Although the literary
James Bond would be kept alive with the YOUNG BOND series written by
Charlie Higson from 2005-2008 (and Steve Cole from 2014), these stories
were aimed at younger readers and followed his teenage exploits whilst
studying at Eton in the 1930's. To mark the centenary of the birth of Ian
Fleming in 2008, a new James Bond novel was commissioned which returned
the character to the timeline established by his creator in THE MAN WITH
THE GOLDEN GUN. Whereas the novels of John Gardner and Raymond Benson
placed the character in a contemporary setting, DEVIL MAY CARE was set in
1967. Although the original story was written by Sebastian Faulks, the
cover carried the unusual credit of “Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian
Fleming”. The hardback edition was published on May 28, 2008 by Penguin
Books, and the paperback edition followed a year later. DEVIL MAY CARE was
well-received by critics at the time and sold well, but Sebastian Faulks
declined to write a second Bond novel.
Ian Fleming Publications
then commissioned American mystery/crime writer Jeffery Deaver to pen the
follow-up. Deaver chose to update Bond's timeline once again by setting
the novel in 2011, and although the story contains several of the
characters created by Ian Fleming (M, Moneypenny, Felix Leiter and Mary
Goodnight), these too have been updated and are now much younger
incarnations. CARTE BLANCHE can therefore be viewed as a standalone James
Bond story as it exists in a different universe to the Fleming originals,
in much the same way as the John Gardner and Raymond Benson stories. Three
years later William Boyd became the next author to write a continuation
story and set SOLO in 1969, so James Bond was now a veteran secret agent
aged 45. Whilst CARTE BLANCHE had been published in hardback and paperback
by Hodder & Stoughton, SOLO was issued in hardback by Jonathan Cape, who
were Ian Fleming's publisher for all the UK first editions of his novels.
SOLO was published in paperback on May 8, 2014 by Vintage, an imprint of
Penguin Books. |
The next James Bond
continuation novel, written by Anthony Horowitz, also returned the
character to his original timeline by setting TRIGGER MORTIS in 1957, two
weeks after the events in Ian Fleming's GOLDFINGER. The novel also
featured previously unpublished material written by Ian Fleming for an
aborted US television series which Horowitz adapted in the chapter ‘Murder
on Wheels’. TRIGGER MORTIS is also notable in that it features the return
of Pussy Galore from Ian Fleming's GOLDFINGER. TRIGGER MORTIS was
originally published in hardback by Orion on September 8, 2015; followed
by a paperback edition on May 19, 2016. The most recent novel FOREVER AND
A DAY was published in hardback by Jonathan Cape on May 31, 2018 and
issued in a paperback edition on April 4, 2019 by Vintage. Both editions
feature cover art by Kris Potter, who also provided several of the designs
for the ‘Vintage 007’
paperbacks series that were current at the time of the publication of
TRIGGER MORTIS. A new ‘Vintage 007’ paperback of GOLDFINGER was also
issued as a special edition in 2015, which included an excerpt from
TRIGGER MORTIS. To celebrate the fact that FOREVER AND A DAY is a prequel
to CASINO ROYALE, Penguin also issued a new ‘Vintage 007’ paperback
edition of Ian Fleming’s first James Bond adventure on May 31, 2018 – with
a special introduction by Anthony Horowitz.
In November 2021, a new
trilogy of licenced spin-off novels to be written by Kim Sherwood
was announced by Ian Fleming Publications, featuring the next generation
of Double-O agents. The first novel, Double Or Nothing was
published in hardback by HarperCollins in September 2022, with the
paperback edition on August 3, 2023. The paperback edition also contains
the first chapter of the second novel in the trilogy, A Spy Like Me
- due to be published in hardcover on April 25, 2024. Charlie Higson's
2023 best-seller ON HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE will be published by Ian
Fleming Publications on June 6, 2024 and features revised text with
exclusive bonus content. |