Launching YOUNG BOND 6 "with a bang" next year

New Young Bond author Steve Cole posted the following on his blog yesterday:

"But the big event today was THE FIRST YOUNG BOND MEETING at my publisher’s swanky boardroom, hatching plans and plots to make sure the first book goes with a bang and a few bullet-holes next year… I’m so excited by all that’s to come. I hope you lot will be too!"

The yet untitled Young Bond 6 will be released in the UK by Random House Children's Publishers in Fall 2014. No word yet about a U.S. publisher or release date.

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.

Benson's BOND - UK hardcovers

Over the weekend I shared the Raymond Benson James Bond U.S. hardcover first editions. Here now are the UK hardcover firsts from Hodder & Stoughton.

The Hodder books featured striking cover art with series art established on the 1995 Coronet paperbacks and first used on a hardcover with John Gardner's COLD. However, the publisher changed it up with the last two books, producing covers that were a bit disappointing in comparison (IMO). Hodder also published Benson's three film novelizations in hardcover. Tomorrow Never Dies remains the rarest of all the Benson UK firsts.

Publication dates:

Zero Minus Ten – Hodder & Stoughton, April 3, 1997.
Tomorrow Never Dies – Hodder & Stoughton, November 6, 1997.

The Facts of Death - Hodder & Stoughton, May 7, 1998.

High Time To Kill - Hodder & Stoughton, May 6, 1999.
The World Is Not Enough – Hodder & Stoughton, November 18, 1999.

Doubleshot - Hodder & Stoughton, May 4, 2000.

Never Dream of Dying - Hodder & Stoughton May 3, 2001.

The Man With The Red Tattoo – Hodder & Stoughton, May 2, 2002.
Die Another Day - Hodder & Stoughton, November 7, 2002.

Benson's BOND - U.S. hardcovers

In 1997 Raymond Benson succeeded John Gardner as the official James Bond continuation author. Benson returned many of the classic elements to the series (such as Bond's Walther PPK) and chose not to continue some of the changes of the later Gardner years, such as MircoGlobe One. Per the request of IFP (then still Glidrose), Benson made M a woman as a concession to the film series.

Benson delivered six terrific original James Bond adventures with each book powered by a clear thematic "hook." They were books written by a hardcore James Bond fan and certainly appealed to this hardcore fan. I'll still argue that Benson's third book, High Time To Kill, is one of the very best of all the James Bond continuation novels.

In the U.S., all six Raymond Benson Bond books were published in hardcover by Putnam with nice uniform cover art. This new series art was an improvement (IMO) over Putnam's Gardner series cover art which had also remained uniform during his reign. Benson's three novelizations, Tomorrow Never Die, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day, where not published in hardcover in the U.S.

Publication dates:

Zero Minus Ten – Putnam, May 5, 1997.

The Facts of Death - Putnam, June 15, 1998.

High Time To Kill - Putnam, June 7, 1999.

Doubleshot - Putnam, June 5, 2000.

Never Dream of Dying - June 4, 2001.

The Man With The Red Tattoo – Putnam, June 10, 2002.

The Benson paperbacks were published by Jove in the U.S. You can check out those covers HERE.

JAMES BOND enters the computer age

Here's a Brazilian trade paperback edition of John Gardner's 1984 Bond novel, Role of Honor. What I like about this cover is that it plays up the technological theme of the book. Gardner's fourth book was the first 007 adventure to really involve James Bond in the age of computers. (The movie Bond would follow suit a year later in A View To A Kill.) But this angle wasn't featured on many covers or adverts, which instead played up the idea that in this book Bond leaves the service and becomes a free agent.

I also like how this cover anticipates the poster art for 1997s Tomorrow Never Dies with a tuxedoed Bond against a backdrop of monitors.

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.