There are literally hundreds of books about Ian Fleming and James Bond, so here at Artistic Licence Renewed, we have made life easier for you and winnowed it down to the pick of the litter. There are of course some great books out there, so please leave a comment at the end of the post…
If you are interested in investing in James Bond first editions and Fleming paraphnalia, you’ll need to have deeper pockets than Auric Goldfinger. Here are some of the most expensive items to have ever sold at auction. Special thanks to Simon Patterson at Hyraxia Books for his invaluable help. $102,000 Moonraker, signed from Fleming to…
Casino Royale stands out as among the best of all the Bond novels and often assumed that it created the narrative template for the series. It certainly laid the ground and introduced Bond to the world but it can be argued that it does not conform to the familar conventions that Ian Fleming developed over…
Article by Benjamin Welton The espionage novel is one part “imperial adventure story” and one part detective tale. The former, which is extensively examined by Dr. Caroline Reitz in her slim study entitled Detecting the Nation: Fictions of Detection and the Imperial Venture, often details the exploits of Englishmen abroad, specifically those educated Englishmen who…
Philip Larkin, the greatest English poet of the second half of the past century (and a genuine Bond fan), reviewed Licence Renewed in the June 05, 1981 issue of The Times Literary Supplement. His review is really about Fleming’s legacy, and he makes the case–with more eloquence and insight than anyone since–for why Bond-continuation novels…
Article by Revelator Doctor No is definitely one of the better Fleming novels. The novel is divisive only because it caused an idiot at the New Statesman named Paul Johnson to write an article accusing Fleming of “sex, snobbery, and sadism,” a phrase still used by lazy journalists. Johnson went on to attack The Beatles with equal viciousness…
Shortly after handing over an early manuscript of Moonraker to William Plomer, Ian Fleming told him: “In my opinion, it isn’t much of a book, but it should make a good film.” How wrong he was to be as it turned out. A film version never materialized in his lifetime and when it did, it…
Article by Edward Biddulph During his career as the author of the James Bond novels, Ian Fleming received hundreds of letters from his readers. Readers wrote to express their admiration for the latest novel or to point out errors or an incorrect reference to some luxury product. Some readers simply wrote to ask for Fleming’s…
In September 1965, Kingsley was offered the opportunity to write his own Bond story after the success of both his literary critique The James Bond Dossier and tongue-in-cheek The Book Of Bond (Or Every Man His Own 007). Shortly afterwards, in 1966, official Bond publisher Glidrose Productions Ltd. commissioned novelist Geoffrey Jenkins to also write a Bond novel. Set in South…
Article by Revelator: Philip Larkin is perhaps was the first critic to connect Major Smythe to Fleming, and at first glance, Smythe’s similarities to Fleming are many and obvious. Both are in their mid-50s and dealing with a sagging belly, heart trouble, and a soured marriage. Either could be described as “the remains of a…
Widely regarded as the greatest English poet to arise after the second world war, Philip Larkin was, like his close friend Kingsley Amis, a fan of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. In the following article, published in the July 8, 1966 issue of The Spectator, he reviews the final Bond book. These two stories, according to…
In 1982, Bond aficionado and the first Bond continuation author – Kingsley Amis – wrote a review of John Gardner’s ‘For Special Services’. By Kingsley Amis Ian Fleming’s last novel, The Man With The Golden Gun, appeared in 1965, a year after its author’s death. I published Colonel Sun: a James Bond Adventure under the…
by Benjamin Welton I’ve sat in enough literature classrooms to know the refrain well. A young woman full of earnest conviction but enough neo-Marxist and Lacanian theory to sink a dreadnought will speak up and say “I cannot relate to this.” During one such case, a peer of mine took it step further by claiming…
Novelist, poet, critic, teacher and professional drinker Kingsley Amis‘ contribution to the James Bond franchise, cannot be overlooked. His enthusiasm for Bond and his many arguments in defense of Bond and Ian Fleming against criticism found various literary avenues, not to mention the marvelous first bond continuation novel after Fleming’s death, Colonel Sun. Amis on Fleming: “Ian…
If you like to listen to James Bond’s adventures while working or relaxing, then check out these BBC radio play productions on YouTube, not to mention the priceless Desert Island Discs interview with Ian Fleming. Sadly, not the whole broadcast. From Russia, With Love: In writer Archie Scottney’s brilliantly evocative ‘radio screenplay’, we see another…
In 1967, this rare Playboy article was written by famous children’s author Roald Dahl. Dahl in fact, worked with Ian Fleming in the BSC during WW2 with the secret intelligence group informally known as The Irregulars. According to Donald Sturrock, author of Storyteller – The Life of Roald Dahl: “[Roald Dahl] had known Ian Fleming well. Both…
Artistic License Renewed is very proud to have as a guest, one of the best James Bond narrators of all time, Simon Vance! Simon has narrated all the Ian Fleming novels and short stories as well as some of the continuation work and we asked for his memories of the experience and take on Fleming’s…
There seems to be a never-ending cycle of Bond and Ian Fleming documentaries and docu-dramas but finding a good one can be tough. Many have missed the mark in terms of accuracy and acting. Making this task even more difficult is the availability of some of them. Well, after exhaustive research and picking up the…
John Pearson graduated from Peterhouse Cambridge with a double first in History, then worked on the Economist Intelligence Unit and as a BBC trainee producer before being offered a job by Ian Fleming as his assistant on the ‘Atticus’ column for the Sunday Times. James Bond: The Authorised Biography is a fictional biography of James Bond and…
President John F. Kennedy was a fan of Fleming’s books. In March 1961, Hugh Sidey, published an article in Life Magazine, on President Kennedy’s top ten favourite books. It was a list designed to show that Kennedy was both well-read and in tune with popular taste. It included Fleming’s From Russia With Love. Up until this time, Fleming’s books had…
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