YOU decide the title of YOUNG BOND 3

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE: In an unprecedented nationwide ballot, Britain is to decide the title of the third book in the super-selling Young Bond series, written by Charlie Higson and due to be published by Puffin Books on 4th January 2007.

Voting for the nation’s preferred title starts today, Tuesday 3rd October, at 9am and closes at midnight on the 3rd November. To cast your vote, and become part of James Bond history, visit www.youngbond.com. There are three possible titles, chosen by the author, Charlie Higson:

Double or Die

N.E.M.E.S.I.S.

The Deadlock Cipher

To help you decide, there is an exclusive extract from Young Bond 3 on the Young Bond website and a note from Charlie Higson about the three titles he has picked.

The title will be kept a closely guarded secret until publication and revealed at an as yet undisclosed, central London location on the 3rd January 2007.

The Young Bond series follows the daredevil adventures of James Bond as an Eton school boy in the 1930s. The third instalment in a planned series of five titles, written by Charlie Higson, sees the young James Bond pitted against the dangerous criminal underworld of interwar London, a world of illegal gambling dens, Cambridge spies and East End gangs. Here you’ll read about the experiences which turned the boy into the steely and ruthless secret agent that Bond becomes as an adult.

The first books in the Young Bond series, SilverFin (published in March 2005) and Blood Fever (published in January 2006) enjoyed tremendous success. SilverFin sold over 190,000 copies and spent ten weeks in the top-ten and Blood Fever went straight to number one in the bestsellers chart.

All voters have a chance to win one of a limited number of tickets to the central London event and discover, before anyone else, the title of Young Bond 3.

You can also cast your vote by text:

For Double or Die text DOUBLE to 60022
For N.E.M.E.S.I.S. text ENEMY to 60022
For The Deadlock Cipher text LOCK to 60022

Texts cost your normal rate. For full terms and conditions see www.youngbond.com.

No Poster Art for U.S. Casino Royale Tie-In

Penguin Books U.S. has informed The Young Bond Dossier that their tie-in edition of Casino Royale, due for release Oct. 31, will not feature poster art for the film on its cover.

Instead, the familiar Richie Fahey retro cover art (first released in 2002 and soon to be released on new UK reprints) will be used with the addition of the cover blurb: "Now A Major Motion Picture."

A representative for the company explained,"We are not doing an official tie-in edition because the final poster art is not coming in time for us to have the book ready for movie release. We will use the jacket with the woman and the playing cards behind her."

It's still possible that Penguin UK will release a Casino Royale tie-in edition with movie poster art, although no listing for a UK tie-in edition currently exists on Amazon.co.uk.

This is disappointing, but it isn't a first. The U.S. tie-in edition for You Only Live Twice used only the familiar Signet paperback with the addition of a pink sticker on the cover reading, "GIRLS, THRILLS, CHILLS and SEX GALORE in a smash new movie starring SEAN CONNERY." (These editions are now highly collectible.)

Likewise, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, and A View To A Kill never received full movie poster cover tie-in editions in the U.S. In the case of Never Say Never Again and The Living Daylights, no tie-in editions of any kind were ever released in the U.S. (at least not that I'm aware).

Ironically, the unofficial 1967 Casino Royale did get an official movie tie-in edition, despite the fact that the Charles K. Feldman comedy hardly resembled the original Ian Fleming novel.

Daring to be (not so Young) BOND

This weekend Athena and I decided to “be the man instead of the fan” at the first Dare to Be Bond event in Las Vegas. The three day gathering of Bond fanatics from across the country was hosted by Charles Axworthy (aka “Bryce” on the CBn Forums), and what an event it turned out to be!

We missed the arrival night festivities on Thursday, but when we hit Vegas early Friday morning, the word from the excited attendees was that the required “medical check-in” consisted of a full body massage by a professional masseuse. This had followed a limo ride from the Vegas airport. Welcome to the world of James Bond.

Athena and I did land in time for Friday’s first event of the day – water re-certification, i.e., pool games at a private pool at the Tropicana (Bond’s hotel of choice in Diamonds Are Forever). There was also a full hosted bar and a spectacular lunch spread for all to enjoy.

Filled with booze and food, it was off to the gun range -- wait, we get loaded then go to a gun range? That’s okay. This is Vegas, we are Bond, and we sobered up pretty quickly at The Gun Store where we got to fire an assortment of handguns (Browning HP, S&W Model 36 .38 snub nose, Ruger P9, Walther PPK), as well as two machine guns (Uzi 9mm, H&K MP5 A3). Yes, we shot machine guns! As I fired off my first burst into the target, my instructor nodded and said only one word: “Meaningful!”

Back to the hotel to change into dinner wear (my Young Bond pin was a part of my suit attire that night), we climbed into a Hummer limousine and were whisked down the Las Vegas strip to The Venetian, where private gondolas awaited. Theme here; From Russia With Love, Moonraker, Casino Royale, of course! Our godlier not only treated us to a few songs, but also a story of how he had once had Sean Connery in his boat.

Dinner at Canaletto followed. We had a private room on the second floor overlooking San Marco square (or what I call “Moonraker square”). Martinis followed by fantastic food and passionate Bond talk filled the evening. I was there to preach the gospel of Young Bond, but I quickly discovered it wasn't necessary. If you’re hardcore enough to attend an event like this, then you’re already hip to Higson and a convert, and this was certainly true of this crew (my argument that Moonraker -- without its silly moments -- is among the best films of the series, wasn’t as universally embraced).

The evening ended at the Las Vegas Hilton (aka, The Whyte House from Diamonds Are Forever) where we shared a “Warp Core Breach.” Hey, if you’re going to have “one too many” this is a heck of a one to have. We then bumbled our way back to the hotel in a fog of booze and conversation about…who knows what (our poor cabbie).

Day two started with a free morning to nurse hangovers and collect ourselves (deft planning here by Bryce). I was able to get online where I saw CBn had launched it’s new main page design. Very slick.

At high noon we met by the Tropicana pool for a little lunch and Daiquiris and a rundown of what to expect that day. We then departed for what was for many the high point of the weekend -- skydiving…indoor skydiving.

It’s called Flyaway Indoor Skydiving and it’s one of only a few such facilities in the country. Frankly, it started off a little scary when during our preparatory briefing we were asked to sign waivers and warned this activity can lead to broken bones and even death.

Death! They actually said the word death!

We suited up in jumpsuits, goggles, and helmets…the whole time we could hear something in the next room that sounded big and mean, like an aircraft engine. Turns out, that’s exactly what it was! Okay, I could describe what happened next, but why not show it:

We came out our skydiving experience fatality free and buzzing with excitement. It was then back to the hotel for a quick rest (amazing how tiring this was), then it was time for formal wear.

Dressed in tuxedos and Bond Girl gowns, the crew assembled in the hospitality suite on the 20th floor of the Tropicana (which had a view to kill, as you can imagine). There we took Bondian-style photos, then it was off to the Savanna Steakhouse for another first class meal. Crab legs, prime rib, lobster, fine wine, champagne shots in a chocolate cup... Oh, and the table was decorated in uncut diamonds sprinkled across black velvet. Pure Bond. Pure Bryce!

After dinner we got a terrific lesson in the fine art of cigars by Dr. Jeffrey Paskil, a true epicure. Genuine Cubans were enjoyed by all, and the evening ended in another fog of fine food, friends, cigar smoke, and yet more Bond talk back in the suite.

Many of the group departed in the early hours on Sunday, but those who remained gathered for a farewell Champagne brunch at the Tropicana buffet (you can’t go to Vegas and not do a buffet!). There we said our final goodbyes over mimosas and mounds of food.

On our way out of town, Athena and I decided to detour back to The Whyte House…er, I mean, The Hilton, and check out The Star Trek Experience. No, it’s not Bond, but it was first rate! We then hit the long desert road for home.

All in all, it was an incredible three days of being Bond...James Bond!

UPDATE: Charlie has announced DARE TO BE BOND 2: BOND & BEYOND (a 30th Anniversary celebration of The Spy Who Loved Me), July 19 - 22, 2007 in Las Vegas.

Villainess for YOUNG BOND 4

During his appearance at the Edinburgh Book Festival, author Charlie Higson dropped an intriguing bit of news about Young Bond Book 4...

The main villain will be female.

Charlie pointed out that the villain of Book 4 (which he is still writing) started off as a man, but then changed into a woman. “Not during the book,” quipped the author. “Although perhaps he should. It’s about time we had a sex-changing Bond villain.”

While Bond books and films abound with female henchmen, main female villains are rare. Fleming only once featured a female lead villain; Rosa Klebb in From Russian With Love. A main female villain didn’t appear again until John Gardner had Bond tangle with the daughter of Blofeld in 1982s For Special Services.

While early press reports trumpeted Maud Adams’s Octopussy as the first female villain of the film series, in the end she turned out to be Bond’s ally. It wasn’t until 1999’s The World Is Not Enough that Electra King became the first female villain of the series in a twist strikingly similar to John Gardner’s For Special Services.

Charlie also said because Book 3 features no “evil creature” to grace the cover, he’d rectify that in Book 4. “I’ll make up for it in the fourth book and put in as many as I can. We’ll have a whole zoo-worth of them.”

If IFP sticks with the current schedule of one book per year, Young Bond Book 4 will be released in 2008.

Charlie Higson confirms Apache in YOUNG BOND 3

Author Charlie Higson has confirmed for me that the Apache weapon discovered by reader Kevin Wells (aka K1Bond007 on the CBn forums) is indeed the weapon that will feature in Young Bond Book 3.

“Nice work on the apache pics. You've nailed it. Although my version has a slight adaptation to the knuckle dusters in that the gun doesn't have to be reversed to use them. I saw some pictures of these nasty little guns when i was researching weapons in Blood Fever and just knew that I had to use them in a book. Little boys love this sort of thing.”

Charlie had offered a challenge to fans to try and find a picture of the mystery weapon online.

Charlie also graciously commented on the suggestion of using the Apache on the cover of Book 3 in a sort of homage to the classic Richard Chopping From Russia With Love cover art.

“We can't use guns on the cover of a kids book, however (quite right too!) maybe if we ever do adult versions of the books we can use them - I love the mock up cover the fans made.”

A very big thanks Charlie Higson for giving me the scoop, and congratulations to Kevin for “nailing it.”

Young Bond Book 3 sees James searching for a kidnapped professor in the darkest corners of 1930s London. It’s due for release in the UK on January 4, 2007.