Anniversary BONDS for 2024

HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to another year of The Book Bond. Here's a rundown of the Bond novels that will be celebrating notable anniversaries this year. Break out the bookmarks and champagne!

70th Anniversary

Ian Fleming's second Bond novel brings 007 to the United States on the trail of gangsters and pirate treasure. Live and Let Die was published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on April 5, 1954.

60th Anniversary

Ian Fleming sends James Bond to Japan in You Only Live Twice, published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on March 26, 1964. It was released in the U.S. in August by the New American Library.

40th Anniversary

John Gardner planned to take a break after his inital three book contract, but 1984 saw the suprise publication of his fourth Bond, Role of Honor, relased by Putnam in the U.S. in September and Jonathan Cape in the UK on October 4.

30th Anniversary

John Garder nears the end of his run with his 13th orginal Bond adventure, SeaFire, first published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton in August 1994 and by Putnam in the U.S. in September. 

25th Anniversary

My favorite Raymond Benson Bond novel, High Time To Kill, turns 25 this year. The book was published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton on May 6, 1999. The U.S. edition from Putnam (pictured here) was published on June 7, 1999.

10th Anniversary

Steve Cole continues the Young Bond series with his debute novel, Shoot To Kill, which finds young James in action in Hollywood. The book was released in the UK by Random House on November 6, 2014. There was no U.S. release.

Happy reading!

The Folio Society releases YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE

The Folio Society has released their next illustrated slip-cased Ian Fleming classic, You Only Live Twice.

The eleventh book in the enormously popular Bond series sees the agent fighting not only for his life, but for his very livelihood. The last book to be published before Fleming died, You Only Live Twice contains in abundance everything that makes a Bond novel so thrilling: exotic locations, glamorous women, grotesque villains – while also revealing a little more of what makes the agent tick. Fay Dalton continues her incredible work on this series, with seven gorgeous colour illustrations and a show-stopping pictorial slipcase. Japan makes an especially alluring location for both writer and artist, with Fleming giving Bond a whistle-stop tour of Japanese culture, while Dalton’s bewitching artworks make the most of every lush scene she brings to life. An unmissable volume in one of Folio’s landmark collections.

You Only Live Twice Folio Edition is priced at $69.95 and can be purchased from the Folio Society website.

Also available: Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever, From Russia With Love, Dr. No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

CHARLIE HIGSON talks You Only Live Twice

Young Bond author Charlie Higson talks about his first and still favorite James Bond movie You Only Live Twice on the Smersh Pod podcast. It's good to hear Charlie talking Bond again. Enjoy.

For my money, Charlie Higson's Young Bond novels are among the very best James Bond continuations, and I'd love to see him get a crack at doing an adult Bond novel. Maybe this is the right time for that?

The curious YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE tie-ins

For those who collect James Bond tie-in editions (copies of the Fleming originals reprinted with artwork or an acknowledgment of the corresponding film), here's one you may not be aware of. In 1967 the UK publisher PAN released a tie-in paperback edition for Sean Connery's You Only Live Twice with only a movie-themed dust-jacket wrapped around their regular first edition paperback. What's odd is they also released a version with this same movie cover art as their "second edition". I'm not sure which came first, but I would suspect the dust-jacketed version is the harder to find. Happily I stumped upon one at some point.

You Only Live Twice also received untypical treatment in the U.S. Up to this point, Signet had produced nice tie-in editions with original cover art. But for You Only Live Twice they simply applied a sticker to the cover of their current in-print edition. I'm wondering if this was purely an economic decision as they made have had a large stock of the paperback on hand. But one wonders how Eon would have felt about this, especially as Signet has produced unique tie-in editions for Charle's K. Feldman's competing Casino Royale.

You can see all the tie-in paperback editions in the two posts below:

UK JAMES BOND movie tie-in editions

U.S. JAMES BOND movie tie-in editions

Vintage to release THE SPECTRE TRILOGY in October

In what looks to be a gentle tie-in with the new James Bond film, SPECTRE, Vintage books will release The SPECTRE Trilogy on October 1st. The book collects the Ian Fleming novels, Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice.

These three novels had previously been collected and published under the title The Blofeld Trilogy in 2009.

You can pre-order The SPECTRE Trilogy now at Amazon.co.uk (UK) and Amazon.com (U.S.).

SKYFALL trailer - You Only Live Twice?

The official SKYFALL trailer is released today. Is it just me, or does this movie look like a spiritual adaptation of Ian Fleming's You Only Live Twice (in the way Die Another Day was an adaption of Fleming's Moonraker)? Either way, this looks absolutely sensational! Enjoy.

You can watch the International trailer, which shows even more footage, at 007.com. But I think the U.S. trailer above is the better preview.

'The Blofeld Trilogy' released in UK

CommanderBond.net reports that Penguin Classics new Bond anthology, The Blofeld Trilogy, has been released in the UK.

The Blofeld Trilogy collects the Ian Fleming novels Thunderball, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and You Only Live Twice -- all of which feature 007’s arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The book also features an introduction by Nick Lezard.

The Blofeld Trilogy trade paperback is available from Amazon.co.uk.

'The Blofeld Trilogy'

CommanderBond.net reports that Penguin Classics will release The Blofeld Trilogy on October 1, 2009.

This new omnibus will include the Ian Fleming novels Thunderball, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and You Only Live Twice -- all of which feature 007’s arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The book will also feature an introduction by Nick Lezard.

The Blofeld Trilogy paperback will retail for £14.99 and is available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk.