Anniversary BONDS for 2022

HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to another year of The Book Bond. This year will see a NEW Bond adventure, With A Mind To Kill by Anthony Horowitz. 2022 also marks a few anniversaries. How time flies when you're having fun!

60th Anniversary

Ian Fleming's most experimental Bond novel, The Spy Who Loved Me, is told entirely from the point of view of the heroine, Vivienne Michel. Published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on April 16, 1962. Released the same year of the first James Bond film, Dr. No.

40th Anniversary

John Gardner's second James Bond novel, For Special Services, finds 007 teaming up with the CIA and the daughter of Felix Leiter.  The first U.S. edition was published by McCann and Geoghegan on May 3, 1982. The UK edition by Jonathan Cape (pictured) came in September.

30th Anniversary

John Gardner's 11th original James Bond novel, Death Is Forever, finds 007 is a race to stop a terrorist attack on the newly opened English Chunnel. The U.S. edition from Putnam was published in June. The UK edition (pictured) was released by Hodder & Stoughton on July 2, 1992.

25th Anniversary

Raymond Benson debuts as the new continuation author with Zero Minus Ten, a timely 007 adventure dealing with a threat to Britain's handover of Hong Kong to China. The UK edition (pictured) was released by Hodder & Stoughton on April 3, 1997. The U.S. edition from Putnam was released on May 5, 1997.

20th Anniversary

Raymond Benson's final Bond adventure, The Man With The Red Tattoo, sees James Bond returning to Japan. The UK edition (pictured) was released by Hodder & Stoughton on May 2, 2002. The U.S. edition from Putnam was released on June 10, 2002.

Other anniversaries include: From Russia With Love (65th), Colonel Sun (55th), Serpents Tooth (30th) Tomorrow Never Dies (25th), Die Another Day (20th), Double or Die and Hurricane Gold (15th), and Red Nemesis(5th).

The Folio Society releases The Spy Who Loved Me

The Folio Society has released their next illustrated slip-cased Ian Fleming classic, The Spy Who Loved Me.

The latest volume in Folio’s celebrated Bond collection features a unique twist: for the first and only time in the series, we witness the agent’s adventures through the eyes of another character. Observed by a woman who finds him both frightening and alluring, Bond is exposed in a way that the reader has never seen before – making The Spy Who Loved Me an essential read for anyone wishing to get under the skin of the famous secret agent. This edition features a smart binding inspired by the agent’s suits, and a series of exquisitely glamorous – and daring – illustrations by series artist Fay Dalton. For this edition we have also reintroduced Fleming’s original prologue, which had been removed from all modern editions of the text. In an unusual move by the author, this short introduction suggests that the manuscript had been left on his desk by Vivienne Michel, the character who narrates the book.

The Spy Who Loved Me Folio Edition is priced at $62.95 and is available now from the Folio Society website.

Also available are illustrated editions of Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever, From Russia With Love, Dr. No, Goldfinger and Thunderball.

BOND READS BOND

Check out this terrific photo of Sean Connery on the set of Dr. No with a copy of Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me. I've never see this shot before.

This comes from reader Gordon Li who shared this on The Book Bond Facebook page. Thank you, Gordon.

Rosamund Pike narrates new The Spy Who Loved Me audiobook

Actress Rosamund Pike, who played Miranda Frost in the 2002 James Bond film, Die Another Day, tells WENN that she recently did a new audiobook reading for Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me.

"I do a lot of audio books just for fun because I like using voice to create character. Most recently I've done one of the James Bond novels, The Spy Who Loved Me, which is coming out. It's the only one that was narrated by a woman. They're releasing the whole audio set of all 20 original Fleming/Bond novels next year."

Wait, did she say 20 books? Of course, Fleming only did 14 James Bond novels, so what are the additional six titles? The Young Bond books maybe? Or might we see select audiobook recordings of other adult continuation novels?

By the way, various media outlets are saying Pike is "the first woman to ever voice a 007 audiobook." Not so. Samantha Bond, who portrayed Miss Moneypenny in the Pierce Brosnan Bond films, narrated several of the Bond novels, as has former Bond Girl Joanna Lumley (On Her Majesty's Secret Service).