Bond, Literary Bond...

Relish the Gentleman: Man About Mayfair
Sir Basil Seal

I realize that you are all aware of this already, but I wanted to point it out just on the off chance that someone has been on holiday, or, in hospital and wasn't paying attention...May 28, 2008 is, of course, the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth, and to mark this momentous day and year Ian Fleming Productions Ltd (which is wholly owned by the Fleming family and administers Ian's literary estate) has commissioned some special works to commemorate the event. This is strictly concerning the literary Bond and not the movies, which are a different thing altogether. EON Productions owns the film rights and their Bond is a different character from the one depicted in the books. I personally do not follow the film Bond, but for those of you who do, there is a new Bond film due out in November of 2008. Of course there have been continuation Bond novels written for years by several different authors. I have not read any of these, because I personally do not like the idea of continuing books after the author is dead. I will make an exception in the case of Devil May Care. Faulks has gone to great pains to write as Fleming and he has kept the story in the original time frame, not yanking Bond into the present where he has to give up cigarettes, trade his Bentley for a REVA, watch his cholesterol intake, be wary of date rape law suits, get in touch with his feminine side and drink bottled water instead of whiskey. Here are some highlights of the years festivities:

Imperial War Museum For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond Thursday 17th April 2008—Sunday 1st March 2009

To celebrate the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth, Imperial War Museum London is producing the first major exhibition devoted to the life and work of the man who created the world’s most famous secret agent, James Bond.

Featuring fascinating material, much on public display for the first time, For Your Eyes Only will look at the author and his fictional character in their historical context and examine how much of the Bond novels were imaginary and how far they were based on real people and events. This exhibition will explore the early life of Ian Fleming, his wartime career and work as a journalist and travel writer and how, as an author, he drew upon his own experiences to create the iconic character of James Bond that continues to have global appeal.

For Your Eyes Only
Ian Fleming and James Bond is the new book accompanying the Imperial War Museum exhibition and written by Ben MacIntyre, a columnist and associate editor on The Times. The book is published by Bloomsbury and will be released on 17th April.

Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design
A major exhibition ‘Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design’ will be on show at the Fleming Collection from 22 April to 28 June 2008. The exhibition, covering each book published, will also chart the role of artists and designers in creating and defining the Bond look. Casino Royale, the first of the Bond novels spanning half a century, established the James Bond brand. It was a compelling mixture of sex, style and violence that soon turned Bond into the most famous fictional secret agent in history. This provided artists and designers with invaluable opportunities to maximize their talents.

Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang
Not only was Ian Fleming the creator of James Bond, but he also invented Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang for his young son Caspar, and it went on to become the most famous and best-loved car in fiction.

This treasured story inspired a film and a musical and is celebrated in this lavish, highly collectible new edition, complete with its original timeless artwork by John Burningham, one of Britain’s most popular author/illustrators. It will published in hardback on the 8th April by Puffin Books.

James Bond: The Authorized Biography
First published in 1973, this book has been reissued in conjunction with the Ian Fleming centenary. Highly recommended.

"Five years ago, Pearson wrote the best-selling authorized biography of Ian Fleming. At the time, like most of the many million James Bond fans around the world he assumed that Bond was nothing more than a figment of Fleming's highly charged imagination. Then he began to have his doubts - doubts which soon were reaching such a pitch that the British secret service tried to warn him off the scent. Despite this, he finally became convinced that James Bond was not only real but was actually alive.

Thanks to a change of policy within the secret service (for reasons which Pearson carefully explains), he was invited to embark upon a companion volume to his life of Fleming. This was a book which must surely be one of the most extraordinary biographies of our times - the authorized life of a myth, the official biography of James Bond."

The Moneypenny Diaries
This is an authorized book edited by Kate Westbrook. First of three books in the series. Already published in the UK, the final book is being published there this year. We find out that her Christian name is Jane...

My heart breaks for James---so begin the explosive, true, private diaries of Miss Jane Moneypenny, personal secretary to Secret Service chief M and colleague and confidante of James Bond. Bound by the Official Secrets Act not to reveal anything about her work, Miss Moneypenny is forced to lead a secretive, clandestine life. But, contrary to popular belief, she was not simply a bystander while James Bond saw all the action.

Miss Moneypenny’s experience with mystery stretches all the way back to her childhood in Africa, when her father inexplicably disappeared in action during World War II. Now, as a young woman in 1960s London, Miss Moneypenny unknowingly stumbles upon her father’s trail. In a position like hers, there’s no file she can’t access, and no document she can’t read. Yet Miss Moneypenny is forced to decide whether it’s worth risking everything---her job, her safety, and even international security---for the possibility of finding her father alive.

A life of espionage has personal as well as political ramifications. For Jane Moneypenny, the price is high. Romantic relationships with outsiders are necessarily built on lies, and she automatically questions the motives of every man she grows close to. For as her diary quickly reveals, Miss Moneypenny is involved in far more than office politics.

Guarding so many secrets and with no one to confide in, she finds herself breaking the first rule of espionage. Unbeknownst to anyone, she keeps a diary charting her innermost thoughts and state secrets.

These diaries should not have been written. They were never supposed to be read...

Devil May Care
By Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming
Devil May Care will be published on Wednesday 28th May 2008 to celebrate the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth. This new installment in the adventures of the world’s most iconic spy has been written by one of Britain’s most admired novelists, Sebastian Faulks.

'My novel is meant to stand in the line of Fleming’s own books, where the story is everything,' said Faulks, '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 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.'

Picking up from where Fleming left off in 1966 with Octopussy and The Living Daylights, Faulks has written the perfect continuation of the James Bond legacy. Devil May Care is set during the Cold War and features all the glamour, thrills and excitement that one would expect from any adventure involving Bond . . . James Bond.

Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories
This will be published in August by Penguin. As noted, it is a collection of all the short stories into one volume.

Centenary Edition Hardbacks by Penguin 007
On May 29 Penguin 007 will publish hard back editions of all 14 Fleming Bond books featuring new cover art by Michael Gillette.

Comments

[mario mandingo]

I recommend the biography of James Bond. I read it in 2002 - I have read it twice, and since it's approved by the Ian Fleming Foundation I felt like I stumbled upon a lost manuscript. This book I place as the end of what we should know about Bond since ity takes place in 1973 - although at the last chapter he is off to take care of some unfinished business with an insane German woman. I never liked the other more recent books by Gardner and Benson. Since this new one takes place in 1966 it's OK and it is being written as "Ian Fleming" which is very unique.

[MCNS]

In today's Daily Telegraph:

Joan Collins on Bond:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/05/18/sv_joancollins.xml