UK this week.

ON HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE limited paperback sells out in an hour

If there was ever a reason to subscribe to the Ian Fleming Publications newsletter, it was today. IFP offered 200 special signed paperback editions of Charlie Higson's acclaimed On His Majesty's Secret Service with sprayed 007 edges. They were available exclusively through the IFP online store and appear to have sold out within the hour.

You can still buy the regular paperback edition of On His Majesty's Secret Service via Amazon.co.uk. Release date is June 6.

Here's hoping Charlie and IFP are working on a deal for more books. Higson + Bond. This works!

Cover for paperback ON HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE revealed and it's a beauty!

Cover art for the paperback edition of Charlie Higson's On His Majesty's Secret Service has been revealed, and it's FANTASTIC! (imho) IFP has also posted an interview with the designer Mark Ecob of Mecob.

BOND SAVE THE KING

It's the 4th of May, two days before the coronation of King Charles III and the world's favourite spy has his work cut out for him.

Bond is sent at the last minute to thwart an attempt to disrupt the coronation by the deadly megalomaniac Æthelstan of Wessex, who is on a mission of his own to rule the United Kingdom and rewrite history.

Can Bond thwart his plans by infiltrating Æthelstan’s private army and ending his reign of terror before it begins?

In support of the National Literacy Trust.

THE NEW PAPERBACK EDITION FEATURES REVISED TEXT AND EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT.

The On His Majesty's Secret Service paperback will be released on June 6, 2024, and can be pre-ordered from IFP or Amazon.co.uk.

Seeing a proper cover like this just makes me want MORE! More traditional Bond adventures like this. More Charlie Higson! Let him take us into the next era of The Book Bond.

Season's Greetings from IAN FLEMING PUBLICATIONS

Ian Fleming Publications has signed off for the year with a lovely Christmas card and some parting words via their Moneypenny newsletter.

Trust that our 2024 strategy is approved and ready to put into action. I do believe I’ll be able to share some of it with you in January – we have some exciting missions planned. 

With this year marking the 60th anniversary of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, it’s fitting to leave you with some festive words from Fleming himself:

They were having a party up there, celebrating something. What fun these rich folk had, to be sure! And then Bond remembered. But of course! It was Christmas Eve! God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing ye dismay! Bond's skis hissed an accompaniment as he zigzagged fast down the beautiful snow slope. White Christmas! Well, he'd certainly got himself that!

Wishing all a Merry Christmas and Season's Greetings from The Book Bond. I'll see you next year!

IFP hosts a CELEBRATION OF BOND, Dec. 5

On December 5, Ian Fleming Publications will be hosting a celebration of James Bond and the 60th anniversary of Ian Fleming's novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service with a screening of the 1969 movie and a Q&A with Charlie Higson, author of On HIS Majesty's Secret Service. Tickets can be purchased HERE.

Sure beats staying home and watching a reality TV show! 😉

ON HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE enters 2nd printing

Ian Fleming Publications has tweeted that Charlie Higson's On His Majesty's Secret Service has entered its second printing. I don't know how large the first printing was, but it certainly sounds like the book is a success beyond expectations and I think that's fantastic news!

I've read the book and LOVED it. It fully lives up to its name. A traditional heroic James Bond 007 adventure with all the proper ingredients beautifully written by a man born to write Bond. I loved Charlie's Young Bond series and he nailed first crack at the adult Bond. I really hope this inspires IFP to commission more James Bond novels from Charlie as he's clearly the man for the job.

Congratulations to Charlie Higson and Ian Fleiming Publications for scoring this success. Oh, and congratulations to King Charles III as well!

You can purchase On His Majesty's Secret Service from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, and direct from Ian Fleming Publications.

Charlie Higson talks ON HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE

Really excellent interview here with Charlie Higson and David Zaritsky on The Bond Experience. So good to hear Charlie talking Bond again. Still waiting for my Goldsboro edition of OHisMSS to arrive from the UK, but I can't wait to read it! Enjoy.

You can purchase On His Majesty's Secret Service from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

ON HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE released today

Charlie Higson's On His Majesty's Secret Service is released today by Ian Fleming Publications. Charlie has written a terrific personal message that I'm taking the liberty of reproducing in full below. You can also read it HERE. I loved Charlie's work on the Young Bond series and I can't wait to get my hands on this new book. Thanks Charlie and IFP for giving this fan a much needed Bond boost!

To all Bond readers, Chapter One of SilverFin begins with the following line: ‘The smell and noise and confusion of a hallway full of schoolboys can be quite awful at twenty past seven in the morning.’ My first Young Bond novel was published in 2005 and my final Young Bond story, ‘A Hard Man to Kill’ was released in 2009. That seemed to be the end of that particular era of my writing.  Until now. It’s always an easy headline to say, ‘Bond is back’, so instead let’s boldly and modestly state ‘Higson has returned’. It’s been 14 years and much has changed with the world, with publishing, with popular culture and literature. But Bond hasn’t changed. And people still want to read Bond books. Including me. The time is always right for a James Bond adventure. Whether all is right with the world or all is wrong with the world, it is always a pleasure to relax at home with a cocktail, a cigarette and wearing a perfectly tailored suit (just me?) and become lost in the stories of Ian Fleming’s creation. The timing was particularly apt this year when in February 2023 I got the call from Ian Fleming Publications inviting me to write an original story for charity to time with the Coronation of King Charles III. A chance to dive back into the world of 007 – and produce a story in three weeks. How could I refuse? The day before I got the call, I had no notion of a new Bond adventure. It was not on my mind. And yet just a day or two after the call, the idea leapt almost fully formed – it shot out with the clarity and decisiveness of a poisoned blade hidden in the sole of a Smersh shoe. My story is set two days before the Coronation and finds Bond reflecting on his recent mission – to ‘neutralise’ a threat to King Charles III in the form of the self-styled Æthelstan of Wessex who sees himself as the true heir to the throne. The mission takes Bond to Croatia, Hungary and an ancient castle where Bond must take on Æthelstan and his army. Some things go as planned. Others do not. That is the case with this whole experience. And that’s okay. Myself and Ian Fleming Publications had not planned a new James Bond book for this year and yet here we are. With nothing but lots of encouragement, early morning scrambled eggs and late night coffee, we managed to create and deliver On His Majesty’s Secret Service in time for the historic occasion this May.

All royalties from the book are going to support the National Literacy Trust so please support their cause by buying a copy. It is available in hardcover (with some signed copies floating around), eBook and audiobook, read by me. So please, when you have finished watching the Coronation, sit back and lose yourself in Bond once again, as I have so enjoyed doing these last few months.

See you in another 14 years or so, Charlie Higson

Purchase  On His Majesty's Secret Service by Charlie Higson from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

Purchase ON HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE on the U.S. Amazon

Heads up! You can now purchase the UK edition of Charlie Higson's upcoming Bond novella On His Majesty's Secret Service on the U.S. Amazon for only $14.02.

This listing actually shows "in stock" and shipping in 3 to 4 days. IFP had tweeted that an audiobook read by Charlie Higson and eBook will also be released in the U.S., but no sign of those yet. They've also hinted at an official U.S. release in the future.

So here's a great way for U.S. Bond fans to have the book in hand on or near coronation day.

Purchase On His Majesty's Secret Service on Amazon.com.

Cover art for ON HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE

Cover art has been revealed for Charlie Higson's upcoming Bond novel On His Majesty's Secret Service. The book will be released on May 4, 2023 to mark the coronation of King Charles III. It's a simple cover suited to the occasion and considering this book was entirely conceived only a matter of months ago, I'm thrilled with everything about this!

You can pre-order On His Majesty's Secret Service by Charlie Higson from Amazon.co.uk. Goldsboro Books is also offering a signed limited edition.

New Bond book from CHARLIE HIGSON coming May 4

Some fantastic news this morning from Ian Fleming Publications. The great Charlie Higson, author of the Young Bond novels (and my favorite continuation author) has written a new adult James Bond book set to be published May 4, 2023. Yes, that's in just a month! Here's the full press release from IFP.

On His Majesty’s Secret Service:

Charlie Higson commissioned to write new James Bond adventure to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III

Published 4 May 2023, in partnership with the National Literacy Trust

LONDON. Charlie Higson, author of the bestselling Young Bond series, has been commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications to write a new James Bond adventure to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III, it is announced today, Friday 31 March.

On His Majesty’s Secret Service will be published on Thursday 4 May ahead of the Coronation on Saturday 6 May – and 60 years after the publication of Ian Fleming’s tenth novel, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, in 1963. All royalties from the sale of the book will go to support the work of the UK charity, the National Literacy Trust.

The action of this entirely new 007 adventure brings Bond into the present day. It is the 4th of May, two days before the coronation of King Charles III and the world's favourite spy has his work cut out for him. Bond is sent at the last minute to thwart an attempt to disrupt the Coronation by the wealthy, eccentric and self-styled Athelstan of Wessex, who is on a deadly mission of his own to teach the United Kingdom a lesson. Can Bond dismantle his shady plans and defeat his privately hired team of mercenaries?

Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, comments: “The Coronation of King Charles III is a momentous occasion for the country. We asked ourselves how we at Ian Fleming Publications could celebrate it, and the answer seemed obvious. Ian Fleming’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was first published on 1st April 1963. What better way, sixty years on, to mark this new chapter in history than with a brand new story: On His Majesty’s Secret Service? We shared our thoughts with Charlie, and he was delighted to take on the challenge of writing a Bond adventure in time for publication in May. Together we hope this book will give valuable support to the National Literacy Trust.”

Charlie Higson’s phenomenally successful Young Bond series has sold over a million copies in the UK alone and has been translated into more than 24 different languages. He adds:

“When IFP came to me with the idea of writing an adult Bond story a little more than a month ago, I was thrilled – until I realised it had to be ready for the Coronation in May. Getting it written and turned around in such a short space of time was going to be as tense and heart-pounding as any Bond mission. Although, of course, nobody would actually be shooting at me. But I’ve been thinking about writing an adult Bond adventure ever since working on the Young Bond books, and he came bursting out of me with both fists flying. It was all I could do to keep up with him and get his story down on paper. Fleming famously wrote fast, and I channelled that energy. And now it’s so exciting for me to finally enter the world of grown-up Bond. Everything you want from a Bond story is in there – sex, violence, cars, a colourful villain with a nasty henchman, and of course, Bond himself. So well-known and yet so unknowable.”

Jonathan Douglas CBE, Chief Executive of the National Literary Trust, says: “James Bond has been creating avid readers for seventy years and we are delighted that the royalties from On His Majesty’s Secret Service will go towards our own not-so-secret mission: to support the literacy skills of children and adults in the nation’s most disadvantaged areas. We hope that this partnership will create a whole new generation of readers, who will continue to discover the thrills of Bond for years to come.”

This brand new James Bond adventure arrives during a momentous year for Ian Fleming Publications. 13 April 2023 marks 70 years since the initial publication of Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale. The company are celebrating 70 years of 007 throughout 2023, with many events planned, including the release of the Bond books under their own imprint on 13 April.

On His Majesty’s Secret Service is published by Ian Fleming Publications. It will be available digitally as an eBook, as an audiobook (read by Charlie Higson), and as a hardback, online and in bookshops from 4 May.

This is great news and I can't wait to add this next Bond adventure to my shelf. 

You can pre-order On His Majesty's Secret Service by Charlie Higson from Amazon.co.uk.