After a period out in the cold, we welcome Gerry Wadsworth back in with his latest creation: an homage to Ian Fleming’s Cold War James Bond short story – The Living Daylights. The Backstory With a nod to master Bond book illustrator, Richard Chopping – a Green Bottle fly perches on the label of a…
Article by David Salter This is a tale from a bygone age, the 1960s. It almost certainly couldn’t happen today, as the components – cheap rents in Central London, relaxed working conditions and the buzz of excitement in the atmosphere, after the austerity of the post-war years, the emergence of pop music, rock’n’roll, discotheques and…
This week we welcome David Salter in from the cold, who has the distinction of having once lived in the birthplace of Ian Fleming at 27 Green Street. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? From Russia With Love. It was the first hardback that I had bought on the day of publication and…
The Spring number of The Book Collector will be a special issue on the theme “Ian Fleming & Book Collecting”. Fleming was the publisher of The Book Collector from its start and its principal shareholder from 1955 until his death. After five decades at the helm Nicolas Barker sold his interest in the periodical to James…
2017 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the publication of Ian Fleming’s fifth James Bond novel, From Russia With Love and to celebrate there will be a 60th Anniversary Panel for the SAMLA 89 Conference in Atlanta, GA, from Nov 3-5 2017. The novel holds a special place in the Bond canon, for it was this novel that…
Article by Larry Loftis Nothing is what it seems. Whether the subject is screenwriting, novel plotting, or espionage, the goal is the same—deception. As Hollywood scribe Robert McKee explains in his legendary book, STORY, “If the scene is about what the scene is about, you’re in deep sh*t.” On February 14-17, I will be giving…
This week we welcome one of the Bond community’s most esteemed members, collectors and writers in from the cold. The author of James Bond’s Cuisine: 007 Every Last Meal, Matt Sherman. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? Thanks for such an Artistic query–with the Flemings alone, that’s like asking which of my nine…
“If one eats badly in England-or in any other country, for that matter-it is generally one’s own fault” – Ian Fleming. In 1956, one could be forgiven for not being able to find the finest in English cuisine. Fleming was in a rather more privileged position to sample the best of English cooking from his homes…
Marina Marinshe was one of the photographers chosen by Ian Fleming Publications in collaboration with Algoritam Publishing (Zagreb, Croatia) to shoot the first James Bond book covers in Croatia. She produced the covers for the books Casino Royale, Quantum Of Solace (short story collection) and Live and Let Die. We are delighted to welcome her in…
Article by Graham M. Thomas Is there a more thrilling city than Tokyo? Today it would certainly come near the top of many people’s bucket list and, from a personal perspective, it comes top of mine. After all I lived there for five years and although home is now in south-western Japan, a visit to…
We are delighted to welcome in from the January cold, Alice Dryden to talk about her Bond collection and why she could still be the first woman to write an official Bond novel! 1. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. I love the detailed crest, and unless you know…
Article by Revelator 2016 marks the 60th anniversary of Ian Fleming’s novel Diamonds Are Forever. During what’s left of the year Artistic Licence Renewed wishes to pay tribute to its heroine, Tiffany Case, arguably Fleming’s best female character. Diamonds Are Forever suffers from weak plotting and its main villains–the Spang twins–appear too briefly to join…
This week we welcome ‘Retro’ the eminence gris behind the very erudite website Retroculturati, which includes an appreciation of James Bond. Quite right! What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? A difficult choice but I would say Thunderball as it was my favourite film as a young boy, I have the original stills promo…
Andrew Lycett needs little introduction. He is the fearless biographer who has tackled such great lives as Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle and Dylan Thomas. To date, his 1995 biography of Ian Fleming is every Bondophile’s go-to reference on Ian Fleming. We welcome Andrew in from the cold. Why did you decide to write a…
After another successful BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Thunderball, we grabbed a few precious minutes with Martin (who along with his wife Rosalind Ayres) is architect behind the James Bond BBC radio plays. Martin, tell us about how these adaptations began. During the centenary celebration of Ian Fleming in 2008, we (Jarvis & Ayres Productions)…
This week we welcome world class Bond collector Brad Frank in from the cold. Brad has been one of literary Bond’s main curators of rare Bondiana and was instrumental in the completion of Jon Gilbert’s indispensable Ian Fleming Bibliography. How did your lifelong involvement with Bond begin, particularly on the literary side? The school I…
Submitted by: Oliver Buckton, Professor of English, Florida Atlantic University, South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA) Conference, Jacksonville, FL, November 4-6 2016. The 88th South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA) Convention—held in Jacksonville, Florida, from November 4-6, 2016– proved to be, among other things a festival of James Bond and Ian Fleming. There were two panels…
Article by Larry Loftis Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Britain’s Director of Naval Intelligence during World War II, had always said that his personal assistant was such a great administrator and intelligence planner that the roles should have been reversed. The assistant, of course, was Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming. In the early days of 1941, when…
This week we are delighted to welcome the esteemed lecturer Christine Berberich in from the cold to discuss Ian Fleming and James Bond in the context of Britain in the 1950s and 60s. In your essay ‘Fleming’, James Bond and the Question of England’, you mention how Bond (and Fleming by extension) were both ‘at…
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Artistic Licence Renewed 