To celebrate the centennial of the late author’s birth the Ian Fleming estate has given permission to British writer Sebastian Faulk to pen a new James Bond novel for bookshelves sometime in 2008. Fleming died in 1964, never fully realizing the power and scope his famous spy would hold over the world in his various novels, turned into blockbuster films.
This is not the first time the estate has commissioned other authors to pen Bond. The likes of Kingsley Amis and John Gardner have written for the character in the past, but many feel Faulk is probably the best since Fleming to take up the mantle.
“We had him in mind for our centenary novel for quite some time, stated Corinne Turner, managing director of Ian Fleming Publications Limited. “He has an ability to write convincingly in whichever period or genre he chooses, and his novel ‘On Green Dolphin Street’ in particular made me think he might enjoy exploring the world of Ian Fleming and James Bond.”
Doubleday will publish the work set to be titled “Devil May Care,” which takes Bond back to the days of the Cold War.
“My novel is meant to stand in the line of Fleming’s own books, where the story is everything,” Faulk commented. “In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write a thousand words in the morning, then go snorkeling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another thousand words in the late afternoon, then more martinis and glamorous women. In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch and the snorkeling.”
Faulks, known for such novels as “Birdsong” and “Charlotte Gray” has just finished his latest book called “Engleby,” which will now free him up to tackle the universe of uber-spy James Bond.
The upcoming Bond novel has already been optioned by Barbara Broccoli for a future Bond film, who has reportedly called the portions of the manuscript she has seen, the best since Fleming himself.
[Writer Hillel Italie contributed to this story — Photo of Ian Fleming by Horst Tappe]
Fantastic!!! I love Fleming’s novels and thought that the continuations, while not up to the same standard, were good enough reads. I was most upset when they decided to make the Young Bond novels rather than more continuations, so hopefully this will be a return to form.
Yer, everything Bronzethumb said. Wait, Bronzethumb…any relation to Goldfinger?
Gardner was a hack, I am glad they don’t let him write anymore. He cheapened the franchise, of course so did Moore, but the films I do consider different than the books.
A buddy had a very nice first edition Bond book, until his step son color in it with a crayon, I’ll never forgive the kid completely.