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Who: Anthony John HorowitzBorn: 5 April 1955, London Borough, England
Anthony Horowitz, OBE (born 5 April 1955) is a prolific English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense. His work for children and teenagers includes The Diamond Brothers series, the Alex Rider series, and The Power of Five series (aka The Gatekeepers). His work for adults includes the novel and play Mindgame (2001) and the Sherlock Holmes novel The House of Silk (2011). He has also written extensively for television, contributing numerous scripts to ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot and Midsomer Murders. He was the creator and principal writer of the ITV series Foyle's War, Collision and Injustice.
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Anthony Horowitz's 007 production:- "Project One" (coming September 2015)
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Who: Steve (Stephen) ColeBorn: 1971
Steve (Stephen) Cole is an English author of children's books and science fiction. He was also in charge of BBC Worldwide's merchandising of the BBC Television series Doctor Who between 1997 and 1999: this was a role which found him deciding on which stories should be released on video, commissioning and editing a range of fiction and non-fiction titles, producing audiobooks and acting as executive producer on the Big Finish Productions range of Doctor Who audio dramas.In 2013 Ian Fleming Publications announced that Cole would continue the Young Bond series first penned by Charlie Higson, with four new books to further explore the life of the teenage James Bond.
Steve Cole's 007 production:
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Who: Charles Murray "Charlie" HigsonBorn: 3 July 1958, Frome, England
Charles Murray "Charlie" Higson is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer. He has also written and produced for television.
In 2004, it was announced that Higson would pen the Young Bond series of James Bond novels, aimed at younger readers and concentrating on the character's school-days at Eton. Higson was himself educated at Sevenoaks School where he was a contemporary of Jonathan Evans, former Director General of MI5. The first novel, SilverFin, was released on 3 March 2005 in the UK and on 27 April 2005 in the US A second novel, Blood Fever, was released on 5 January 2006 in the UK and 1 June in the US. The third novel, Double or Die, was published on 4 January 2007 having had its title announced the day before. The next, Hurricane Gold, came out in hardcover in the UK in September 2007. In this year he also made a debut performance on the panel show QI. His final Young Bond novel, By Royal Command, was released in hardcover in the UK on 4 September 2008.Charlie Higson's 007 production:
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Who: William BoydBorn: 7 March 1952, Accra, Gold Coast (nowadays Ghana)
William Boyd, CBE is a British novelist and screenwriter.
On 11 April 2012 it was announced that Boyd would write the next James Bond novel. Boyd says the book, Solo, is set in 1969. Jonathan Cape publish the book in the UK in September 2013.Boyd used Bond creator Ian Fleming as a character in his novel Any Human Heart. Fleming recruits the book's protagonist, Logan Mountstuart, to naval intelligence during World War Two.Boyd has also worked with three of the actors who have portrayed Bond in the film series: Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.William Boyd's 007 production:
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Who: Jeffery DeaverBorn: 6 May 1950, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, USA
Jeffery Deaver is an American mystery/crime writer. He has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University and originally started working as a journalist. He later practiced law before embarking on a successful career as a best-selling novelist. He has been awarded the Steel Dagger and Short Story Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association and the Nero Wolfe Award, and he is a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Reader's Award for Best Short Story of the Year and a winner of the British Thumping Good Read Award. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including The New York Times, The Times, Italy's Corriere della Sera, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Los Angeles Times.
Deaver was chosen to write an official new James Bond novel: Carte Blanche is set in 2011 and was published on 25 May 2011. He is the second American author to write Bond novels, after Raymond Benson.
Jeffery Deaver's 007 production:
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Who: Sebastian Charles Faulks
Born: 20 April 1953, Donnington, EnglandSebastian Charles Faulks CBE is a British novelist, journalist, and broadcaster. He is best known for his historical novels set in France — The Girl at the Lion d'Or, Birdsong, and Charlotte Gray. He has also published novels with a contemporary setting, most recently A Week In December (2009), and a James Bond sequel, Devil May Care. He is a team captain on BBC Radio 4 literary quiz The Write Stuff.
To mark the 2008 centenary of Ian Fleming's birth, the late author's estate in 2006 commissioned Faulks to write a new James Bond novel. Faulks has said of the commission, "I'd just finished Human Traces and it seemed ridiculous. You've just spent five years in a Victorian lunatic asylum and then you go on to James Bond. But I think their hope is they'll get two markets. The more I think about it, the more I think it was clever of them, because the mismatch is intriguing". The result, Devil May Care, became an immediate bestseller in the UK, selling 44,093 hardback copies within 4 days of release.
The Observer review of the novel said that "Faulks has done in some ways an absolutely sterling job. He has resisted pastiche", and blamed the book's weaknesses on the character of Bond as created by Fleming. The Scotsman review of the novel said, "To his credit, Faulks has imitated the haphazard plotting, sloppy characterisation, Colonel Blimp politics, sexist guff and basic incredulity of Ian Fleming to a tee. It's a Nuremberg Defence of a novel: Faulks was only following orders". Mark Lawson, writing in The Guardian, praised it as "a smart and enjoyable act of literary resurrection. Among the now 33 post-Fleming Bonds, this must surely compete with Kingsley Amis's for the title of the best".Sebastian Faulks's 007 production:
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Who: Raymond BensonBorn: 6 September 1955, Midland, Texas, USARaymond Benson is an American author best known for being the official author of the adult James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. Benson was born in Midland, Texas and graduated from Permian High School in Odessa in 1973. In primary school Benson took an interest in the piano which would later in his life develop into an interest in composing music (mostly for theatrical productions). Benson also took part in drama at school and became the vice president of his high school's drama department, an interest that he would later pursue by directing stage productions in New York City after attending and receiving a degree in Drama Production—Directing from the University of Texas at Austin. Other hobbies include film history and criticism, writing, and designing computer games.In 1996, John Gardner resigned from writing Bond books. Glidrose Publications promptly chose Benson to replace him. As a James Bond novelist, Raymond Benson was initially controversial for being American, and for ignoring much of the continuity established by Gardner. The author did much to placate these concerns however, and promptly embarked on regular tours to promote his novels in the UK, as well as occasional trips to mainland Europe; several signing sessions were held at the offices of his UK publisher Hodder & Stoughton, and at London booksellers Murder One and James Bond specialists Adrian Harrington Ltd.
Benson had previously written The James Bond Bedside Companion, a book dedicated to Ian Fleming, the official novels, and the films. The book was initially released in 1984 and later updated in 1988. It was nominated for an Edgar Award by Mystery Writers of America in the Best Biographical/Critical Work category. Benson also contributed to the creation of a module in the popular James Bond 007 role-playing game in the 1980s. In total, Benson wrote six James Bond novels, three novelizations, and three short stories. He was the first Bond author since Ian Fleming to write short stories (published in Playboy and TV Guide magazines and collected in anthologies published in 2008 and 2010).
Glidrose changed its name to Ian Fleming Publications commencing with Benson's novel, High Time to Kill. Benson resigned from writing Bond books in 2003.
Benson's novel The Man with the Red Tattoo inspired the government of Japan's Kagawa Prefecture in 2005 to erect a permanent museum (the "007 Man with the Red Tattoo Museum", dedicated to the book) and honor Benson with the title of Goodwill Ambassador.In 2008 High Time to Kill, Doubleshot, Never Dream of Dying and his 1997 short story "Blast from the Past" were grouped and released as an omnibus called The Union Trilogy: Three 007 Novels. A second anthology entitled Choice of Weapons was published in 2010 and contained Zero Minus Ten, The Facts of Death, The Man with the Red Tattoo, and the short stories "Midsummer Night's Doom" and "Live at Five".In April of 2014, Benson and former Bond author Jeffery Deaver collaborated--the first such collaboration between former Bond continuation authors--as co-editors of Ice Cold--Tales of Intrigue from the Cold War, an anthology sponsored by Mystery Writers of America containing short stories about the Cold War.Raymond Benson's 007 production:Others:- The James Bond Bedside Companion (1984, U.K. and updated edition published in 1988)
- A View to a Kill (1985) (Designer/Writer; Mindscape) (Computer game)
- Goldfinger (1986) (Designer/Writer; Mindscape) (Computer game)
- You Only Live Twice II: Back of Beyond (1986) (Designer/Writer; Victory Games, Inc.) (Role-playing game)
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Who: John Edmund GardnerBorn: 20 November 1926, Seaton Delaval, England
Died: 3 August 2007, Basingstoke, EnglandJohn Edmund Gardner was an English spy and thriller novelist, best known for his James Bond continuation novels, but also for his series of Boysie Oakes books and three continuation novels containing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional villain, Professor Moriarty.Gardner, an ex-Royal Marine commando, worked for a period as an Anglican priest, but he lost his faith and left the church after a short time. After a battle with alcohol addiction he wrote his first book, the autobiographical Spin the Bottle, published in 1964.Gardner went on to write over fifty works of fiction, including fourteen original James Bond novels, and the novel versions of two Bond films. He died from suspected heart failure on 3 August 2007.In 1979 Glidrose Publications (now Ian Fleming Publications) approached Gardner and asked him to revive Ian Fleming's James Bond series of novels. Between 1981 and 1996, Gardner wrote fourteen James Bond novels, and the novelizations of two Bond films. Gardner stated that he wanted "to bring Mr Bond into the 1980s", although he retained the ages of the characters as they were when Fleming had left them.Even though Gardner kept the ages the same, he made Bond grey at the temples as a nod to the passing of the years. With the influence of the American publishers, Putnam's, the Gardner novels showed an increase in the number of Americanisms used in the book, such as a waiter wearing "pants", rather than trousers, in The Man from Barbarossa. James Harker, writing in The Guardian, considered that the Gardner books were "dogged by silliness", giving examples of Scorpius, where much of the action is set in Chippenham, and Win, Lose or Die, where "Bond gets chummy with an unconvincing Maggie Thatcher". Whilst Gardner's Bond novels received a mixed reaction from the critics, they were popular and a number appeared in The New York Times Best Seller list, bringing the author commercial success. Gardner had an ambivalent view on being the Bond author, once saying that "I'm very grateful to have been selected to keep Bond alive. But I'd much rather be remembered for my own work than I would for Bond", while saying on another occasion that "I remain proud that my contribution to the Bond saga played a great part in its development". In the mid-1990s, after discovering he had esophageal cancer, Gardner officially retired from writing Bond novels and Glidrose Publications quickly chose Raymond Benson to continue the literary stories of James Bond. John Gardner's 007 production:
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Who: Christopher Hovelle WoodBorn: 5 November 1935, London, EnglandChristopher Hovelle Wood is an English screenwriter and novelist best known for the Confessions series of novels and films which he wrote as 'Timothy Lea'. Under his own name, he adapted two James Bond novels for the screen: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977 with Richard Maibaum) and Moonraker (1979).Wood was the first author to write novelisations of Bond films. His novelisation of The Spy Who Loved Me, renamed James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me to avoid confusion with Ian Fleming's original novel, has nothing in common with the Fleming book. Similarly, the plot of Moonraker, renamed James Bond and Moonraker, is almost entirely written by Wood, although it does share some similarities with Fleming's original novel, in particular the villain Hugo Drax. Bond fans generally rate Wood's novelisations highly. Kingsley Amis wrote in The New Statesman that, despite several reservations, "Mr Wood has bravely tackled his formidable task, that of turning a typical late Bond film, which must be basically facetious, into a novel after Ian Fleming, which must be basically serious. ... the descriptions are adequate and the action writing excellent.Christopher Wood´s 007 production:Others:- James Bond, the Spy I loved: Memoirs (2006)
- How to Write the Perfect Bond Film: Article in SFX magazine (2012)
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Who: John George Pearson Born: 5 October 1930, London, EnglandJohn George Pearson is a novelist and an author of biographies, notably of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, and of the Kray twins.He was educated at King's College School, Wimbledon, and Peterhouse College, Cambridge, where he won a double first in history. He then worked for The Economist BBC Television and The Sunday Times. He was Ian Fleming's assistant at the Sunday Times and went on to write the first biography of Fleming, The Life of Ian Fleming, published in 1966.Pearson also became the third official author of the James Bond series, writing in 1973 James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007, a first-person biography of the fictional agent James Bond. However, Pearson declined an offer to write further Bond novels.John Pearson´s 007 production:See more information hereSee more 007 AUTHORS here
Who: Robert Markham
Was born: 16 April 1922, London, EnglandDied: 22 October 1995, London, England
Robert Markham is a pseudonym used by author Kingsley Amis to publish Colonel Sun in March 1968. The book was the first continuation James Bond novel following the death of Bond's creator, Ian Fleming.
Following the death of Ian Fleming on 12 August 1964, the rights to the Bond novels were held by Glidrose Publications (now Ian Fleming Publications). After Glidrose released the remaining Fleming works—The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy and The Living Daylights—they decided to commission a sequel in order to retain rights in the Bond product. They chose Amis to write the first continuation Bond novel; Amis had previously produced The James Bond Dossier—a critical analysis of the Bond books—under his own name, and The Book of Bond, a tongue-in-cheek manual for prospective agents, using the pseudonym Lt.-Col. William ("Bill") Tanner.
For the pseudonym, Peter Fleming - Ian Fleming's brother - initially suggested "George Glidrose". Jonathan Cape rejected this name, claiming that it had no selling or publicity power. Markham was then chosen. Despite this, Amis's involvement as continuation author was not a secret; American editions of the book identified Amis as the author, though the main Robert Markham credit remained.Robert Markham´s 007 production:Others:
- The James Bond Dossier (1965) (A critical analysis of the Bond books)
- The Book of Bond (1965) a tongue-in-cheek manual for prospective agents, using the pseudonym Lt.-Col. William ("Bill") Tanner
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Who: Ian Lancaster Fleming Born: 28 May 1908, London, EnglandDied: 12 August 1964, Canterbury, EnglandIan Lancaster Fleming was an English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer, best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through a number of jobs before he started writing.While working for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units, 30 Assault Unit and T-Force. His wartime service and his career as a journalist provided much of the background, detail and depth of the James Bond novels.Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952. It was a success, with three print runs being commissioned to cope with the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two short-story collections followed between 1953 and 1966. The novels revolved around James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond was also known by his code number, 007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Reserve. The Bond stories rank among the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide. Fleming also wrote the children's story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang and two works of non-fiction. In 2008, The Times ranked Fleming 14th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".He was married to Ann Charteris, who was divorced from the second Viscount Rothermere as a result of her affair with Fleming. Fleming and Charteris had a son, Caspar. Fleming was a heavy smoker and drinker who suffered from heart disease; he died in 1964, aged 56, from a heart attack. Two of his James Bond books were published posthumously, and others have since produced Bond novels. Fleming's creation has appeared in film twenty-five times, portrayed by seven actors.Ian Fleming´s 007 production:
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