Today marks the 102nd birthday of Ian Lancaster Fleming (1908-1964), author of the James Bond novels and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Last year I left you with some posts to some older mini-bios of Fleming, this year I’ll just repost the books that I believe you should all read.

• The Life of Ian Fleming by John Pearson
• Ian Fleming by Andrew Lycett
• For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond by Ben Macintyre (my review here)
• The Battle For Bond by Robert Sellers (my review here, keep in mind this book isn’t about Fleming, but a good chunk does go into Fleming’s part in the creation of the cinematic Bond.)

And obviously there are many many more.

Here’s what Penguin has to say about it.

Penguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling. Ian Fleming’s From Russia with Love was published in 1957 and made suave, steely secret agent James Bond an icon. Here 007 encounters the deadly machinations of Russian organisation SMERSH, the fiendish Colonel Rosa Klebb – and the irresistible beauty Tatiana Romanova – in one of the most thrilling classic novels of the Cold War.

That said, From Russia with Love is my favorite Fleming novel and can’t recommend it enough.
Amazon.co.uk

You can pick this up at Amazon.co.uk

And if you’re new to the world of the literary 007, well, not only should you read the others, but also The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) which takes place between Thunderball and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but doesn’t involve SPECTRE or Blofeld, though both are mentioned. Here.

T-Force was born out of the chaos of war torn Europe in 1945, and it is no wonder the story reads like a spy thriller: the unit was top secret and originated from a plan belonging to the Naval intelligence officer, Ian Fleming, later the creator of James Bond. The unit was selected from the remnants of the infantry after Normandy and included drivers, sappers, bomb disposal experts, commandos and teams of expert scientists, specialists and engineers. What they discovered would not only shock the allied army but also play a huge role in the opening years of the Cold War.

T-Force: The Race for Nazi War Secrets 1945 was just published on 10 September in the UK.

Amazon.co.uk
Publisher’s page

I’ve actually been out of town for the past week so I wasn’t able to get around to posting about the cover art for the 2009 Thrilling Cities and The Diamond Smugglers reprints.

The really good news is that these covers are pretty great in my opinion. The sorta-good news is that both reprints are available today, and the bad news (which is actually why the prior one was only “sorta-good”) is that they’re only available through Ian Fleming Publication’s shop which since the 25th has been down. Whoops.

Eventually: Ian Fleming Publications

It joins other great classics such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Ken Kesey), The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald), Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Truman Capote), Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen), Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck), The Big Sleep (Raymond Chandler), Frankenstein (Mary Shelley), and many many others.

The book is available for $9.95 according to Penguin’s website.

Just a quick bit of news there. Also, note that Ian Fleming Publications has redesigned their site. Looks like they took my advice here because they moved from www.ianflemingcentre.com to just www.ianfleming.com which actually makes sense.

• 99 Years Old
• 100 Years Old

If you really want some good books to read about Fleming check out:

• The Life of Ian Fleming by John Pearson
• Ian Fleming by Andrew Lycett
• For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond by Ben Macintyre (my review here)

And there are many many more.

This edition will be available in Australia on 29 June for $9.95. Pre-order from Penguin’s AU website.

This cover is in the same style as the other Penguin Classics Fleming reprints. Can’t say that I like the style to begin with, but it’s not bad. I like what they’re going for.

Can’t help thinking that this little maneuver was inspired by The Union Trilogy being published which as far as we know was successful given that a second omnibus of Benson’s 007 novels are on the way. Anyway, The Blofeld Trilogy will be published on 1 October.