117 replies to this topic

[LLana]

Zero Minus Ten is now available.  I just purchased it on audible.com for $3.49.  iTunes has it for $9.99.  Not yet on downpour.com or audiobooks.com.  Brilliance audio still shows it being released on December 2nd and, funnily enough, none of the continuation novels (Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, and Die Another Day) are not listed as upcoming.  It's just Benson's regular Bond novels.  

[Darth Prefect]

You mean novelizations, but I take your point.  Only the regular continuation novels are being shown at Brilliance's web site now, though they are still showing on amazon as mp3-CDs.  (That may be an oversight.)

 

Interestingly, I asked Benson himself about these releases on facebook and he had no idea they were coming out at all.

 

I'm waiting for the physical media, myself.  Why was it so cheap at audible?  I show it at $7.34 (as a member) or $10.49 (for those who are not).

[LLana]

Something strange is happening.  If you go to Brilliance Audio, none of the Benson ebooks are listed as available or upcoming.  Downpour.com now has Zero Minus Ten listed for $6.99 and available as of Tuesday, December 2nd.  But none of the other MP3 download books are available, just the previously released CD versions of Die Another Day, High Time to Kill, Never Dream of Dying and the Man with the Red Tattoo.  First the novelizations disappeared and now it looks like everything but 0-10 is gone as well.  

 

Rights issue?  Perhaps something else?  It seems odd, but then the whole thing was low-key to begin with.  No big announcement and none of us would even have known the audiobooks were being released we hadn't accidentally stumbled upon the information on Brilliance Audio.  I have not see anything that explains what is happening.

Edited by LLana, 29 November 2014 - 08:57 PM.

[Darth Prefect]

Brilliance Audio now shows nothing by Benson at all.  Amazon still lists all the previously available books as pre-orders. Nothing on audible.com.

 

Raymond Benson tells me (via facebook) that he should have some sort of an answer about this stuff by the end of the week.

 

You said you bought 'Zero Minus Ten' from audible.  Is it still there for you to download?

[LLana]

It is.  It has been in my audible library since the day I purchased it. Today was its release date and Downpour has it for $9.99.  iTunes had it on the day I bought it from Audible, but neither iTunes, Audible or Brilliance Audio have it now.  However...Audible does now have The Man with the Red Tattoo (downloadable version) available for pre-order at $7.34.  It shows a release date of December 30, 2014, which is the original release date that Brilliance Audio first had a few months ago.  Brilliance does not have any of Benson's works, either available or for pre-order.  iTunes has several of his works in audiobook, but none of the Bond continuation.

 

I am interested to hear what Mr. Benson has to say on this.  It just seems odd virtually everything disappeared.  Zero Minus Ten is available on Downpour (MP3 only, it appears the CD version may not have been released), which means it is available from Blackstone Audio - that should be a clue about who will eventually release them.

[Darth Prefect]

I'm not seeing any of them on audible.  My preorder of 'Zero Minus Ten' has not shipped, but has not been cancelled.  I'm taking that as a good sign.

 

I'll be sure to share whatever Benson has to say once I hear from him.

[LLana]

FYI, audible and iTunes now have the abridged recording of Seafire available.  Like Cold (Fall) Christopher Cazenove is the narrator and its only a couple of hours long.  I think there are a few more abridged Gardner books floating around, but this is only the second one I have seen as a digital download.  The others (excepting Cold) are all cassette.

[LLana]

Also, The Man with the Red Tattoo disappeared off Audible as quickly as it popped up. Downpour still shows it, plus High Time and Never Dream as available CDs.  Plus Downpour still has Zero Minus as a download.  Amazon.com's Benson page is showing more of his continuation novels out/upcoming on Audio and MP3 CD.  Zero Minus is already available, December 16th:   Facts of Death, December 23rd:  Doubleshot and December 30th:  Never Dream of Dying (which is already available on CD/MP3 CD).  Perhaps Downpour will release the digital download editions on the corresponding dates.  Seeing that they are the only ones who currently carry the Zero Minus digital download, I expect they will carry the other novels as well.

[Darth Prefect]

If you check through the thread, you will see we have covered all the abridged Gardners. but for convenience, here's the list:

 

No Deals, Mr. Bond read by Roger Blake

Death Is Forever read by Simon Jones

Never Send Flowers read by Simon Jones

SeaFire read by Christopher Cazenove

Goldeneye read by Samantha Bond (UK)

Goldeneye read by David Fox

Cold Fall read by Christopher Cazenove

 

Also, unrelated to this issue, all of the celebrity readings from a couple of years ago are available from audible.co.uk with new cover art.  Unlike their original digital release through AudioGO, the short stories are not available individually.

[Darth Prefect]

All of the recent and upcoming Raymond Benson titles are now inactive at Amazon.  My order is on hold.

 

No word yet from Benson, but I'll ping him again.

[Darth Prefect]

Raymond Benson says that it *is* a rights issue and that it will be sorted out "soon".

[LLana]

Great, thanks!  Hopefully it won't take long at all.  Zero Minus Ten digital download is still available from downpour.com, but that is the only place I see it.  So I guess that whatever rights need to be resolved, Blackstone Audio will be involved.

[Darth Prefect]

Update on the Benson Books:
 
Zero Minus Ten is now available digitally from Ambling Books:
 
http://amblingbooks....en#.VIx02Xse0oo
 
No word on CD versions.
 
Also, The Man with the Red Tattoo is now available from downpour in two different versions.  One is the original that Blackstone has had on CD for several years and runs 8.6 hours.  The new one is marked as being from Brilliance and has a runtime of 8.4 hours.  Both are read by Simon Vance, but listening to the samples (both from Chapter 4) makes it clear that Vance has actually re-recorded the book.

Edited by Darth Prefect, 13 December 2014 - 06:47 PM.

[LLana]

Ok, that is good to know.  If The Man with the Red Tattoo is actually released on the 30th, that should indicate the the entire line will eventually be released.  Vance's re-recording is also a good sign.  Perhaps with Spectre's big screen release next year, Blackstone will individually release all the Benson books in the lead up.  As I understand, IFP is doing something similar with the Gardner ebooks (Seafire, Cold, Barbarossa, etc) that are not yet released in the U.S.

[LLana]

Ambling books also has The Facts of Death, also for $8.49, digital.  Have not seen it anywhere else, not even Downpour.  Ambling is not as well known as digital retailers such as audible, downpour, brilliance, etc, so it is a bit surprising it would be here and not on the others. I imagine it will reach at least Downpour soon enough, but this is pretty strange.

[LLana]

Audiobooksnow.com is showing Doubleshot as an upcoming release for Tuesday, December 23rd.  I believe that was the original date that Brilliance had published.  I am a bit skeptical, but audiobooksnow also has Zero Minus Ten and Facts of Death available for sale.  Nothing of this one on iTunes, Audible, Downpour, Audiobooks.com, etc.  All narrated by Vance, of course.

[LLana]

December 23rd has come and gone and the only place I see Doubleshot is on SimplyAudiobooks, as a CD to rent or purchase.  I don't have an account with them, but I put the CD in my shopping cart to see if it would indicate not in stock or pre-order and it took me right up to the create account page with the CD still in the cart.  But Audiobooksnow.com does not have any of Zero Minus Ten, Facts of Death or Doubleshot available.  Downpour still showing only Zero Minus Ten and digital Man with the Red Tattoo release on December 30th.  Ambling Books shows Zero Minus Ten and Facts of Death only available.  Otherwise, pretty nothing anywhere.

[LLana]

Ambling books now have ​Doubleshot and High Time to Kill in MP3 digital editions.  They just popped up today, each at $8.49, both narrated by Vance.  Don't see them anywhere else.

[Darth Prefect]

Just saw that Nathaniel Parker will be reading Steve Cole's Shoot to Kill.  Parker, of course, read the previous "Young Bond" books by Charlie Higson.

[Darth Prefect]

The German Ian Fleming audiobooks read by Oliver Siebek are now available from audible.com, along with "James Bond in 60 Minuten".

[Darth Prefect]

Matthew Parker's Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming's Jamaica will be available as an unabridged audiobook read by Roy McMillan on March 11, 2015.

[LLana]

Benson's audiobooks appear to all be gone.  Ambling and Downpour no longer have the digital edition they sold at the turn of the year available.  I did find the MP3 download edition of the Man with the Red Tattoo still available on audible.co.uk, but that is the only place I see any downloadable versions.  No doubt it is the rights issue dragging on.  There do not appear to be any CD versions of the December-release audiobooks available yet either.

[Darth Prefect]

Sizeable update:

 

Anthony Horowitz's new Bond Novel, Trigger Mortis, will have an audiobook release on CD and digital download.  No reader announced yet.

 

Steve Cole's Shoot to Kill has been translated into German by Leo H. Strohm as Der Tod stirbt nie ("Death Never Dies") and has been released as an audiobook read by Jacob Weigert.

 

William Boyd's Solo has seen translated audio releases in French (translated by Christiane Besse, read by Thibault de Montalembert) and Swedish (translated by Gabriel Setterborg, read by Stefan Sauk).

 

Something called Be James Bond: How to Manifest Agent 007's Magnetism, Confidence, and Style by "Miss Moneypenny" (likely the publisher, Michael Bush), read by Elaine Wise is available from audible.

Edited by Darth Prefect, 30 May 2015 - 10:55 PM.

[LLana]

Some of the Gardner and Benson audiobooks were released yesterday, all narrated by Simon Vance.  For Benson, all three Union trilogy books, plus Zero Minus Ten and Facts of Death are available on CD.  The three union books are digitally available via audible and iTunes.  audiobooks.com has all five aforementioned books.  No sign of Tomorrow Never Dies and Die Another Day.

 

For Gardner, three of the books were released yesterday (Icebreaker, Scorpius, Nobody Lives Forever) and most of the others will be released over there next three Tuesdays.  The schedule, as best as I can see, is as follows:

 

October 13:  Win, Lose or Die; No Deals, Mr. Bond; Brokenclaw

 

October 20:  Seafire, Man from Barbarossa; Never Send Flowers

 

October 27:  Death is Not Forever, Cold, Role of Honour

 

No mention of the Goldeneye novelization, nor of License to Kill.  His first two novels, License Renewed and For Special Services are not mentioned either.  These were produced in 2011, narrated by Jeremy Northam, so perhaps Vance won't be doing these.

[Darth Prefect]

Some of the Gardner and Benson audiobooks were released yesterday, 

 

Thanks for the heads up.  I just spotted this this morning.  Here's a breakdown of the Gardner books based on previous releases:

 

The following have already had commercial unabridged audiobooks released (by other readers):

 

Nobody Lives Forever (also non-commercial unabridged)

Never Send Flowers (also commercial abridged and non-commercial unabridged)

COLD (also commercial abridged)

 

The following have had commercial *abridged* versions released:

 

No Deals, Mr. Bond (also non-commercial unabridged)

Death Is Forever (also non-commercial unabridged)

SeaFire (also non-commercial unabridged)

 

The following have only had non-commercial unabridged releases:

 

Icebreaker

Role of Honour

Scorpius

Win, Lose or Die

The Man from Barbarossa

 

The following has never had a previous audio release of any kind:

 

Brokenclaw

[LLana]

Ambling Books now has the five Benson digital editions and the three Gardner editions released on October 6th.  The next three Gardner stories are due for release tomorrow.  Nothing on downpour.com, which is a bit surprising to me.

[LLana]

The digital version of Colonel Sun is also available on audible and iTunes.  Narrated by Vance, it costs $14.17 on audible and runs 7 hours and 7 minutes.

[LLana]

Audible.com currently has the digital version of Colonel Sun available for $3.47.

 

Also, two of Benson's novelizations will be available next Spring.  Amazon shows the audio CD versions of Tomorrow Never Dies and the World is Not Enough will both be available as of April 12th, 2016.  These are unabridged, narrated by Vance.  The digital versions that audible and other retailers sell should be available the same day.

 

I've not heard any word about an audio version of Gardner's Goldeneye novelization.  John Kenneth recorded a version severals years ago, but I think Vance was supposed to do one as well?