RED NEMESIS working titles revealed

In an interview at the official Ian Fleming Publications website, author Steve Cole revealed two unused working titles for his just released final Young Bond novel, Red Nemesis:

"For the synopsis it was named On Moscow's Orders as a counterpoint to Charlie Higson's By Royal Command. Then the first draft it was called Dance With Death, which ultimately felt too generic. [...] I made a list of possible titles and Red Nemesis really seemed to sum it up, the idea how importantly dangerous the Soviet Union will figure in Bond's life. It also syllabically matched book three, Strike Lightning, just as Heads You Die matches Shoot To Kill. So that appealed to the nerd in me."

Read the full interview at Ian Fleming Publications

Red Nemesis is available in the UK in paperback and as a limited hardcover. The hardcover edition can also be found on the U.S. Amazon.

YOUNG BOND 7 not called "Hellstriker"

Recently a mysterious listing appeared on Amazon.co.uk for "Young Bond: Hellstriker." At first it appeared this might be the title of Young Bond 7. Recall that Amazon leaked the title of Hurricane Gold. But I've been told by the powers-that-be that Hellstriker is not the title of Steve Cole's next Young Bond novel. I expect the listing will be revised or removed, so I snatched an image for posterity.

Now, this could be a legit working title. There is precedent for this. Raymond Benson's High Time To Kill first appeared on Amazon under the author's original title, A Better Way To Die, so...

The release date of November 1, 2015 might also be erroneous. While I'd love a new Young Bond book in November, it's looking more likely that Steve's next will appear in 2016.

If you're a fan of working and rejected titles (as am I), check out: A Bond by any other name.

Daniel Craig on the unused IAN FLEMING Bond titles

BBC News has posted an audio clip from an interview with Daniel Craig getting his reactions to the unused Ian Fleming James Bond titles. When asked if he would star in a film with the following titles, Craig responded:

Risico - "Yeah, that's alright."

The Hildebrand Rarity - "Yeah, but that one came up a few years ago, I think that did, and they've not thought about naming a film after that. Yeah, maybe alright."

The Property of a Lady - "Ohhh... Sounds a bit like sort of a ladies magazine. I'm not sure that's a [interviewer interrupts before Craig can finish]."

007 in New York - "Is that a short story? Not the most exciting title I've ever heard."

Craig is currently shooting the new Bond film SPECTRE in central London. Photos from the shoot by the Daily Mail (above) have given rise to speculation that Bond's flat will be seen in the new film. If so, this will be the first appearance of Bond's home since Live and Let Die in 1973, and only the third time it's been seen on film.

Thanks to my friends at CommanderBond.net for this tip.

BIG NEWS!

It certainly has been quiet on the Bond book front lately. So while we wait for the title of Young Bond 6 or our first look at the paperback Solo cover art, here's some BIG NEWS from 34 years ago. Yes, 007 will return in a new book by John Gardner called…Meltdown?

Click to enlarge.

Of course, when the book was published, it was retitled License Renewed, and Gardner's contact extended beyond this initial three book deal to a total of 14 original novels and two novelizations. Bond was back!

Another title, MISTER Gardner?

This is a proof edition of John Gardner's fifth original James Bond novel. Made for reviewers and not for sale, proofs are collectible as they are technically the true first printings and can sometimes contains differences from the final book. This is the only Gardner proof I own. I got this because there is a major difference from the released book right on the cover. Can you spot what it is?

The difference is the title. Here it is, No Deals, Mister Bond, with "Mister" spelled out. When the book was released the title read, No Deals, Mr. Bond, using the abbreviation. Exciting, isn't it?

Of course, No Deals, Mr. Bond is generally considered the worst title of any James Bond book. Gardner's working title, which he shared in an interview with The Armchair Detective (Vol. 19, No. 3), was Tomorrow Always Comes, which is certainly better. I've also always thought the villain's name, Blackfriar, would have made a decent title. How they arrived at No Deals, Mr. Bond is a mystery to me.

"The sixth Bond synopsis has been accepted. And I think it will probably be called Tomorrow Always Comes." - John Gardner, November 20, 1985

Visit The Book Bond's special Gardner Renewed page for links to all the John Gardner James Bond reprints in the U.S. and UK.

Link: THE INFERNAL MACHINE

The terrific blog Letters of Note has posted a letter written by Ian Fleming in July 1954 discussing titles for what would be his third James Bond novel. Fleming's preferred choice: The Infernal Machine. He also toys with Wide of the Mark and The Inhuman Element.

But he later works on alternatives written in pen on the letter itself, until he settles on Moonraker. Great stuff!

Click on the headline to have look for yourself at Letters of Note.

Now that's a BOND title

As 007 fans eagerly await the title of the next James Bond film (will it be a Fleming or original?), I thought I'd throw up this terrific bookstore teaser from 1983 showing what was then the new James Bond book, ICEBREAKER. Certainly this is one of the great Bond titles for one of the very best Bond books. I'm also just partial to one-word Bond titles.

Ironically, ICEBREAKER was a title that author John Gardner had to fight for. In a 1985 interview with Bondage Magazine (Number 14) he spoke about what was then his fifth Bond novel (Nobody Lives Forever), saying:

"We haven't a title yet...I got an odd title that they said, 'Well, maybe...but maybe we can do better than that.' But they said that with Icebreaker. They went though a hundred and one different titles, and then went back to Icebreaker."

(BTW, Gardner's "odd title" choice for his fifth book was You Only Die Once.)

I expect Eon is currently going thorough their own one hundred and one title ideas. Let's hope when they settle it's a title that's as solid as ICEBREAKER.

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.

CHARLIE HIGSON reveals Young Bond 3 working titles & details

In an exclusive Q&A with fans on www.youngbond.com, author Charlie Higson has provided loads of info on Young Bond Book 3, including working titles, plot details, locations, and his ambition to make this third Young Bond novel a “Da Vinci Code for kids.”

Here’s the scoop from the man himself:

“The third book in the series will be out in January 2007 (just realised there’s a 007 theme to the year! Hope that’s a good omen). The working title for the book is ‘Shoot The Moon,’ but as we never stuck with the working title on the first two books it’s unlikely we’ll end up calling it that. Another working title is ‘The Big Smoke’ (which is the nickname for London – where most of the book is set).

I wanted to send James to a big city, as the first two books had mostly taken place in the countryside. I chose London because I live in London, I know it well and I love it. There are some fascinating unknown corners, and I wanted to do a sort of Da Vinci Code about the city, in which James has to follow a series of cryptic clues, to find out what’s going on and save the day.

As usual the book didn't end up anything like I imagined it was going to be, but there is still more of a mystery/clue solving element to this book than the first two. It’s as different to Blood Fever as that book was to SilverFin.

The background of the story is that an Eton master (Alexis Fairburn) has been kidnapped. He manages to send a coded message explaining what’s happened to him, and it falls into our hero’s hands. James then has 5 days to find out what’s happened to him before time runs out.

As I say, the story takes place over the course of one week in December, just before Christmas. (Another working title is ‘Six Days In December’.)

The missing master is a crossword fan (so he is good at making up clues) and a mathematician and the story is also about an early attempt to build a computer.

There’s lots of action, several nasty deaths, a car chase, a couple of explosions, a set of evil villains, a beautiful girl, and a climax in the old London docklands (when it was still full of ships).”

Later in the Q&A, Charlie spoke at length about this climatic location...

“In the 1930s the London docks were the biggest and busiest in the world. Docklands was known as the City Of Ships. People used to say there were so many ships in the Thames you could walk across their decks from one side of the Thames to the other without getting your feet wet. Now the whole area has been developed into a modern city (it’s where Canary Wharf and the City Airport are). The area used to be the heart of the old East End - The working class, cockney part of London. It was a really fascinating place with some very colourful characters, and I thought it would be a great setting for the climax of book 3.

Other parts of London in the books are the amazing Highgate cemetery in North London, the Hunterian museum at the Royal College Of Surgeons and Regent’s Park (Bond fans will know the significance of the park).”

The author also related how he got the ideas for each Young Bond novel, including Book 3...

“As I say, my initial idea was to do a sort of Da Vinci Code for kids. I wanted to have James solving some weird clues to find out what was going on. But as Bond is an action hero rather than a Sherlock Holmes type, I have put in more action and less clues. But I do still think that kids like the idea of clues and codes and secrets so there is quite a lot of that stuff still in there. I also wanted to write about some of the lesser-known corners of London. I got some of this in, but, again, the adventure story took over - I didn't want it to be guidebook, after all. I wanted to write about computers and code-breaking, so this is at the heart of the book. Proper computers weren’t built until the Second World War, but people were thinking about them in the thirties. I also wanted to bring back a character from an earlier book.”

Finally, Charlie teased that we will see the first Bondian “gadgets” of the series...

“...in book 3 there is an early computer, a pneumatic railway under London (driven by air pressure rather than electricity) and one of the villains has a combination weapon called an Apache – look it up on the internet and you’ll see what it is. Maybe one of you could e-mail in a picture if you find one.”

Fantastic stuff! And this is just a small sampling of what else is in this interview. To read the entire Q&A, head on over to www.youngbond.com and click on James’ trunk to enter the forums where the complete interview is posted.