The new James Bond novel will be available in late September, Ian Fleming’s estate announced Monday.
Enjoying that Blu-ray or DVD version of Skyfall in your home theatre this week? Well, you should be if you’re a fan of 007 and the James Bond franchise, which hit the half-century mark a year ago.
So much has been made of the British spy’s cinematic adventures that some may find it hard to fathom that James Bond was a literary creation before becoming one of the silver screen’s iconic heroes.
The estate for author Ian Fleming, who was a naval intelligence officer and journalist before penning 11 Bond novels and two short story collections, announced Monday that 007’s latest literary adventure will hit electronic and brick-and-mortar bookshelves in the UK on Sept. 26 (www.ianfleming.com/the-books/james-bond-the-new-mission).
The book will be published by HarperCollins in the United States and Canada. The novel’s North American release date has yet to be revealed. HarperCollins’ press release announcing that author William Boyd had been tabbed to pen the novel stated that the novel would be published simultaneously in the UK and North America.
While the novel’s title has yet to be revealed, Boyd has revealed that the novel will be set in 1969, featuring a 45-year-old Bond.
The Fleming estate’s website page on the forthcoming book sums up the early outline in bare terms that Bond, who isn’t exactly verbose, would no doubt appreciate: 1969. A veteran secret agent. A single mission. A licence to kill. James Bond returns.
Boyd said in a statement that he was thrilled to be penning this new chapter in Bond’s literary adventures.
“When the Ian Fleming estate invited me to write the new James Bond novel, I didn’t hesitate. I accepted at once – for me the prospect appeared incredibly exciting and stimulating – a once-in-a-lifetime challenge. In fact, my father introduced me to the James Bond novels in the 1960s and I read them all then – From Russia with Love being my favourite.
“I then became very intrigued by Ian Fleming the man and have written about him on numerous occasions. The fascination went so far that I placed him as a character in my novel Any Human Heart, where he’s responsible for recruiting the novel’s protagonist, Logan Mountstuart, into the Naval Intelligence Division in World War II.”
Boyd is the third author in recent years to be invited by the estate to write an official Bond novel, following Jeffery Deaver (Carte Blanche, 2011) and Sebastian Faulks (Devil May Care, 2008).
As a Bond film fan, I find it interesting that director Sam Mendes brought 007 into a new, modern era in Skyfall, but Boyd’s novel will take a character who is roughly the same age as actor Daniel Craig’s Bond is and set it in 1969. It’s an odd choice, but Bond certainly has a timelessness to him as a character.
Wayne Chamberlain is the co-host of the Star Wars Book Report podcast, available on iTunes, and a contributing writer with Postmedia News and Canada.com.