Next Bond novel to be Cold War classic
James Bond is going back to his favourite decade: The fictional MI6 secret agent will next year have a “classic” adventure set in the late 1960s, at the height of the Cold War. The British bestselling writer William Boyd has been chosen to write the next 007 novel.
Next year is a significant year for Bond as it marks 60 years since the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, was published in 1953.
The novel, which is yet to be titled, will mark a return to “classic Bond” and will be published in the UK and Commonwealth in autumn next year. “The only thing I’m prepared to say at this stage about the novel that I will write is that it will be set in 1969,” Boyd said in a statement.
Super spy James Bond was created by Ian Fleming on a February morning in 1952 in his novel Casino Royale. The Fleming estate has now commissioned 60-year-old Boyd, who was born in Accra, Ghana, and studied in Jesus College at the Oxford University.
American thriller writer Jeffery Deaver wrote the previous Bond adventure called, Carte Blanche, in 2011 and British novelist Sebastian Faulks guided Agent 007 through the murky world of espionage in, Devil May Care, which was published in 2008, to mark the birth centenary of Ian Fleming.
Fleming wrote 14 James Bond books and other authors of official James Bond novels include Kingsley Amis, John Gardner and Raymond Benson.
Boyd, who is well-known for his books, Restless and Any Human Heart, also revealed that his favourite Bond adventure is Fleming’s From Russia with Love.
“When the Ian Fleming estate invited me to write the new James Bond novel 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,” he said.
Boyd also highlighted his previous fascination for Fleming himself. “I 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.”
The London-based writer, who spends part of the year in the south-west of France, also highlighted the coincidence of having worked previously with three actors who have depicted the character of James Bond in the films.
“I’ve worked with three of the actors who have played James Bond over the years. They’ve all starred in films that I’ve written: Sean Connery in A Good Man in Africa, Pierce Brosnan in Mr Johnson and Daniel Craig in The Trench. The idea that these somewhat random connections with Fleming and Bond should culminate in my writing a new James Bond novel is irresistibly appealing,” Boyd added.
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