CommanderBond.net uncovered a 2007 reprint of Ian Fleming’s Live and Let Die with new cover art and illustrations that is being published by the Folio Society in arrangement with Penguin Books. You can check out the artwork and some of the illustrations here. Notably the book includes a foreward by Ken Follett who many fans thought of as a front runner for the Centenary novel gig, though he was never asked.

Looks like a cool reprint to me. I wish I had the Jonathan Cape facsimiles (because I can’t afford real first editions) that were printed a while back by First Edition Library. I missed the boat on that one. Now they tend to go for over 100 bucks a piece on auction sites, some considerably higher. Oh well. Some day.

The Young Bond Dossier has scored a “gemstone” of a scoop by revealing the name of the Bond girl from Charlie Higson’s upcoming Young Bond novel, Hurricane Gold. Personally I think the name is rather…. uhh.. well.. not so hot, but hey whatever. It’s just a name and <insert Shakespeare quote here>. I think my favorite name from Higson thus far is Zoltan the Magyar. And no, you can’t call this guy just Zoltan. It loses its zazz! Its Zoltan the Magyar. Don’t forget. ;)

During a conference call in which Activision discussed its Q1 results of almost $28 million in net income, company executives stated they anticipate strong sales of their upcoming James Bond game. The game is currently in development by Treyarch best known for the last handful of Spider-Man games as well two recent Call of Duty console games.

Not much is really known about the game, but after asking around to get some updated information I can only reconfirm that Activision’s first 007 game will be an adaptation of Bond 22 and will be released around the time the film hits the theaters. Activision is staying incredibly tight-lipped on the subject for now, but I would bet on the game being a hybrid of a first-person shooter and a third-person tactical-cover system in the same vein as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas. Somewhat similar to Everything or Nothing except in first-person rather than third. I wouldn’t expect to hear anything official till next year when the production of the film is in full swing.

Shacknews has more on the Activision conference call including information on an estimate for the release of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Metallica in Guitar Hero III, and other news bits on further Activision titles slated for release this year. Activision’s earnings allowed them to became the top third-party publisher for the first half of the year surpassing EA due to big selling titles like Spider-Man 3 and Guitar Hero II. With the multiplatform Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty 4 on the horizon, Activision is looking to have a pretty good year if you ask me.

CBn reports The Battle For Bond will finally be released stateside in October 2007 according to an Amazon listing. I got mine shipped over from the UK back in June/July when it was released there. I’ll possibly do a semi-review (I say “semi” because I’m not much of a reviewer and I don’t really like doing reviews to be honest) of it when I actually get around to reading it, but let me say, after thumbing through it and hearing the reactions of others that have read it, it’s a must read for all James Bond fans. If you’re not aware of the book, it delves into the heart of the Thunderball controversy between Ian Fleming, Kevin McClory, and Jack Whittingham, later EON Productions, United Artists, Sony, etc and details all the legal battles, outcomes and whatnot throughout the years.

Well it seems to have gone under the radar today, but on this day The Living Daylights was released in the United States in 1987. It was the fifteenth James Bond film and the first of two to star Timothy Dalton as James Bond. In the UK the film was premiered on July 29th at Odeon Leicester Square in London.

Over at Double O Section he says he got a look at the upcoming James Bond Encyclopedia by John Cork and Collin Stutz at Comic-Con. The book will be organized firstly by topics such as Bond girls, villains, gadgets, vehicles, etc and then within the sections it will be alphabetized. The in-depth book appears to focus on all things in front of the camera rather than behind it and it should be noted that because the book is officially sanctioned by EON Productions that there is no coverage of either 1953’s or 1967’s Casino Royale adaptations or McClory’s Never Say Never Again.

The James Bond Encyclopedia is due out on October 15th in the United States. You can already pre-order a copy on Amazon.

• Over at ajb007 they have a pretty cool article titled “Sex, Sun and Sadism” about the politics of Kingsley Amis and Colonel Sun.
• It’s A-MAIZE-ING. Ever wondered what Roger Moore would look like if he were depicted as a maze in a field? Or a DB5? Yeah.. check it out. Some always said Moore’s 007 interpretation was a bit corny, but these guys took it to a whole new level. I could keep going..
• Peter Lamont won’t be returning for Bond 22. Instead the role of production designer will go to Dennis Gassner best known for his work on Field of Dreams, Big Fish, and two previous films starring Daniel Craig, Road to Perdition and the upcoming The Golden Compass. Additionally, it is possible that one location for Bond 22 will be Austria.
• CBn has two recent interviews. One is with Chris Corbould who has done special effects for numerous Bond films going as far back as A View to a Kill. Recently Corbould did Casino Royale, Batman Begins and is currently working on The Dark Knight. The second interview is with Nicolas Fleurier, author of James Bond & Indiana Jones: Action Figures.
• MI6 scored an interview with David Arnold.

In addition to the announcement yesterday that Higson will be attending The Science Museum in London on August 11 comes news that Charlie Higson will also be making an appearance at the Nettlebed Village Club on September 22 to talk about the challenges he faced when asked to write the Young Bond adventures.

According to the Fleming family:

“This event will take place appropriately in Nettlebed where Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, spent much of his own childhood. His grandfather was an enterprising Scot who moved south and bought and rebuilt Joyce Grove (now the Sue Ryder Home).

“His father Valentine Fleming was briefly MP for Henley and lived at Ipsden with his young family.”

Good news for American James Bond fans: Double or Die, the third book in the Young Bond series of novels written by Charlie Higson featuring 13-year-old James Bond, finally has an Amazon listing. Unfortunately, however, the book won’t be published till April 22, 2008. At least it’s something though, right? Oddly, the Amazon listing for the Double or Die U.S. audiobook is currently set for an April 8, 2008 release.

In other Young Bond news the Young Bond Dossier reports that Charlie Higson will preview Hurricane Gold the fourth book, at The Science Museum in London on August 11. Hurricane Gold will hit bookstands in the UK on September 6th.

• K-Swiss is partnering up with Sebastien Foucan to introduce the first “free running shoe” called Ariake. Foucan is best known to readers of this site as Mollaka, the man Bond chases down while in Madagascar at the start of Casino Royale. In addition to the shoe, the collaboration will also lead to TV and print advertisements, a documentary presumably featuring Foucan, and a website dedicated to free running.
• Cinematical scored another exclusive first look, this time for the second Daniel Craig film coming out this year (and the second film to oddly enough pair both Nicole Kidman and Eva Green with Craig) The Golden Compass. Over there you can see 5 different posters, 1 featuring Daniel Craig looking rather badass and another featuring Eva Green (Vesper) soaring through the air.
• Screendaily sat down for an interview with Neal Purvis and Robert Wade to talk about their co-scriptwriting history, why they got picked up by the Broccolis for The World Is Not Enough and more.
• Acclaimed video game designer Peter Molyneux (Populous, Black & White) was actually inspired by the torture scene in Casino Royale for his upcoming game Fable 2. Or so he’s been saying at this year’s E3. Apparently instead of dying the main character will now fall to the ground where the enemies will kick the ever living crap (‘the living daylights’, if you will) out of the player leaving permanent scars for the remainder of the game. Anyway, I just thought it was interesting. I mean how often are people inspired … uhh with good intentions… by a torture scene. At the time of writing this it is unknown whether you can ask your foes to take care of a little itch. (too much?)
• Variety briefly mentioned that Sony is gunning for a 2010 release date for Bond 23. A no-brainer really since EON Productions likes a 2-year film schedule. Other sources like ComingSoon.net are saying it’s going to be a summer release. Of course there’s also the issue with whether Sony will still be around. If I recall correctly Sony only had a deal for two films (Casino Royale being the first) and even if I’m wrong on that according to a recent article by The Hollywood Reporter MGM plans on buying back the consortium’s 50% stake in the company thus taking Bond back; meaning Sony won’t have anything to do with Bond 23. Of course Bond means big bucks so maybe Sony will fight a bit harder.
• Production of Bond 22 will be coming back home to Pinewood Studios rather than returning to Prague’s Barrandov reports Variety citing the head of Barrandov, Vladimir Kuba. No other location was named by Kuba or EON Productions, but the decision to return to Pinewood was decided on due to the budget and lack financial incentives.
• The Entertainment Merchants Association’s Home Entertainment (EMCA) Awards were announced not long ago and Casino Royale picked up Best Blu-ray Title of the Year. The Departed took home Best HD-DVD Title of the Year as well as DVD Rental Title of the Year.