William Boyd to write next Bond novel (plus other Bond book news)

[23skidoo]

William Boyd (and no I have no idea who he is either - only William Boyd I know is the guy who played Hopalong Cassidy) has been signed to write the next James Bond novel, which has yet to be titled (but will not be a novelization of Skyfall).

http://www.thebookbond.com/2012/04/w...ames-bond.html

This is actually a very annoying announcement. While as a Bond fan I'm happy to see a new book coming out, they made a huge deal last year about Jeffrey Deaver becoming the new Bond novelist, and his Carte Blanche was a full-out reboot, reimagining Bond and Q and Moneypenny and the rest. It worked really well and was well received. According to this announcement Ian Fleming Publications has decided "never mind" and Boyd's book will be the Bond of the 1960s again, just like Sebestian Faulks did with Devil May Care, a novel I found really boring. It's quite a disappointment for folks like me who were looking forward to Deaver continuing the reimagining of Bond.

On a related note, IFP has announced that it's looking for an author to continue the Young Bond series. Charlie Higson announced via Twitter that he isn't going to be doing any more. It's also been announced officially that they're not bothering doing a novelization of Skyfall (the first time a non-Fleming-titled film hasn't had its own novel) which makes sense as the Boyd announcement suggests they're rewinding back to the 60s with the literary Bond anyway.

And also on a related note, Amazon just announced it's bought the US print and e-book rights to Bond for the next 10 years. Which probably means if you don't like e-books you'll probably have to order your copies of Fleming from the UK or Canada* as I imagine Amazon will emphasize temporary digital files over permanent media.

Alex

*Shouldn't be too hard as last I looked there was something like 528 different reprint editions of the Fleming books. Good luck finding any of the John Gardner or Raymond Benson novels, though.

[Lonemagpie]

Boyd was saying in an interview over the weekend that he'll be following the "formula" of two girls and fancy gadgets - in other words, the Moore-era movie formula.

I foresee more bitching on the part of the lit-Bond fans...

[Captaindemotion]

I liked the Deaver book a lot better than the Faulkes effort. And yeah, one definitely had the impression that Deaver's was created as a (here we go) reboot for the novel series, putting a whole new modern setting on it (one not unlike but clearly distinct from the Craig movies).

The main thing that appealed to me about Faulkes' novel was the 60s setting but I've no strong views on how the next novel should be (I'm unashamedly more a fan of the movies than the book).

I did think it was an interesting fact that three screen Bonds have appeared in movies of Boyd's books or directed by him (Connery in A Good Man in Africa, Brosnan in Mr Johnson, Craig in The Trench).

[Allyn Gibson]

23skidoo wrote:

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And also on a related note, Amazon just announced it's bought the US print and e-book rights to Bond for the next 10 years. Which probably means if you don't like e-books you'll probably have to order your copies of Fleming from the UK or Canada* as I imagine Amazon will emphasize temporary digital files over permanent media.

Amazon is going to make the print volumes available to other retailers. However, Barnes & Noble has previously said that they won't stock Amazon's print books on the shelves. (I believe, however, that they will stock them as special orders.)

23skidoo wrote:

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Shouldn't be too hard as last I looked there was something like 528 different reprint editions of the Fleming books. Good luck finding any of the John Gardner or Raymond Benson novels, though.

Six of the Benson novels were reprinted in massive omnibus volumes by Pegasus a few years ago.

The Gardner novels are currently being reprinted, also by Pegasus, in nice, new trade paperback editions.

[Lonemagpie]

Personally I'd like to do something with Bond's wartime career, but that's never going to happen...

[Captaindemotion]

I'd love to see them do a one-off period movie, even as a 'filler' after Craig leaves and before they cast the next full-timer. After Brosnan's departure here was talk of them doing a one-off movie with a major movie star, to fill the gap before they cast Pierce's replacement. But that's pretty unlikely too.

[FPAlpha]

Took them a long time to find someone else after Castle turned them down to write more Nikki Heat's

[Australis]

^ Good point.

[Starkers]

excellent.

I'm willing to give it a go. Deaver's book was way more enjoyable than Faulkes, but Faulkes had a more diabolical plan at it's heart at least, and Deaver basically having Bond's iphone do everything got old real quick...