The hardcover was just recently released there on 3 September. It’ll be quite some time till the book is scheduled for release in the United States. The fourth book in the series, Hurricane Gold is currently slated for release stateside on April 7th. Presumably the fifth – By Royal Command, will be around the same time in 2010.

If for whatever reason you wish to preorder this, check out Amazon.co.uk. If you’re that interested though you might as well just buy the hardcover edition, otherwise it’s gonna be a pretty long wait. If you’re an American Bond fan, then Amazon.com currently sells the hardcover too.

In April I posted about Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design, an exhibition on 007 cover art in the UK. Originally opening in London and then moving to Edinburgh, the exhibition closes there on September 14th and then takes its show on the road. Upcoming stops include New York and Los Angeles.

Upcoming itinerary:

1. New York – October 08 – Bonhams
2. Los Angeles – November 08 – Bonhams
3. Hong Kong – December 08 – Flemings
4. Shanghai – January 09 (TBC)
5. Tokyo – February 09 (TBC)
6. Dubai – April 09 (TBC)
7. Paris – May 09 – Bonhams
8. Geneva – June 09
9. Amsterdam – July 09 – Bonhams

For the press release and details, see CommanderBond.net

The fifth novel in Young Bond series, By Royal Command by Charlie Higson has been released today in hardcover form in the UK. If you didn’t pre-order it, you can go ahead and order it from Amazon.co.uk. I pre-ordered, but shipping to the US is quite a lengthy process.

On the horizon is the first Young Bond graphic novel, SilverFin with art by Kev Walker. That’s coming 2 October in the UK. The next release won’t come till April 7, 2009 when Hurricane Gold’s hardcover will be published in the United States. I suspect April 2010 will see the release of By Royal Command in the States. Other than that. Who knows. We’ll have to just wait and see.

The winner will be announced on 31 October.

Shortlisted children’s books:

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J K Rowling
• Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman – Francesca Simon
• Hurricane Gold: Young Bond – Charlie Higson
• I’m Really Ever So Not Well: Charlie & Lola – Lauren Child
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret – Brian Selznick
• Mr Gum and the Power Crystals – Andy Stanton/David Tazzyman
• Paddington Here and Now – Michael Bond
• Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire – Derek Landy
• The Sleepwalker: (CHERUB) – Robert Muchamore
• Snakehead – Anthony Horowitz

The included short stories:

• “From a View to a Kill”
• “For Your Eyes Only”
• “Risico”
• “Quantum of Solace”
• “The Hildebrand Rarity”
• “Octopussy”
• “The Living Daylights”
• “The Property of a Lady”
• “007 in New York”

Probably the neatest aspect of this edition is the fact that it features a Richie Fahey like cover design that fits in with all the other Fleming Bond novels currently released in the States.

Order it from Amazon

I should have posted this review back in May or even June / July, but I didn’t. Too busy with all the Devil May Care news, and afterwards I was too burnt out to really even want to think about Bond too much. In any case, I might as well just post it up for anyone still on the fence about this book.

(Read more…)

Check out their Amazon pages:

• King of the Ants
• Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen

“This powerful debut evokes the double unthink disorientation and paranoia of the Stalinist era, while never losing sight of the more intimate story. Location and period take it a notch above the usual serial killer narrative”

For a shortlist of all those nominated see this earlier report of mine.

In other IFP news, the Young Bond Dossier and CommanderBond.net both report that United Agents’ literary agent, Simon Trewin has been brought in to manage the worldwide English language literary rights to Fleming’s books as well as James Bond.