2 replies to this topic

[Jeff007]

From 1981 to 2002, Glidrose/IFP seemed to be quite content on publishing a Bond continuation novel almost every year. Now I’m assuming that when Gardner retired they quickly found a replacement so that they wouldn’t miss a beat in 1997. Benson obviously filled this position.

Then I’m not sure if Benson was finished his contract or retired but then we have basically nothing from 2002 The Man With The Red Tattoo to 2005 SilverFin.

In the last five years from 2005-2010 IFP has put forth a plethora of projects. Young Bond, (Possibly Young Bond 2 in the works), The Moneypenny Diaries, Devil May Care, Project X. They are experimenting which is something we have never seen in the Bond literary world. Is there a main person within the IFP that wasn’t content on just publishing a regular Bond continuation novel each year? Or was it a collaborative decision to shake up the literary world? I’d assume that most of these decisions would have been pre Daniel Craig’s success in Casino Royale at least for Young Bond. Whatever the case it has been a very refreshing and it’s been a fun last 5 years for literary fans.

[zencat]

Until the late '90s, Gildrose was pretty much run by Peter Janson-Smith, Ian Fleming's old agent. He did things how he did things. When he retired (or was nearing retirement) the family took a controlling interest and decided to rethink the Bond literary world and brought in a new management team and philosophy. It's around this time the name was changed to Ian Fleming Publications (I recall for a brief time the name was "Flemings"). The new regime oversaw the last few Benson books as they started considering new ideas like Young Bond, etc. I'd say the new IFP has been a terrific success.

EDIT: Little more info on the transition from Gildrose to IFP from my Raymond Benson interview:

Peter was Chairman of Glidrose at the time and Booker PLC, a conglomerate that had its fingers in a lot of businesses, still owned it. Booker’s literary side was small – it was just Glidrose and Agatha Christie Ltd. and maybe one or two other literary estates. About three years into my tenure as the Bond author, the Fleming family bought back the 51% of Glidrose from Booker. There had been Flemings on the Board prior to that, of course.

I needed a break from Bond. I had some things of my own I wanted to write. Before I could ask, though, the new Board at Glidrose, or rather, IFP, had decided to suspend the continuation novels for a while. The Board changed sometime around 2000 or 2001, I can’t remember. Peter Janson-Smith retired and was out of the picture. A lot of Flemings from the banking side of the family came into the organization. I really don’t know and can’t comment upon what their plans were at the time or what they are for the future. I do know they wanted to promote Ian Fleming’s works more during the 50th anniversary year (2003), hence the re-issues by Penguin in the UK and USA. Perhaps the feeling was that any author of the Bond series should write only a few books and then stop. So Tattoo was my last book, by mutual agreement.

[Jeff007]

Thanks for the research zencat! Enlightening. Glad the new blood came on.