The fifth and perhaps not so final Young Bond novel, By Royal Command, will be released later this year in the UK on 4 September. Pre-order it from Amazon.co.uk Hurricane Gold will make its way to the United States for release on April 7, 2009.
Order Hurricane Gold from Amazon.co.uk
Six years after the publication of The Man with the Red Tattoo, agent 007 has finally returned to literary form to continue his adventures in the latest adult Bond novel Devil May Care by critically acclaimed author Sebastian Faulks.
Buy it:
, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Random House, TargetSebastian Faulks has written a piece in The Telegraph sharing his experience of the Devil May Care launch on the HMS Exeter as well as his experience in writing the book. He also spoils the plot of book (no, not really).
All this achievement may sound intimidating, but Lucy and her sister Kate Grimond couldn’t have been easier to work with. They made a few polite suggestions about Bond lore, but gave me a free hand.
I sought help on cars from an old rally-driver friend, Mark Lanyon. Plenty came. “This is a bit wussy,” or “I think you mean understeer, not oversteer here.” So, a sneak preview of the plot?
Bond gets married on page one and dies on page two. Well, never say never.
In the Times today, Andrew Lycett wrote up another piece this time examining the new reborn Ian Fleming Publications, the possible success of Devil May Care and everything that they stand to gain. Lycett is the author of Ian Fleming which is considered one of the best if not thee definitive biography of James Bond’s author.
In this context the success of Sebastian Faulks’s Devil May Care is crucial. If it does well (and the centenary provides an extraordinary marketing opportunity), there will be scope for further Bond novels and the other spinoffs will benefit. Even the film moguls realise this is a good thing as they seek to perpetuate their own remarkable franchise.
It would appear if that’s true, then Sebastian Faulks is out for doing another. The other day he said it wasn’t likely he would return while today he was quoted at the UK Devil May Care launch as saying “one tribute, one centenary, one book.” You can read more on that here.
The BBC has written up a couple of reports on Devil May Care and has video of the launch on the HMS Exeter.
Prior to this Benson also adapted the first two books in the video games series Splinter Cell for Tom Clancy’s brand. Both books made their way on to the New York Times Top 10 Bestsellers list and Benson’s pseudonym, David Michaels, went on to write two more (thus far) Splinter Cell books and launch another Tom Clancy brand based on an upcoming video game called EndWar.
As much as I play games, I’ve never played Metal Gear Solid (which is probably a crime). Almost played the 2004 remake of it for the GameCube called The Twin Snakes, but never got around to it. Played all the Splinter Cell games though – which obviously means nothing to this post.
Order Metal Gear Solid the novelization from Amazon.com
The Chicago Sun-Times has an interview today with Simon Winder, the author of My Name’s Bond…: An Anthology from the Fiction of Ian Fleming (2000) and The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey Into the Disturbing World of James Bond (2006) . During the interview they talk about both the films and novels and how the most recent film, Casino Royale, may have started an Ian Fleming renaissance by helping to drive up demand for Fleming’s works.
The cover art for the second edition is pretty much the same except with the acknowledgment of the foreword by Deighton instead of Benson and now a red strip in the upper right hand corner that says “The Book They Tried To Ban”.
