According to a recent blog post by publisher Penguin, Simon Winder who is a Penguin UK editor and something of a Bond expert having previously written The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey into the Disturbing World of James Bond, will be fielding interviews from London during a radio satellite tour on May 14th and the 15th. The post goes on to say:

Additionally, everyone’s favorite secret agent will be getting ink from the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Chicago Sun-Times, as well as feature coverage on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

Getting ink? Hmm. We’ll look forward to seeing what that is and what they have to say.

According to LastBroadcast.co.uk Casino Royale ranks ninth for best-selling DVD in the past 10 years (might as well say “of all time”) in the UK surprisingly beating out Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which came in at #10 and is the only Harry Potter film to make the list.

Casino Royale was the best selling title of 2007 for both DVD and Blu-ray and obviously with that stat it ranks #1 on Blu-ray’s top selling list of all time. Of course, lest we forget at least 500,000 of the Blu-ray edition were given away for signing up for the PlayStation Network (PS3) and recently it was bundled again with the PlayStation 3. According to the report Casino Royale on DVD has currently sold 3.1 million units in the UK.

I’m curious to see how it’s been doing in the United States since we last heard.

Ben Macintyre’s For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond, the official companion to the Imperial War Museum’s exhibition about Fleming and agent 007 has made its way stateside. The exhibition as well as the book will showcase Fleming’s personal effects and numerous Bond memorabilia. They will also attempt to answer where many aspects of the novels originated such as plots, villains, girls, etc. The exhibition, which opened on 25 April runs till 1 March 2009.

Order from Amazon

It’s been hinted at by Charlie here and there, but the BBC broke the news today that more Young Bond adventures will come following the September release of the fifth Young Bond novel, By Royal Command. Actually it’s said that Higson wants to take a break and then see about returning for more. It’s not definite, but if it happens, where does that put James? Well, according to Higson:

“One thing I’ve been talking about possibly doing is a second sequence of books for a slightly older readership, maybe taking him up to and into World War II.

I’d love that personally. I’ve been advocating this for a long time on the CBn forums. In fact I said: “I would rather skip Fettes. Go right to Bond in the military. Let Bond have sort of normalcy in his life and it would be nice for him to possibly reflect on those years while he’s in the military or when he’s grown up. I like Young Bond, I do, but I want Bond to .. be Bond. I want him to have issues that we’re more use to. Example: Death, killing people, and I also want the Master Spy back – the good twist to all of this is that it’s Bond in WW2. All the death, destruction, and Bond working behind the scenes perhaps in a series that is largely detached from what is considered a typical Bond book (Bond against some megalomaniac hellbent on the destruction of a city, country, or the world). A common enemy. Maybe he’s sent to steal some documents, get someone of some importance to defect or to sabotage some piece of equipment. For a few books anyway, all of it building up to Casino Royale and Bond’s admission into the British Secret Service.”

Following the release of Hurricane Gold, I wrote up some theories on the future of Young Bond from that point. Take a look. Maybe something, maybe nothing.

First announced back in December, another exhibition opened today called Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design this time focusing on… cover design. According to CommanderBond.net a previously unseen painting for “The Living Daylights” by artist Graham Sutherland will be shown off for the first time. The cover, which was commissioned by Ian Fleming was originally rejected by The Sunday Times Magazine editor at the time. The exhibition runs till 14 September 2008.

For more information, see CBn’s story.

Double or Die has finally arrived in the United States (officially this time) after forcing American fans to wait over a year since its release in the UK. The U.S. edition unlike its UK counterpart comes in hardcover form and offers a far better and pleasing cover design by Kev Walker.

I never did review it, and perhaps someday I will, but it definitely falls in as my second favorite of the series following Blood Fever. Check out the Young Bond Dossier’s review.

Order it from Amazon.

Last Thursday, 17 April, Richard Chopping passed away. Chopping is widely recognized for designing and illustrating the majority of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. Chopping was recommended to Fleming by painter Francis Bacon and illustrated his first 007 cover in 1957 for From Russia with Love, though it was not Chopping who designed the iconic cover – it was actually Fleming who originally wanted the design for Live and Let Die.

In total, Chopping illustrated 10 Bond covers including the first John Gardner cover in 1981.

• From Russia with Love (1957)
  
• Goldfinger (1958)
• For Your Eyes Only (1960)
• Thunderball (1961)
• The Spy Who Loved Me (1962)
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963)
• You Only Live Twice (1964)
• The Man with the Golden Gun (1965)
• Octopussy & The Living Daylights (1966)
• Licence Renewed (1981)

He was 91.

In his own words, in a recent report Sebastian Faulks wrote up for The Guardian about his interview with Gordon Brown, he says he finally committed to the digital age by getting a website. His new website http://www.sebastianfaulks.com (hosted by Random House) comes with information on all the books he’s written thus far as well as his next mega-release Devil May Care. Take a look.

CBn’s story.

If you were wondering whether the next James Bond film was going to have a tie-in with Ian Fleming’s short story of the same name, the answer is yes, yes it will. Quantum of Solace, will now be the name of the entire Ian Fleming short story collection; essentially a book that combines the For Your Eyes Only collection and Octopussy & The Living Daylights. On a related note, I got an email asking me whether or not there would be a novelization of the movie. I contacted Penguin, and although their response was not absolutely clear, it appears that a novelization isn’t in the cards. If it is then I have no idea. This, like what they did with Casino Royale, appears to be it.

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”

The UK edition will be due out on 29 May of this year. (Amazon.co.uk – picture bottom right)

The US edition is currently set for a 26 August release. Probably the neatest aspect of this edition is the fact that it features a Richie Fahey like cover design (probably designed by Fahey, but I can’t say for sure) that fits in with all the other Fleming Bond novels currently released in the States. (Amazon see top right)

Big thanks to Double O Section.

For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond, the exhibition taking place at the Imperial War Museum opened today. The exhibition is scheduled to run till 1 March 2009.

Lucy Fleming, Ian’s niece, has been making the rounds today doing interviews for a number of talk shows and news organizations. Here’s a couple that made it to YouTube thus far.

Lucy on BBC Breakfast
Lucy on BBC News 24

And how about some Fleming articles to tide you over. How about,

Ian Fleming and New York
Ian Fleming and Hong Kong
Ian Fleming and Las Vegas
Ian Fleming and Tokyo