There’s a nice article over at Agent DVD covering the history of the actors who have played James Bond, from lesser-known Barry Nelson to the present day.
Ian Fleming could scarcely have imagined the longevity and influence of his most famous literary creation, a British superspy named James Bond. Three generations of fans have enjoyed [...]

read more from this topic.....

I’ve linked to these reviews before. Keith Phipps got a “box of paperbacks” at a garage sale, from which he periodically reviews an older and/or obscure book. There were several Bond books in the box.
Now he’s reviewing Goldfinger. It’s a smart review, he hits the high points and low points.
When writers of literary [...]

read more from this topic.....

Quantum of Solace will be the headline title for a collection of Fleming’s Bond short stories from For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy & The Living Daylights. Such news is old, however, a very attractive new edition is forthcoming.
Designed to match the excellent Penguin American softcovers of recent years, the new edition looks to be [...]

read more from this topic.....

The Battle for Bond: The Genesis of Cinema’s Greatest Hero, by Robert Sellars
Tomahawk Press, paperback
Thunderball and Never Say Never Again are the perennial exceptions in the James Bond canon; Thunderball was produced by Kevin McClory rather than by Eon, Never Say Never Again is “unofficial,” not “counted” (the working title of Quantum of Solace was [...]

read more from this topic.....

Abebooks is doing a good promotion celebrating the Ian Fleming Centennial at: Birthday, Happy Birthday.

read more from this topic.....

Here’s a terrific little article in the National Post about Ian Fleming and James Bond. It looks at the biographical data on Fleming, and speculates as to who Bond really was, what inspired him, and so on.
The pantheon of classic fictional heroes is small. Few creations — even those, like Harry Potter, who emerge as [...]

read more from this topic.....

As a Bond fan, you’d have to be living in a cave the past few months to miss the news that this is Ian Fleming’s centenary year.
Ian Fleming was born on May 28, 1908 and would have been 100 years old today. Fleming was many things, both negative and positive. Like most humans, he [...]

read more from this topic.....

Via Cinema Retro, here’s a link to the BBC radio production of Dr. No. This is a dramatization of the novel (not the different film; although this is one Bond film that sticks pretty close to the source). Bond is played by none other than Die Another Day’s Gustav Graves: Toby Stephens.

read more from this topic.....

Nice writeup in the gray lady today on the Fleming exhibit in the Imperial War museum.
Of his Bond plots, Fleming, ever prosaic about his talent, said, “I extracted them from my wartime memories, dolled them up, attached a hero and a villain, and there was the book.” For M, Bond’s irascible, domineering secret service [...]

read more from this topic.....

Here’s a nice little article in The Telegraph talking about the Ian Fleming novels, and giving an approximate current value of each first edition (in pounds sterling). Interesting reference for the collector.

read more from this topic.....