2121 replies to this topic

[007jamesbond]

I wonder when we will have more info about the plot...? I guess we have to wait until some time in April to learn more about anything.......

[TheREAL008]

It's my sincere hope that Bond will be earning his first two kills on this assignment. Have Carte Blanche be his first assignment but end the novel with him earning Double O status.

So kind of like a Casino Royale? I hope it's just a new mission and does not get too bogged down trying to explain it in all in the first two chapters. If he doesn't smoke and drink as much or even smoke at all, do we really need it to be explained? I felt it got bogged down to much at the beginning of License Renewed with the explanations at the beginning. But LR really took off after.

Not quite what I meant. I don't know if I'm alone when I say that I'd wish for Carte Blanche to be a proving point for Bond to earn his double O status. Have the first book be a very tough mission for him, with the ending result at the end of the book giving Bond his 007 prefix.

It doesn't have to be anything remotely like Royale; either in book form or in movie. If a character is going to be rebooted then start off at square one. Have Bond be a novice agent with limited field experience who has to prove himself worthy of the double O section.

I hope that makes better sense.

Edited by TheREAL008, 13 March 2011 - 07:54 PM.

[Jump James]

I knew what you were saying. Your were not asking for Casino Royale. I just hope he has already got the 007 status and isn't starting out from the, well, start. Keep the original story of how he got the 007 status in the background and down try to explain to much. Thats what I would like to see in CB.

Lets just hope Jeffery Deaver pulls it off and doesn't think it is just a piece of piss to write a Bond novel. Fleming is still too underrated as a writer in my opinion. There is some beautiful prose in the Fleming Bond books.

Edited by Jump James, 13 March 2011 - 08:06 PM.

[OmarB]

It's my sincere hope that Bond will be earning his first two kills on this assignment. Have Carte Blanche be his fgirst assignment but end the novel with him earning Double O status.

I get where you are comming from. Since it is a restart why not have two new kills right? It's an interesting thought and we will see how it shakes out.

I would prefer if it was just a story of a young agent where we learn what we need to know about him along the way, kinda like CR. I don't want it to get bogged down into some sort of "origin" for lack of a better term.

[Loomis]

Amazon UK currently have CARTE BLANCHE for pre-order at £10.99. I might bite at that price, even though I detest hardbacks.

Also, I'm thinking of getting a Kindle. Anyone know whether there'll be a Kindle edition of CARTE BLANCHE available in May, or if not when it's likely that a Kindle version will be available? Also, are any of the Bond novels other than the Flemings available for the format? (Not that one really needs any of the non-Fleming novels, of course. )

[Jump James]

Amazon UK currently have CARTE BLANCHE for pre-order at £10.99. I might bite at that price, even though I detest hardbacks.

Also, I'm thinking of getting a Kindle. Anyone know whether there'll be a Kindle edition of CARTE BLANCHE available in May, or if not when it's likely that a Kindle version will be available? Also, are any of the Bond novels other than the Flemings available for the format? (Not that one really needs any of the non-Fleming novels, of course. )

The Young Bond books and Devil May Care are available. And I would put money on Carte Blanche going straight to Kindle, although I have no source for this, it's a hunch.

[zencat]

And I would put money on Carte Blanche going straight to Kindle, although I have no source for this, it's a hunch.

Source for your hunch.
http://www.thebookbo...leased-for.html

[Dustin]

EBooks are by far the easiest way to market nearly any kind of book. No expenses for printing, storage, package/wrapping, shipping and so on. I'd have been very surprised if Carte Blanche didn't get the Kindle-treatment. In a few years the question will be if a book gets an actual print run.

Edited by Dustin, 17 March 2011 - 05:34 PM.

[Jump James]

And I would put money on Carte Blanche going straight to Kindle, although I have no source for this, it's a hunch.

Source for your hunch.
http://www.thebookbo...leased-for.html

Ah ha Cool . I also heard that the price of Kindles are going to drop this year.

[Loomis]

And I would put money on Carte Blanche going straight to Kindle, although I have no source for this, it's a hunch.

Source for your hunch.
http://www.thebookbo...leased-for.html

Cheers for the info. Do you think it applies only to the States, though? And if so, if I were to buy a Kindle here in Limeyland, would I be able to download books from Amazon's American site on it, or would I be restricted to using Amazon UK? I'm afraid I've no idea how these things work.

[zencat]

Good question. Sorry, I don't know. Don't really know how the whole ebook universe works yet.

[Jump James]

And I would put money on Carte Blanche going straight to Kindle, although I have no source for this, it's a hunch.

Source for your hunch.
http://www.thebookbo...leased-for.html

Cheers for the info. Do you think it applies only to the States, though? And if so, if I were to buy a Kindle here in Limeyland, would I be able to download books from Amazon's American site on it, or would I be restricted to using Amazon UK? I'm afraid I've no idea how these things work.

Carte Banche will be available UK and US, if thats what you mean?

It appears you can only purchase from the UK site. If you try to get a purchase from Amazon US it will tell you that it's sorry, you can only download from the UK website and vice versa.

[Loomis]

It appears you can only purchase from the UK site. If you try to get a purchase from Amazon US it will tell you that it's sorry, you can only download from the UK website and vice versa.

Thanks for the info. That sounds a bit rubbish, I have to say. What if one wants to download books in languages other than English via Amazon's various sites across the world? No dice, presumably.

Still, I imagine that if America is getting a Kindle edition of CARTE BLANCHE us Brits'll get one too.

[Jump James]

It appears you can only purchase from the UK site. If you try to get a purchase from Amazon US it will tell you that it's sorry, you can only download from the UK website and vice versa.

Thanks for the info. That sounds a bit rubbish, I have to say. What if one wants to download books in languages other than English via Amazon's various sites across the world? No dice, presumably.

Still, I imagine that if America is getting a Kindle edition of CARTE BLANCHE us Brits'll get one too.

Yes, if you want to read your Kindle eBook in Spanish, then you will have to buy your Kindle from Spain and live there to download it. Apply this to all the other amazon sites around the globe. Although the UK selection is quite vast with plenty of choice, and quite splendid prices. You can always download Kindle software to your PC for free to give it a whirl Loomis.

(Apologies for going off topic. I don't even work for Amazon)

[Loomis]

Yes, if you want to read your Kindle eBook in Spanish, then you will have to buy your Kindle from Spain and live there to download it. Apply this to all the other amazon sites around the globe.

Man, that's just ridiculous. Britain isn't just full of people who only speak English, and neither is America. And you have to live in Britain to download content from Amazon UK? What if I were to buy a Kindle here and in a few months' time emigrate to the States (not that I'm planning to do this, but just for argument's sake)? Would it be pointless even bringing my Brit Kindle with me? What about going on holidays overseas? Would I be unable to download books during those periods? I'm pretty sure that if one has a regular account with Amazon one can make purchases on it from any computer in the world, but this isn't the case with a Kindle?

The English (or Spanish or whatever)-only aspect and this apparent geographical straitjacketing strike me as massive drawbacks. There's always some damn catch with these newfangled technological marvels - first regional coding on DVDs and now this. I sometimes wonder whether I ought to buy an iPod, but I imagine that too has its own great big flies in its ointment.

Anyway, rant over. Thanks for the information.

[Dustin]

By the by, oughtn't there happen to be the first review copies around one of these days? It's second half of March and reviewers seem to be a busy bunch. Even if they keep a slot open for Carte, it still should start finding its way into the circus fairly soonish, especially when other things threaten to steal the attention. Which is pretty much what we witness right at the moment, isn't it?

[Loomis]

I doubt that there'll be any review copies in circulation until a couple of days before publication date in late May, and maybe not even then. I imagine that (as with DEVIL MAY CARE) keeping the contents of CARTE BLANCHE secret for as long as possible is a major part of IFP's and the publisher's plan.

Indeed, if I'm not mistaken, I don't think there were any reviews of DEVIL MAY CARE until it was already in bookshops. If memory serves, on the day of publication, a journalist did a "real time" reading/review on the BBC News website, but that was about as early as the reviews got.

[zencat]

DMC was a pretty unusual case having no review copies. I'm betting there might be review copies of CB, or at least copies sent out early selectively.

[Dustin]

I can't really imagine there wouldn't be a few, after all they want Carte Blanche to appear prominently on the public radar. DMC was to some extent pushed by the major PR blitz around the thing (and wasn't there also some snippets pre-printed in magazines I seem to remember?). Carte Blanche doesn't have the centenary as its plug, so they will have to give a little more I should have thought.

[Santa]

In a few years the question will be if a book gets an actual print run.

I am dreading that day. I know it's coming but I don't like it.

[TheREAL008]

To be honest I'm really wishing that Carte Blanche should have been the centenary novel. It would have been nearly perfect to celebrate Fleming's 100th with a rebooted concept of his character.

[Dustin]

In a few years the question will be if a book gets an actual print run.

I am dreading that day. I know it's coming but I don't like it.

Hm, in general I'm with you. Couldn't imagine my books residing in some Kindle-ipad-Googletablet (although it would make moving a great deal less horrible and exhausting). On the other hand it will fundamentally change the publishing business. Not all for the better but surely not all for worse either. The Kindle-isation will give a chance for less conventional authors and themes, much like the internet really.

Ok, perhaps not such a good example for the benefits.

But it will also lead to a greater awareness with resources in publishing. Much of what was printed today is just good for fish&chips wrapper tomorrow (or even right this evening). The fish'n chips dealers will have to find other means for their takeaway and the paper industry will see a little decline. But the woods get a break and frankly, some of what's published should really be ashamed for the amount of trees that had to give their lives just to buy some lunatic a place in history by transporting his crude thoughts into immortality. Not to mention the oil, the workforce and living time that get used up in the process.

Kindle will cut all that drastically.

[Santa]

In a few years the question will be if a book gets an actual print run.

I am dreading that day. I know it's coming but I don't like it.

Hm, in general I'm with you. Couldn't imagine my books residing in some Kindle-ipad-Googletablet (although it would make moving a great deal less horrible and exhausting). On the other hand it will fundamentally change the publishing business. Not all for the better but surely not all for worse either. The Kindle-isation will give a chance for less conventional authors and themes, much like the internet really.

Ok, perhaps not such a good example for the benefits.

But it will also lead to a greater awareness with resources in publishing. Much of what was printed today is just good for fish&chips wrapper tomorrow (or even right this evening). The fish'n chips dealers will have to find other means for their takeaway and the paper industry will see a little decline. But the woods get a break and frankly, some of what's published should really be ashamed for the amount of trees that had to give their lives just to buy some lunatic a place in history by transporting his crude thoughts into immortality. Not to mention the oil, the workforce and living time that get used up in the process.

Kindle will cut all that drastically.

Oh I can see all the good points. In fact the only downside to the Kindle etc. that I can see is, well, that I like books... I like the smell of them, the feel of them, I like to see them lining my walls. I chose my house partly on how much bookshelf space I could fit in it. Sad cow I know. Kindle, great idea as it is, can't replace all that.

[Dustin]

Oh, that's quite reasonable really IMO. I'm much the same, I'd not need much else in my house besides bookshelves. The custom variety unfortunately is costly, but it beats most of what Architectural Digest recommends for interior design any day. Could never give up these private altars of bookishness. My solution would be to have the ebooks for a slight extra charge with the printed variety. So I could store the effigies of my purchases on my shelf, while my Kindle-djinni summons the ghosts of all the books I want to read, wherever I happen to be.

Edited by Dustin, 18 March 2011 - 08:48 PM.

[Jump James]

In a few years the question will be if a book gets an actual print run.

I am dreading that day. I know it's coming but I don't like it.

Hm, in general I'm with you. Couldn't imagine my books residing in some Kindle-ipad-Googletablet (although it would make moving a great deal less horrible and exhausting). On the other hand it will fundamentally change the publishing business. Not all for the better but surely not all for worse either. The Kindle-isation will give a chance for less conventional authors and themes, much like the internet really.

Ok, perhaps not such a good example for the benefits.

But it will also lead to a greater awareness with resources in publishing. Much of what was printed today is just good for fish&chips wrapper tomorrow (or even right this evening). The fish'n chips dealers will have to find other means for their takeaway and the paper industry will see a little decline. But the woods get a break and frankly, some of what's published should really be ashamed for the amount of trees that had to give their lives just to buy some lunatic a place in history by transporting his crude thoughts into immortality. Not to mention the oil, the workforce and living time that get used up in the process.

Kindle will cut all that drastically.

Oh I can see all the good points. In fact the only downside to the Kindle etc. that I can see is, well, that I like books... I like the smell of them, the feel of them, I like to see them lining my walls. I chose my house partly on how much bookshelf space I could fit in it. Sad cow I know. Kindle, great idea as it is, can't replace all that.

Nowt sad about that. What I cant understand with this new eBook craze, is how do readers keep track of what they have read without keeping a good old fashioned library at home? If I ever dable in this eBook marlarky then I feel I would have to keep a journal of books read.

[Loomis]

Oh I can see all the good points. In fact the only downside to the Kindle etc. that I can see is, well, that I like books... I like the smell of them, the feel of them, I like to see them lining my walls. I chose my house partly on how much bookshelf space I could fit in it. Sad cow I know. Kindle, great idea as it is, can't replace all that.

I know what you mean. I too like the smell and feel of books, as well as the fact that you can take them anywhere without having to plug them in or put batteries in them. Trouble is, though, I'm running out of space for all my books and will shortly have to get rid of a fair few for that reason (obviously, I'll be losing only those books that I'm certain I'll never want to pick up again, such as impulse buys that turned out to be duds). And I do like the idea of having dozens of favourite books on one handy portable device. Whenever I go away, I usually have a hard time deciding which books to take with me and a Kindle would appear to solve that problem.

And I'll also point out that if I had the choice of buying CARTE BLANCHE in hardback on the day of release or downloading the Kindle version on the day of release, I'd go for the latter (although I say this without ever having read anything on a Kindle), because I loathe reading hardbacks. They're cumbersome and expensive. I really don't understand why books these days can't come out in paperback right off the bat (if necessary, they could always do limited runs in hardback to please collectors) - surely more people read paperbacks than hardbacks?

Why does the industry still cling to the hardback format? Why are we likely to have to wait till 2012 to get CARTE BLANCHE in paperback? I'm sure there's a perfectly sound commercial reason, but I'd love to know what it is.

[zencat]

Why does the industry still cling to the hardback format? Why are we likely to have to wait till 2012 to get CARTE BLANCHE in paperback? I'm sure there's a perfectly sound commercial reason, but I'd love to know what it is.

Paperback in Sept. Looks like they are listening to you, Loomy.

http://www.thebookbo...-paperback.html

[Loomis]

Thanks for that info, zen. A pleasant surprise - but I wonder whether this may be what I believe is called a "trade paperback", i.e. those larger-than-normal paperbacks on sale at airports? I saw DEVIL MAY CARE in such an edition at Heathrow four or five months after it was first published in hardback and several months before the mass-market paperback appeared in Britain.

In any case, though, I'm sure I'll spring for the hardback, if only because I won't otherwise be able to join in discussions of CARTE BLANCHE here on CBn at the end of May. (BTW, are you planning to take a two-week vacation from spoilers here, or do you have plans in place to score a copy in May? I gather that CARTE BLANCHE isn't going to be hitting bookshops in the States until a fortnight after its British debut.)

[zencat]

Thanks for that info, zen. A pleasant surprise - but I wonder whether this may be what I believe is called a "trade paperback", i.e. those larger-than-normal paperbacks on sale at airports? I saw DEVIL MAY CARE in such an edition at Heathrow four or five months after it was first published in hardback and several months before the mass-market paperback appeared in Britain.

I don't think so. Those are open market editions and there's already one of those for CB on Amazon, to be released the same day as the HB (as was the DMC open market). This has a different ISBN. I did email Hodder to get some clarification, but I didn't hear back. We'll see.

[zencat]

Apologies if I'm just spreading a false rumor, but Carte Blanche news has been scant and I'm getting antsy. There might be less here than meets the eye. Or...

RUMOR: Carte Blanche super special edition in the works?