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/william-boyd-to-write-next-james-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.
http://www.thebookbond.com/2012/04/william-boyd-to-write-next-james-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.
Good point.
