John Logan says BOND 24 will include novel elements

IGN has scored some nice quotes from James Bond screenwriter John Logan about his upcoming screenplays for Bond 24 and Bond 25. The quote that we're interested in is this:

"I love all the elements, from the books -- mostly from the novels; going back to Ian Fleming is where I started with Skyfall -- and there's certainly elements of the movies and the novels that we've brought into the new movie, as they did into Skyfall."

The site also speculates that Blofeld could make a return to the franchise as Danjaq has now settled the long disputed Thunderball rights that have prevented them from using the character or SPECTRE in recent years.

While I've largely stepped away from the world of Bond fan forums and speculation about the movies (it's too intense), I will just offer up my own gut feeling that, yes, I believe the villain in Bond 24 will be Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Might the novel elements Logan hinted at be the Garden of Death from You Only Live Twice, one of the better unused ideas from the Fleming novels?

We shall see.

Bond 24 will be released on October 23, 2015 in the UK and November 6th, 2015 in the U.S.

THE MAN FROM BARBAROSSA and DEATH IS FOREVER reprints released in USA

Pegasus has released two more John Gardner James Bond reprints in the USA, The Man From Barbarossa and Death Is Forever. Originally announced for February 8, both titles are available now from Amazon.com.

Pegasus has not announced any more Gardner releases beyond these titles. They also skipped Licence To Kill.

• Purchase The Man From Barbarossa on Amazon
• Purchase Death Is Forever on Amazon

Visit our special Gardner Renewed page for links and release dates for all the Gardner-Bond reprints in the U.S. and UK.

MORE BIG NEWS: Gardner signs for 3 more!

As we wait for details of Young Bond 6 and/or the Solo paperback cover art, I'm filling the current news void with some "big news" from the past. Today we have an item from the September 1983 Bondage Quarterly newsletter, which was put out by the American James Bond 007 Fan Club from 1975 to 1991 (this is how we got our Bond news before the Internet, kids). In this item we learn that John Gardner has signed on to write three more Bond novels. Hurrah! No title yet for Gardner 4, but it looks like Bond will be getting and new car and the plot will feature…ready for it…airships! Unfortunately, we will have to wait an extra year for the new book. Or will we…

Click to enlarge.

We know now that the new book was Role of Honor, the new car was a Bentley Mulsanne Turbo, and the year break did not happened between Icebreaker and Role of Honor, but would come before the next book, Nobody Lives Forever.

BIG NEWS!

It certainly has been quiet on the Bond book front lately. So while we wait for the title of Young Bond 6 or our first look at the paperback Solo cover art, here's some BIG NEWS from 34 years ago. Yes, 007 will return in a new book by John Gardner called…Meltdown?

Click to enlarge.

Of course, when the book was published, it was retitled License Renewed, and Gardner's contact extended beyond this initial three book deal to a total of 14 original novels and two novelizations. Bond was back!

Retro SOLO (fan art)

Here's a bit of speculative fun to kick off 2014. What if latest James Bond novel Solo by William Boyd was published as part of the classic Fleming series by Great Pan of the 1950s? It might have looked something like this.

This impressive design is by Gary Cook (artwork by Sam Peffer) who has a Facebook page devoted to speculative James Bond fan art designs from all eras called James Bond 007 Book Cover Designs.

Thank you Gary.