34 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

Now on the CBn main page: courtesy of K1Bond007, sales and marketing plans, the first details on the cover, new hardback reprints of the Fleming novels...

Penguin's Massive Marketing & Sales Plans For Sebastian Faulks' 'Devil May Care'

Cover details; plus new hardback editions for all 14 of the Ian Fleming originals

Excited yet?

[doubler83]

Oh yeah, going to be buying this AND buying the new Fleming hardback books too.

One question, is there anywhere we can see the cover?

Edited by doubler83, 07 November 2007 - 08:51 PM.

[Mr. Blofeld]

Holy cripes...

Bond 23, anyone?

[Qwerty]

One question, is there anywhere we can see the cover?

Sadly, it looks like unless you were one of those retailers in attendance...

[Loomis]

Describing the novel, Faulks said he had retained about 80% of Fleming

[marktmurphy]

I love the sound of him not peeling back the layers- we get plenty of that everywhere else, thank you very much!

The cover sounds interesting- a real big brand relaunch from a pretty classy agency; sounds like we won't be getting the Chopping pastiche cover. I didn't mind if it was just this once, but I'm happy for it to be something very stylish and new.

[Skudor]

I love the sound of him not peeling back the layers- we get plenty of that everywhere else, thank you very much!

The cover sounds interesting- a real big brand relaunch from a pretty classy agency; sounds like we won't be getting the Chopping pastiche cover. I didn't mind if it was just this once, but I'm happy for it to be something very stylish and new.

Call me cynical but I'm expecting it to be a gunbarrel.... perhaps a stylish or retro gunbarrel... but a gunbarrel nevertheless. Boring.

[plankattack]

I'm not heart-broken that he's avoiding onions altogether. If his intent is just to pen an exciting yarn in the best Thunderball tradition, then maybe that's not a bad thing. I think his intent is to for it fit seamlessy into the Fleming oeuvre, rather than writing a story that sticks out because goes into parts of Bond's psyche that perhaps Fleming had originally wanted left alone.

Not that anyone can claim to know what Fleming intended but imagine if it was Gardner who had Bond go doollaly in YOLT instead of Fleming - we might all be up in arms about a new author taking liberties with the character. I don't know if I'm making a lot of sense but maybe Faulks would rather be credited a fresh, exciting new story, than being accused of "mucking about" with the original character.

[K1Bond007]

I love the sound of him not peeling back the layers- we get plenty of that everywhere else, thank you very much!

The cover sounds interesting- a real big brand relaunch from a pretty classy agency; sounds like we won't be getting the Chopping pastiche cover. I didn't mind if it was just this once, but I'm happy for it to be something very stylish and new.

Call me cynical but I'm expecting it to be a gunbarrel.... perhaps a stylish or retro gunbarrel... but a gunbarrel nevertheless. Boring.

Can't be. The gun barrel is film iconic, not literary iconic. Besides I think the gun barrel might be trademarked by Danjaq, but I'm not too sure.

[Mike00spy]

In order for it to truly be a celebration of the literary Bond, we need reprints of the continuation novels. Do we really need more copies of novels already available?

[marktmurphy]

I love the sound of him not peeling back the layers- we get plenty of that everywhere else, thank you very much!

The cover sounds interesting- a real big brand relaunch from a pretty classy agency; sounds like we won't be getting the Chopping pastiche cover. I didn't mind if it was just this once, but I'm happy for it to be something very stylish and new.

Call me cynical but I'm expecting it to be a gunbarrel.... perhaps a stylish or retro gunbarrel... but a gunbarrel nevertheless. Boring.

I'm 100% certain that's the one thing it won't be.

[K1Bond007]

In order for it to truly be a celebration of the literary Bond, we need reprints of the continuation novels. Do we really need more copies of novels already available?

"Celebration of the literary Bond"? It's Fleming's Centenary. New covers for Fleming's novels seem pretty obvious.

Also, I hate to say it, but there's not much of a market for Bond novels written by John Gardner. Bensons are still pretty new. I think at best, we may see an omnibus in the future. Note: in the future...like years from now.

[sharpshooter]

Also, I hate to say it, but there's not much of a market for Bond novels written by John Gardner. Bensons are still pretty new. I think at best, we may see an omnibus in the future. Note: in the future...like years from now.

Yes, I would like the Gardner and Benson books to be re-released. They are Bond novels after all.

This DMC news is exciting and interesting. I'm wondering what this single iconic image could be....a bullet or something?

[zencat]

Okay, we got to find a pic of that cover art!

[MarcAngeDraco]

'Rejacketed' hardcovers of all the Fleming Bonds...

2008 is starting to look rather expensive, because I'll have to have these...

[Byron]

'Rejacketed' hardcovers of all the Fleming Bonds...

2008 is starting to look rather expensive, because I'll have to have these...

But you haven't even seen these covers yet MarcAnge! I won't be falling into that
trap of buying the same books again and again.

As for DMC i was hoping for a Cape / Choping like cover - after all the book is set right after the Fleming era and some kind of uber modern cover design will not gel.

I also came across an interview with Faulks (originally in the Washington Post) and here are several interesting comments relevant to the discussion here (apologies if posted before):

"He studied Fleming's style (It's a journalist's style: short sentences, a lot of active verbs, no semicolons"). He researched Bond's character ("Pretty easy, you just read the books"). He checked out famed gadgetry in a volume called the James Bond Bedside Companion ("You look in the index, under "car", it's not that hard.").
Then he knocked out DVC in six weeks just as Fleming used to do.
What was the hardest thing about writing it? "Probably doing the opposite of what i do, writing about characters with hardly any interior life", Faulks says.
With Fleming's Bond, "you get 5 per cent of the hinterland behind the man". With his Bond, he says, that percentage might rise a bit, but only to ten percent or so. He's still supposed to be an Ian Fleming character after all."

[zencat]

I'm surprised no one has reacted to the news that Felix and Moneypenny will be in the book. Not sure I'm crazy about that. Isn't Miss Moneypenny more a creation of the films than the Fleming books? Might we also get a zany "Q" scene?

Here's hoping they are organic and necessary to the story and not just there because, you know, we gotta have the whole gang.

[sharpshooter]

Moneypenny is ok to have, but I hope she is used to a minimum. I dont want any 'Moneypenny out in the field, or captured by oil terrorists' going on. As for Felix, I'm glad he will be in the book, oh and I wouldnt mind a little bit of equipment for Bond as well, but nothing zany.

[MicroGlobeOne]

Yes, I would like the Gardner and Benson books to be re-released. They are Bond novels after all.

Agreed. A re-release of the John Gardner novels is long overdue.

[Qwerty]

'Rejacketed' hardcovers of all the Fleming Bonds...

2008 is starting to look rather expensive, because I'll have to have these...

Indeed.

Cannot wait to get a look at that Devil May Care cover!

[Sbott]

There's just a niggle in the far reaches of my mind about the book. Faulk's comments indicate that he is remaining true to Fleming's Bond, but it is not clear wether that is only the literal Bond or wether he will borrow from the Bond films as well. Time will tell.
It will also be interesting to see how they sell/market the book to the film fans, whose attention span is often a lot shorter than that required from reading a book. They certainly will be aiming this at a bigger market than the paid up members of the Bond fan club.

[marktmurphy]

There's just a niggle in the far reaches of my mind about the book. Faulk's comments indicate that he is remaining true to Fleming's Bond, but it is not clear wether that is only the literal Bond or wether he will borrow from the Bond films as well. Time will tell.

'Fleming's Bond'. The answer's sort of in the question!

It will also be interesting to see how they sell/market the book to the film fans, whose attention span is often a lot shorter than that required from reading a book. They certainly will be aiming this at a bigger market than the paid up members of the Bond fan club.

I rather think that people who have seen films have also read books.
They'll be aiming it at fans of thrillers in general, I'd say. There'll be a huge marketing push for this; it'll do very well indeed.

[Simon]

It is sort of gratifying to see that both the literary and filmic Bond worlds are very focused on where they're going with their character.

And in a very classy way.

Good luck to all.

[Jack Spang]

I'm disappointed that he won't be delving atleast a little into Bond's pyche. I'm not talking about a thesis or anything but just a little would be nice.

Didn't he say at the beginning that Bond would be feeling a little vulnerable and a couple of things in that first interview?

Well, I guess the only Fleming yarns that delved into Bond's psyche to any degree were OHMSS, CR and YOLT. If DMC is in the spirit of books like LALD, Dr No and FRWL and TLD then I'll be happy.

Edited by Jack Spang, 08 November 2007 - 02:22 PM.

[OmarB]

Great news, wish I could see the cover. As for the reprints, I'm gonna buy them because I've already bought them several times already. What we need are reprints of the Gardner (especially now that he's dead), Benson, and those jokers who did the novelizations too. Reprint 'em all!

[Scrambled Eggs]

[quote name='Jack Spang' post='790927' date='8 November 2007 - 13:50']Didn't he say at the beginning that Bond would be feeling a little vulnerable and a couple of things in that first interview?[/quote]

Indeed he did:

[quote]Devil May Care is set in 1967 when

[Loomis]

It is sort of gratifying to see that both the literary and filmic Bond worlds are very focused on where they're going with their character.

And in a very classy way.

Very true.

On a personal note, am taking a break from posting on CBn, but will continue to look in from time to time to find out about new developments, for this is truly an exciting era for 007. What a year 2008 is shaping up to be for Bond.

[Qwerty]

Devil May Care gets a brief mention in this article from The Guardian: http://books.guardia...2208384,00.html

[MarkA]

In order for it to truly be a celebration of the literary Bond, we need reprints of the continuation novels. Do we really need more copies of novels already available?

I disagree. With the exception of Colonel Sun and the Pearson biography I don't think any of the Gardner's or Benson's are worth reprinting. I suppose to illustrate how bad they are, and in the case of Benson, how badly written.

[OmarB]

Well that's your opinion. I want them all reprinted, including Gardner and Benson.