William Boyd To Write Next 007 Novel
James Bond is going back to the ’60s in a new official 007 novel that will be penned by William Boyd.
The British novelist told Reuters that he will be put his Cold War espionage knowledge to use when he writes the Ian Fleming-created character.
Boyd is the third author to be invited to write a James Bond novel in recent years. Jeffery Deaver wrote Carte Blanche in 2011 and Sebastian Faulks wrote Devil May Care in 2008.
William Boyd is the author of several novels, screenplays and teleplays, in which Cold War espionage runs deep in many of them.
“I never met Fleming, but I knew somebody who knew him very well and I’ve written about Fleming quite a lot and I actually put him in one of my novels,” Boyd said.
“There’s been a kind of Bond/Fleming motif in my life for a long time, so it’s rather spooky and serendipitous.”
The first Bond film, “Dr. No,” is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and the new movie “Skyfall” will be out in October, so it is expected there will be much buzz surrounding this novel’s release.
The Bond catalogue is one of the most prized in publishing, with global sales totaling more than 100 million copies.
Ian Fleming’s estate said earlier this year it had signed a 10-year deal with the Random House Group to publish the James Bond backlist both in print and eBook format.
Boyd admits that it didn’t take long to make up his mind whether or not he would take on the challenge.
“I should be so lucky was my instant response.”