182 replies to this topic

[philbowski]

Recently I made an inquiry at raymondbenson.com as to whether Benson would be writing a new Bond Novel this year. Here is the response I got:

DELETED BECAUSE PERMISSION TO REPRINT EMAIL WASN'T GRANTED BY MR. RAYMOND BENSON

Thoughts anyone?

[License To Kill]

That may be RaymondBenson.Com, but I don't think thats credible.


~LTK~

[philbowski]

It's his official site... I think the webmaster is even a member of these forums.

[zencat]

Well, I hate to say this, but it's legit.

I confess, this isn

[rafterman]

Boy, this sucks.......not a surprise, but damn, well maybe we'll still get Benson doing novelizations, that's something at least.....man Glidrose sucks ***

[Mister Asterix]

Like zencat, I've known about this for some time, but was sworn to secrecy. It's very sad. One can only hope that the former Glidrose will see the error of their ways by the time they finish publishing all of the Fleming novels. Whether it's Benson or someone else the Bond novels need to continue. I for one don't know how I'll make it through a year with a a new Bond entry. Luckily, I still have Christopher Wood's James Bond And Moonraker and James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me, and The Killing Zone left to be read. But by time I finish those I want a new Bond adventure.

I guess I'll just have to start writing another fan fiction.

[philbowski]

Originally posted by Mister Asterix
Like zencat, I've known about this for some time, but was sworn to secrecy.  

How did you and zen know about it before? Why were you sworn to secrecy?

[Mister Asterix]

Originally posted by philbowski
How did you and zen know about it before? Why were you sworn to secrecy?

To be truthful, I didn't know that zencat knew, so he'll have to answer himself. I, personally, won't say where I heard it from, but I will say the reason I was sworn to secrecy is out of respect for Raymond. When I heard nothing was a done deal, and I Raymond did not want it common knowledge. I respect that.

[Mister Asterix]

My story from the CBn front page:

Benson takes a break from Bond

A statement on Raymond Benson's official website, RaymondBenson.com, puts in question of the future Benson's reign as author of James Bond novels, as far as the future of the Bond novels themselves. The statement reads as follows:

Latest News - Updated February 18, 2002
While nothing is set in stone, Raymond is taking a break from James Bond. There are a number of reasons for this, but mainly after
six original novels, three film novelizations, and three short stories, Raymond feels the need to do some things of his own. In fact, he
was working throughout the latter half of 2002 on an original novel of suspense which he has just delivered to his agent. For further
information about publishing activities of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd., visit their website at www.ianflemingcentre.com.

The website's statment also leaves up in the air as to whether the Fleming estate plans any new books in the future. All that is clear is that there will be no new James Bond novel in 2003. And that the immediate future of the Bond canon is questionable.

Raymond Benson has authored James Bond from 1997 to present and his novels include Zero Minus Ten, The Facts Of Death, High Time To Kill, Doubleshot, Never Dream Of Dying, and The Man With The Red Tattoo plus the novelisations of Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day.

[Blofeld's Cat]

This is kind of a shock that's not too shocking really. I'm surprised it's actually happening, but with the lack of backup RB gets from the estate it was bound to happen sooner or later.

I'm sure we all hoped it would be later rather than sooner, but there you go.

Not being able to find a new Bond on the bookstore shelf every year is going to take some getting used to, even though I'm yet to read any non-Fleming Bond novel.

The fact that a new one usually shows up on a regular basis validates the longevity of the literary Bond.

[zencat]

I became a hardcore Bond fan in 1981, the same year as License Renewed, so a book a year has been as big a part of my Bond life as the films. Heck, when we had the 6-year drought, at least we still had the books. It was the only thing that kept me going. I was looking as forward to The Man With The Red Tattoo in 2002 as I was DAD. I can't believe the Fleming estate is even considering taking this away from Bond fans. I don

[clinkeroo]

A sad, sad day for the Bond world. My words to the estate went something like this:

Sirs,
If you are not going to use Raymond, then could you at least give us a glimmer of hope regarding the continuation of the novels. There is no reason for someone such as myself, a Fleming fan of more than 30 years, to purchase books of which I already have the first editions, and continue to read quite happily. The continuation novels are necessary to draw new fans to the flame, and also to keep the flame lit for older fans. Please, think it over.
Thomas Clink

Please, everybody that is willing, log on and give them a piece of your mind. I remember the void of not having any novels to look forward to, and the joy of the day I picked up the first Gardner novel. I don't want that joy to go dormant again.

[Tehuti 004]

I think I shall go on later and give them my opinion, because they are probably re-issusing the Fleming books so that people can get interested in them nowadays, but they won't, and I will tell them why.

[niggle]

How about someone creating an on-line petition to IF Publications for those who feel strongly about this, I would not know how to set about this unfortunately. Also I think the 3 short stories written by Benson but never appearing in book form should be published in a novel - I would love to read these but feel uneasy about buying 2nd hand editions of Playboy!

[RITZ]

This news is bad. I couldn't quite believe it when I read the headline on CBn's frontpage - I think Benson's ran out of steam in terms of Bond novels. Such a shame - we need the continuation novels.

Its good to see Ian Fleming Publications will promote the work of Fleming for the upcoming 50th aniversery. Just hope they can pusuade Benson to come back or get another talented author.

[Coop]

They need to find another writer- and a good one- if they want a literary Bond to survive. They need a new title every two or three years to keep the public interested.

Take the example of Dennis Wheatley, author of The Devil Rides Out. As a thriller writer, he was Fleming's equal in terms of sales. He died in 1976. Within a few years all but a handful of his books were out of print. Now all of his books are out of print.


Unless you are a truly great author (like Orwell, Dickens, Austen etc) you cannot survive on a back catalogue.

[Loomis]

Originally posted by zencat
I am greatly disappointed. Not only am I disappointed that Raymond may not be doing the books anymore, but that there might not be any new Bond books period. For those of you who wished death upon the literary Bond, here you go. Rejoice.

Benson's words seem pretty final to me.

This is sad news for Bond fans, and I am certainly not rejoicing. Once again, the old adage that you only appreciate something when it's gone has been proved.

A couple of things spring to mind immediately:

- Presumably there won't be any more Benson reprints, save the upcoming paperback of the "The Man With The Red Tattoo". Must buy all his Bond novels before they go out of print just like "Colonel Sun" and the Gardners.

- Another original Bond novel - IF there is another - will be (best case) several years away, or possibly even decades away. Effectively, the literary Bond series IS dead. If there's a glimmer of hope, I don't see it.

Perhaps we should all e-mail Benson at his site, thanking him for his contributions to Bond and wishing him the best of luck in his future projects. Hopefully he'll write something that will bring him the wider recognition that he deserves.

Loomis' Final Thought: Why the blazes did they do such a shoddy job of promoting the Benson continuation novels?

Other than that, I have nothing more to add. Bad news.

[Coop]

>>Must buy all his Bond novels before they go out of print<<

Great minds think alike I've been busy at Amazon.uk for the past few minutes ordering those Benson books that I borrowed from the library but never quite got around to owning.

>>Perhaps we should all e-mail Benson at his site, thanking him for his contributions to Bond and wishing him the best of luck in his future projects.<<

Good idea. I'm sure he would appreciate that. In fact I shall go there right now.

[BONDFINESSE 007]

i just hope someone can pick up the mantle and keep james bond alive because if not our fav. spy might be in some trouble. this is a sad day

[DLibrasnow]

I think this is good news that the Fleming novels will be getting more attention. I never really liked the Benson novels so it doesn't bother me that he wants to take a break...Take a LONG break Raymond.

[Simon]

Am I missing something here? Who's decision is it to take a break?

I'm getting conflicting reports saying why the Fleming Estate is responsible and then the fact that Benson is wanting to take a break.

Chicken and egg need to be sorted here. Anyone with any light to shed?

[Loomis]

This'll run and run, Simon. In 10 years' time, fans on sites like this one will still be debating the question of whether Benson walked away or was pushed, in the same way as we discuss whether Dalton quit the film series purely because he wanted to.

Is it me, or were Benson's continuation novels atrociously marketed? I'm (I like to think, anyway) reasonably well-informed, and a Bond fan into the bargain, and yet I didn't even know they existed until recently. (I'm writing from a UK perspective, here. It's rare to find a shop that stocks them. Were they better promoted elsewhere?)

And where was the sense in getting Benson to write a book a year in such a short space of time (his first was published in 1997)? Flooding the market, anyone?

Conspiracy theory: did Glidrose deliberately set out to run the literary series into the ground?

[doublenoughtspy]

This is an odd event.

I had heard some 3rd hand rumors about Raymond not continuing, and didn't want to believe it.

While I liked some of the books less than others, its easy to argue that no one knew the character better than Raymond - and he was able to successfully blend Fleming's Bond, Gardner's Bond, the film Bond, and his own ideas into a cohesive world that was enjoyable and rewarded fans who had followed previous adventures.

While I applaud them for reprinting the Fleming's and marketing the 50th anniversary, as Zencat said - there are only so many times you can keep buying these reprints.

James Bond was and is a literary character first and foremost - and if you stop that then fans will spend their hard earned dollars elsewhere.

In an interview in the mid-80s, Michael Wilson dismissed the continuation novels - pointing out that with print runs of 10 to 20 thousand - that fan base pales in comparison to the 30 million who go to the theatre to see a Bond film.

I'm sure it was pretty frustrating for Raymond as well - behing held in check by a board of directors who clearly don't understand the character. Not being able to choose his own titles, just like Gardner before him, is ridiculous.

I think the most interesting point will come when there is a new novelization due. While some enjoy the two Christopher Wood novels - I can tell you that Peter & Glidrose were not very happy about them because they had no say in who the author was (He adapted his own screenplays), they didn't fit into Fleming's Bond world, etc.

I wonder if they will a) go back to Raymond, or go to one of the novelization machines like Max Allan Collins, or c) not bother.

It would be interesting to attend night school perhaps.

[Loomis]

It's easy to bash Benson - I've done it myself on occasion, although I admit that some of my past attacks were ill-informed, as I've read only one of his continuation novels. Somewhat naively, I didn't appreciate the fact he was kept on a very short leash while writing Bond, which doublenoughtspy's post draws attention to. Being bossed about by a board of directors, forbidden to choose his own titles.... Benson did his best during his tenure, but if those were the conditions under which he had to work, it would be no surprise to learn that he had had enough of it.

As for the dismissive remarks attributed to Michael G. Wilson, he might as well have pointed out that only a fraction of those who sit through his films (a quarter of the world's population, by some estimates) bother to read Fleming! Surely the literary Bond series needs, among other things, the goodwill of those in charge of the film series?

It seems that The Powers That Be of both the literary and film franchises don't seem to have cared much about nurturing the literary series via the continuation novels. They seem to have allowed it to die a natural death. A great pity.

If that's their attitude, they should

c) not bother.

[zencat]

Originally posted by niggle
...Also I think the 3 short stories written by Benson but never appearing in book form should be published in a novel - I would love to read these but feel uneasy about buying 2nd hand editions of Playboy!

Absolutely! There was a plan to do this at one time. The book was to include the long version of Blast From The Past.

[zencat]

Originally posted by Loomis
Perhaps we should all e-mail Benson at his site, thanking him for his contributions to Bond and wishing him the best of luck in his future projects. Hopefully he'll write something that will bring him the wider recognition that he deserves.

That's not a bad idea. Benson got A LOT of very nasty (and some downright psychotic) mail from all the a-holes who could never get over the fact that he, a fan (and an American!), was writing the novels. That fact that he did a damn good job just made these jerks attack him all more savagely. Benson didn't really hear from the fans of his novels (until CBn, that is). It must have been pretty depressing for him. So hearing his work was enjoyed and appreciated would be a nice thing. Benson's job wasn't easy for a number of reasons. But the truth is, had it not been for Raymond Benson, the literary Bond would have died with Gardner.

[B007GLE]

I thought Benson's first novel was his strongest. (Same with Gardner.) I felt they each successive one got weaker. Maybe it's like a band: you have your whole life to work on your first album and then 6 months to do your second.

I hope that the literary Bond is not dead. I would even be happy to see RB come back. But maybe the better idea is to get writers to work on only one, two or three books so that they are not sapped of all their energy and can keep coming up with good ideas. Also, they should be allowed to come up with their own titles. Afterall, what is h "High Time to Kill" anyway?

[zencat]

Raymond's title for HTTK was "A Better Way To Die." Nice title.

[zencat]

This is now on the IFP site:

18/02/03 - Raymond Benson
After eight years of chronicling the adventures of 007, Raymond Benson is now working on other projects. Miss Moneypenny would like to take this opportunity to wish Mr Benson the very best for these new projects. Intelligence about Ian Fleming Publications Ltd

[marktmurphy]

Its a definite shame but was bound to happen- how can a series of novels featuring the most consistently popular character of our times (as said above: by half the world's population) fail so badly? I really don't think Benson is to blame on this one- its certainly a management thing. For example has anyone ever found a Raymond hardback in a shop? I had to go into central London for mine, and then I had to ask for it to find the thing. That's not to say I think Benson's appointment was a particulary wise one- but again: not his fault. I'm sure we all would if we were asked (I'd have a go. I wouldn't put my name on it, mind). Its just been handled in the wrong way- rushed productions, limited runs, no promotion, bad design even (NDOD- yeuch) .I'd love to see a publishing house like Virgin take the Bond series on. Just look at their work on the consistently good Doctor Who continuation novels in the 90's. The mini rough guide to Bond even has a section on possibe future authors- Ian Rankin anyone? Try his Jack Harvey books.
Still, I hope Raymond truely is tired of it and hasn't been pushed. It would be a shame to see someone who obviously loves what he does and has put so much effort into entertaining others rejected so harshly.
Lets hope its for the best.