To check out the Amazon page and bookmark it so you can pre-order it in the future (right?), go here.

Some brief news on the Young Bond 5 scene. Keep in mind that we’re about a year away from the release of it, but in anycase… news is happening.

Over at the Young Bond Dossier, they claim that the working title for Young Bond 5 is The Shadow War. I am rather indifferent to this. I think it sounds more Clancy than it does Fleming, but that’s just me.

In related news, back at the Young Bond party for the release of Hurricane Gold, Charlie dropped a little spoiler that James Bond may fall in love in the next adventure. Who is this new love? I don’t know, but not long ago news broke on another female coming back. This time Amy Goodenough from Blood Fever. Wilder Lawless from SilverFin may also return in a short story if you read the previous Young Bond news story here. Now Bond is a world traveler and you know there are tons of coincidences within Fleming’s stories such as Bond running into Mr. Du Pont in Goldfinger, but in such a short span James is running into all these ex-Bond girls from all over the world. I mean… come.. on. If this were the adult Bond he’d be living one hell of a nightmare. Imagine all your exs popping up all the time all over the world – the world is a big place guys. Honestly, what are the odds? Whattya gonna do.

• 1st Casino Royale
• 1st Dr. No
• 54p Goldfinger
• 54p Diamonds Are Forever
• 78p For Your Eyes Only
• 78p From Russia With Love

In addition to the stamps, a prestige stamp book, a miniature sheet, a presentation pack and first day covers will also be issued on January 8.

Terence Young, the director, has always stated that James Bond premiered when the world needed him on “exactly the right week of the right month of the right year.” As Bond was fighting the villainous Doctor Julius No on screen, attempting the save the world in the Caribbean in a plot involving missiles, the Soviet Union and the Caribbean country of Cuba days later threatened nuclear war in a showdown with the United States known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

45 years later and you have to wonder if anyone involved with Dr. No, including Fleming, would have ever believed that the franchise would still be going strong to this day. And look at Casino Royale. We could very well be at a time where Bond hits another “all-time high”. A Bond movie hasn’t put up numbers like Casino Royale since 1971 when Roger Moore played Bond for his first time in Live and Let Die. That’s pretty damn amazing if you ask me, especially after coming off the Brosnan era and the success he had. Here’s to another 45.

According to the Young Bond Dossier, Charlie Higson is considering writing a Young Bond short story that takes place between Hurricane Gold and the currently untitled Young Bond 5. The story would feature James Bond and his aunt, Charmian on an Ocean liner on their way back to England from Mexico and the Caribbean. It would also see the return of Wilder Lawless.

When such a story would be published or how is not yet known… if Charlie even writes it, but May sounds like a good idea as it would add something else original and Young Bond related to the Centenary period. Maybe they could include it in another supplementary book much like the Young Bond Rough Guide to London which was released following the publication of Double or Die. You know what would be cool? Take a Fleming short story, add the Higson short story, add a Weinberg short story (or have her write a new one), and maybe beg Mr. Sebastian Faulks to author a short story and release it as a short story collection in May 2008 as kind of a pocket supplementary guide thing. Moments from Bond’s life. Call it “Time and Tide” or something cooler. I like the idea anyway and it works as advertising to get people into Fleming’s adventures, into Young Bond, into the Moneypenny Diaries and it’d be a decent precursor or setup to Devil May Care. Mark this idea as something that would be awesome, but will never happen.

The recently released Hurricane Gold will be published on May 28, 2008 in the UK in paperback form as part of Ian Fleming’s Centenary according to website Bond and Beyond. This makes it the second Bond book to be published on that date, in addition to the hotly anticipated adult Bond novel by Sebastien Faulks, Devil May Care.

Over at the official Young Bond news site aka The Young Bond Dossier, they report that Puffin has yet to make a decision about whether the paperback will receive a similar all-gold look as the hardcover. On the CBn forums there was some speculation by fans that an advertisement could be a hint at the cover. It includes a wall with carvings and a crocodile poking its head out of murky greenish water. It also says Charlie is a “Megaselling Author”. I always found the word usage rather funny. :)

Website Bond and Beyond is claiming that the fifth and final book in the Young Bond series of novels will be released on September 4, 2008. It was also discovered that this book will be hardcover, making it only the second Young Bond novel to be published first as a hardcover following the recently released Hurricane Gold.

A title for the fifth book has yet to be announced, but Charlie Higson has discussed some the details of the book in certain interviews. Check out the September 07 CBn interview with Higson for that.

Lois Maxwell holds the second longest tenure for any Bond thespian in the films following Desmond Llewellyn who played the role of Q 17 times.

She is, without a doubt in my mind, the definitive Miss Moneypenny. May she rest in peace.

Notably for Bond fans, Volume 2 features one Daniel Craig in the episode “Daredevils of the Desert” also known as “Palestine, October 1917”. In fact Daniel Craig, no doubt due to the fact that he is now James Bond, is even featured on the box of Volume 2 (see right). This was not originally the case as the pre-final box art that showed up on the Internet earlier did not include Craig. The same episode also features Anthony Daniels (C3PO) and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Craig’s episode, which was written by Oscar nominee Frank Darabont, sees Indy going undercover in the Middle Eastern desert town of Beersheba. This specific episode also comes with two historical companion documentaries titled: “Col. Lawrence’s War: T.E. Lawrence and Arabia” and “Lines in the Sand: The Middle East and the Great War”.

Volume 2 is currently available for pre-order on Amazon for $90.99 and will retail on December 17, 2007. Volume 1 has currently dropped in price at Amazon since my last report from $117.99 to $89.99. You can pre-order Volume 1 here. Volume 1 will be released on October 23rd.