OO7 Goes SOLO (and Underground)

It's Bond Week in London and the official Ian Fleming Facebook page has just shared this photo of a Solo poster in the London Underground. Very nice!

Click to enlarge.

Solo by William Boyd will be released in UK by Jonathan Cape on Thursday (Amazon.co.uk). It's due to be released in the U.S. by HarperCollins on October 8, 2013 (Amazon.com).

WILLIAM BOYD talks Ian Fleming, James Bond, and Solo

Vintage Books has posted to their YouTube channel clips of William Boyd discussing Ian Fleming and his own James Bond novel Solo. So far they've posted 2 of 3 installments which you can enjoy below.

UPDATE: Part 3:

Solo will be released by Jonathan Cape in the UK on Thursday (Amazon.co.uk) and by HarperCollins in the U.S. on October 8, 2013 (Amazon.com).

James Bond drives a Jensen in SOLO

The promotional machinery in the UK has begun to churn for the release next Thursday of Solo, the new James Bond novel by William Boyd.

The Times has published a feature article about the author along with the first extract from the book. Unfortunately, the online version requires a subscription so I haven't been able to read it. But if you have a Times subscription then CLICK HERE and enjoy your first taste of Boyd's Bond!

One bit of information that has emerged via a report in the Mail Online is that Bond will be driving a Jensen in the new book. The Mail reports:

"Boyd said he felt his style matched the sentiment of the original Bond books - although he accepted that some hard-core 007 fans might be disappointed with his decision to tweak the original writer's style, even having his spy drive a Jensen rather than a Bentley or an Aston Martin."

This hardcore 007 fan is not at all disappointed. I love it when an author changes up Bond's car. (Saab anyone?) And I think a Jensen is an excellent good choice given the period (the book is set in 1969). I'm not sure exactly which make and year Bond's Jensen will be. Below is a 1970 Jensen FF.

Another piece of leaked info:

"Boyd's 007 is in bed with a beautiful woman by page 86 of the novel."

Also approve.

Solo will be released by Jonathan Cape in the UK on September 26, 2013 (Amazon.co.uk) and by HarperCollins in the U.S. on October 8, 2013 (Amazon.com).

UPDATE: Bond's car in Solo is a Jensen FF Mark I:

"Bond felt he was in a low flying plane rather than an automobile as he accelerated the Jensen.... If you needed a car to boost your ego, Bond thought, then the Jensen FF would do the job admirably." - Solo

JAMES BOND: THE GARDNER YEARS eBook bundle

Orion Books will release all 16 John Gardner James Bond novels in the UK as a Kindle ebook bundle on September 26, 2013. The set is called James Bond: The Gardner Years and according to Ian Fleming Publications will sell for £74.99.

James Bond: The Gardner Years includes: License Renewed (1981), For Special Services (1982), Icebreaker (1983), Role of Honor (1984), Nobody Lives Forever (1986), No Deals, Mr. Bond (1987), Scorpius (1988), Win Lose or Die (1989), Licence To Kill (1989), Brokenclaw (1990), The Man From Barbarossa (1991), Death Is Forever (1992), Never Send Flowers (1993), SeaFire (1994), GoldenEye (1995), COLD (1996).

Buy James Bond: The Gardner Years for Kindle on Amazon.co.uk (UK-based customers only).

All the Gardner Bond novels were recently released as paperbacks by Orion. Visit our special Gardner Renewed page for links to all the Gardner-James Bond reprints in the U.S. and UK.

Here's the back of the SOLO U.S. edition

Amazon.com has a new feature on some of their listings where you can "flip" the cover image around and read the back of the book. Happily, that feature is active on the listing for the U.S. edition of Solo, the new James Bond novel by William Boyd. So here you go! The back:

Click here to see the front.

Solo will be released by HarperCollins in the U.S. on October 8, 2013 (Amazon.com), and by Jonathan Cape in the UK on September 26, 2013 (Amazon.co.uk).

LINK: Field Report: John Cox from 'The Book Bond'

It's my honor to have been interviewed by Tom Cull of Artistic License Renewed, an excellent blog devoted to the literary James Bond and the work of Richard Chopping. Click the headline to have a read.

Is there a new YOUNG BOND author in place?

Our friend Simon over at the CBn Forums has picked up on something interesting while listening to an interview with Charlie Higson on Radio 2 about his new book The Fallen. Here's what Simon says (see what I did there?):

I just heard an interview with Charlie on Radio 2 tonight and Young Bond came up, obviously.

While he was promoting something else due in September he was saying that he had been procrastinating about "polishing someone else's gold" for so long that, "now, I think, they have someone else."

In April of last year Charlie Higson hinted that IFP might continue the Young Bond series with a new author. Could this be an indication that the new author is in place and maybe working on his first book? Might we hear something about the future of Young Bond after the launch of Solo?

Thank you Simon.

Click here to read my five part series on The Secret History of Young James Bond.

Higson does WHO

Charlie Higson, who penned the excellent Young Bond series between 2005 and 2009, has now tackled another iconic English hero, Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: The Beast of Babylon is the ninth instalment in a series of short ebooks celebrating Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary. The book features the Ninth Doctor as played by Christopher Eccleston.

Says Charlie, “I grew up with Doctor Who and have always been a massive fan so it's a great honour to be involved in this anniversary celebration. Russell T Davies did a great job of rebooting the series with Christopher Eccleston so to be able to write the Ninth Doctor story was a great opportunity to say thanks to the Doctor and thanks to Russell.”

Doctor Who: The Beast of Babylon will be released on September 23 and is available for pre-order from Amazon.com (U.S.) and Amazon.co.uk.

Charlie is currently penning a bestselling zombies series: The Enemy (2009), The Dead (2010), The Fear (2011) and The Sacrifice (2012). Might he return for more Young Bond when that series is complete?

If only we had a Tardis.

Spanish SOLO

Here's cover art for the Spanish edition of Solo, the new James Bond novel by William Boyd. This comes from our friend Marcos Kontze, creator and editor of the excellent James Bond Brasil. Very different!

Solo will be released by Jonathan Cape in the UK on September 26, 2013 (Amazon.co.uk) and by HarperCollins in the U.S. on October 8, 2013 (Amazon.com).

MR. BOND GOES TO WASHINGTON

Washington D.C. in 1969.

Here's a new plot summery for Solo, the new James Bond novel by William Boyd. This appears on the Curtis Brown website and is presumably the copy that will used on the UK edition from Jonathan Cape. It's a little different from the U.S. blurb in that we get the first mention of a Bond Girl and it confirms Washington, D.C. as the USA location.

It is 1969 and James Bond is about to go solo, recklessly motivated by revenge.

A seasoned veteran of the service, 007 is sent to single-handedly stop a civil war in the small West African nation of Zanzarim. Aided by a beautiful accomplice and hindered by the local militia, he undergoes a scarring experience which compels him to ignore M's orders in pursuit of his own brand of justice. Bond's renegade action leads him to Washington, DC, where he discovers a web of geopolitical intrigue and witnesses fresh horrors.

Even if Bond succeeds in exacting his revenge, a man with two faces will come to stalk his ever waking moment.

Solo will be released by Jonathan Cape in the UK on September 26, 2013 (Amazon.co.uk) and by HarperCollins in the U.S. on October 8, 2013 (Amazon.com).

Thanks to The HMSS Weblog.