Solo : A James Bond Novel By William Boyd

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2013-04-15

BREAKING NEWS: William Boyd's James Bond continuation novel is titled Solo and will be published on September 26, 2013.

1969. A veteran secret agent. A single mission. A licence to kill. James Bond returns.

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:

William Boyd, whose James Bond continuation novel is set to be one of this year’s publishing highlights, has today announced that his book will be called Solo.

The announcement came on the opening day of The London Book Fair, where Boyd is Author of the Day.

He explained his choice of title:

‘Sometimes less is more. For me as a novelist the simple beauty of Solo as the title of the next James Bond novel is that this short four-letter word is particularly and strikingly apt for the novel I have written. In my novel, events conspire to make Bond go off on a self-appointed mission of his own, unannounced and without any authorization - and he’s fully prepared to take the consequences of his audacity.

‘The journey Bond goes on takes in three continents – with the main focus honing in on Africa. It’s what happens to Bond in Africa that generates his urge to “go solo” and take matters into his own hands in the USA.

‘Thus far and no further, at this stage…’

He continues: ‘Titles are very important to me and as soon as I wrote down Solo on a sheet of paper I saw its potential. Not only did it fit the theme of the novel perfectly, it’s also a great punchy word, instantly and internationally comprehensible, graphically alluring and, as an extra bonus, it’s strangely Bondian in the sense that we might be subliminally aware of the “00” of “007” lurking just behind those juxtaposed O’s of SOLO…’

Very little else has been revealed about the book at this stage, other than that it will feature a veteran secret agent, with Bond aged 45. It will be published on 26 September in the UK by Fleming’s original publisher, Jonathan Cape, an imprint of Vintage Publishing, part of The Random House Group, in hardback, ebook and audio editions. HarperCollins will publish the book in Canada and the U.S. on 8 October.

Quote from Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd:

‘Ian Fleming had a great aptitude for naming his books and his Bond titles have become true classics. Solo is a simple yet striking title which fits perfectly alongside the other books in the Bond canon. The announcement of the title marks the lead up to the launch of William Boyd’s novel in September, which we and the Fleming family are looking forward to immensely.’

Quote from Richard Cable, Managing Director, Vintage:

‘We are delighted to be announcing Solo as the title for the new James Bond novel on the day on which William Boyd is celebrated as Author of the Day at London Book Fair. The few of us with the good fortune to have read Solo can testify that Will has written an absolutely brilliant book and we look forward with mounting excitement to a huge worldwide publishing event on September 26th. The timing of the announcement is particularly apt as we mark the 60th anniversary of Jonathan Cape’s first publication of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale.’

The 60th anniversary of Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, Casino Royale, was on 13 April.

• The new James Bond book by William Boyd will be published in hardback, ebook and audio editions on 26 September 2013 by Jonathan Cape, an imprint of Vintage Publishing, in the UK and Commonwealth, and by HarperCollins in the US and Canada

• William Boyd’s books are published in the UK by Bloomsbury; in the US by HarperCollins

• Vintage Publishing, a division of Random House, relaunched Ian Fleming’s entire James Bond backlist in print and ebook format in the UK in September 2012. Richard Cable, Managing Director, Vintage Publishing, is available for interview through Four Colman Getty about this and William Boyd’s new Bond novel www.vintage-books.co.uk

• 2013 is a significant year for Bond, marking 60 years since Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, was published by Cape in 1953

• Ian Fleming Publications Ltd is the Fleming family-owned company that owns the copyright in the Bond books.

• For further information about William Boyd, visit: www.williamboyd.co.uk

About the Bond Books:
• Over 100 million Bond books have been sold (and over half the world’s population has seen a Bond film!)

• Ian Fleming wrote 14 James Bond books: Casino Royale (1953), Live and Let Die (1954), Moonraker (1955), Diamonds Are Forever (1956), From Russia with Love (1957), Dr. No (1958), Goldfinger (1959), For Your Eyes Only (1960), Thunderball (1961), The Spy Who Loved Me (1962), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963), You Only Live Twice (1964), The Man with the Golden Gun (1965), and Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)

• Fleming’s other works include the children’s favourite, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1964), which was made into a film and stage musical, The Diamond Smugglers (1957) and a collection of travel writings called Thrilling Cities (1963)

• The Ian Fleming centenary was celebrated on 28th May 2008 with the publication of Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks

• Charlie Higson is the author of The Young Bond books which are published by Puffin in the UK

• Samantha Weinberg, writing as Kate Westbrook, is the author of The Moneypenny Diaries published by John Murray in the UK

• Other previous authors of official James Bond novels include Kingsley Amis, John Gardner, Raymond Benson and Jeffery Deaver

Photo above:
William Boyd announced "Solo" as the name of new James Bond novel at London Book Fair on April 15, 2013. From left to right: Corinne Turner (MD, IFPL), Richard Cable (MD, Vintage Publishing), William Boyd (James Bond Author), Gail Rebuck (CEO Random House Group), Simon Littlewood (Intl. Director, Random House Group) Photo by Luke Sprague. © Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. All rights reserved.

Visit the official website for William Boyd's Bond novel "Solo" for the latest news:

www.jamesbondsolo.co.uk

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