Oct 4, 2016

Anthony Horowitz Returns for Another James Bond Novel

Ian Fleming Publications announced today that Alex Rider and Foyle's War creator Anthony Horowitz, who penned the well-received 2015 James Bond continuation novel Trigger Mortis, will write another 007 novel for publication in Spring of 2018. The project will also mark the return of Bond to the publisher most associated with the series, Jonathan Cape. Cape published all of Ian Fleming's original 007 novels, and more recently William Boyd's 2013 one-off continuation Bond novel Solo.

Like Trigger Mortis, Horowitz's next, still untitled Bond novel will again be a period piece set during the timeline of Fleming's original novels, and will once again, according to The Bookseller, "feature previously unpublished material by Fleming." (Trigger Mortis incorporated a racing sequence based on an unused Fleming outline for an episode of a never-made James Bond television series.) Horowitz will be the first continuation author to pen more than one novel since Raymond Benson ended his tenure as Bond's official chronicler in 2002. While Benson and John Gardner before him each wrote many entries in the series, Since 2008, the Fleming Estate has instead (until now) opted to hire big name authors on a single book basis for the main series of adult James Bond novels. (Spin-offs, however, like Young Bond and the wrongfully forgotten Moneypenny Diaries--both excellent series--saw the same authors pen multiple titles.) If you ask me, Horowitz is an excellent choice to take of the mantle of Bond's official chronicler! Trigger Mortis was excellent, as was his series of Bond-inspired teen spy novels featuring Alex Rider. And Foyle's War (starring Brosnan-era Bill Tanner Michael Kitchen) was simply one of the best TV dramas ever. I look forward to reading Horowitz's next James Bond novel, and hope it's only the next of many more to come!

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