38 replies to this topic

[Coop]

Yes, what the Hell is wrong with the cash cow formerly known as Glidrose???? James Bond is a literary creation owned by them. He is also a household name and a licence to print money.

Last November in the UK, when Die Another Day was released, the media had a field day. The papers were full of Bond stories, magazines had Pierce Brosnan and/or Halle Berry on the covers and peaktime TV was awash with Bond. They showed a making of, a BAFTA tribute show, a music tribute where popular singers covered the old theme songs, the Royal Premier was televised. No other films get anywhere near this level of free publicity.

All Glidrose had to do was commission a talented author to write a new novel and then get the publishers to give it a big print run and take out a few ads in those papers or magazines with Bond and Jinx on the cover. A few posters and cardboard cutouts in the bookshops and, hey presto, a bestselling Bond novel.

So what do they do?

Hire (and with all due respect to Mr Benson) a newbie fiction writer, one with no clout in the industry so they can tell him what to do, and when he manages to actually write a decent book they give it no publicity and a minimal print run.

AARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

What is the matter with these people????? Don't they want to make money? Don't they realise that if people buy the new books they'll more than likely return to the old books too?

Most people think of Bond as just a movie character and with these pea-brains in charge, no wonder. It takes incompetance of monumental proportion to have such a high profile character and yet sell so few books.


I was in town yesterday and saw the Gangs Of New York and Catch Me If You Can paperbacks prominently displayed. But did I see any of Mr Benson's books? Did I bo****ks. The only time I've ever seen them was in Brighton (a city on the south coast of England) in a massive 4-story bookshop. Yet is it any wonder?

You can almost picture them, sitting in an oak-panelled room, sipping brandy. Half of them asleep. What a bunch of wasters. No wonder Eon despise them. Eon makes films that, after 40 years, are still eagerly awaited blockbusters? And Glidrose? They've turned a best-selling series into a set of badly selling books that most Bond fans don't even know exist. Pitiful!

Here endeth this rant. And well done for getting this far

[zencat]

Good rant.

[RITZ]

Well written. It p*sses me off too - the fact that the literary Bond doesn't get the same publicty and advertising as the films. Even the recent re-issue of Fleming books with new cover art didn't get any decent advertising.

Benson's Bond books don't get enough prints nor do Gardner's. I've spent hours looking around shops and I'm fed up.

I hope they will put some decent advertising/publicity for the books when the 50th aniversery comes! Bond was created in the books - more promotion please Gildrose!

[Loomis]

It's tough to find Benson's books, even in London. I'm a regular at Waterstone's in Piccadilly (Europe's largest bookshop), and I've only ever seen a couple of his paperbacks in stock, "Zero Minus Ten" and "High Time to Kill".

It's really pathetic. I hope some of the more knowledgeable members (Mr Cox and others) will correct me if I'm wrong, because I don't want to spin conspiracy theories, but it looks as though Glidrose were deliberately trying to just let the literary series die a quiet death after getting Benson to the end of his contract. What's going on? Is it all some kind of giant tax fraud? Hey, anyone seen THE PRODUCERS?

[zencat]

No, I don't see a conspiracy here. But I do sometimes think that Glidrose/IFP, at some point, started seeing the continuation novels as only a way to extend their copyright, which explains why they really didn't invest themselves in trying to make the books successful. I don't know this for a fact, but it sort of feels like it.

[Bryce (003)]

Nice rant Coop. Sorry you had to tax yourself.

This whole notion SUCKS! First MGM goes off in a panic attack over 3 pages and now Glidrose pulls the plug on (God forbid) new source material....

Scmucks.....

*Bryce glances towards the Heavens*

"IAN! Don't let it end like this!"

If I get any more "protection" I'm going to start reading Harry Potter!!!!


......Okay...So I'm not...but still....

*Bryce glances at Rolex and heads downstairs for a martini*


Hmmmm. post # 666.....Fight evil with evil I always say;)

[rafterman]

I think they totally wanted to just keep the copyright, so they hired someone unknown, who was cheap and then didn't bother to promote him. Now the anniversary of Fleming rolls around, they drop Benson and suddenly say "hey check out these, they're James Bond novels!" Well great.

[DLibrasnow]

Who knows how Glidrose works. I read an interview with Kingsley Amis about 20 years ago. He apparently wrote a Bond book with Bond as a young man in the Navy (kind of a prequel if you like) and when he showed it to Glidrose they apparently told him that if he ever showed the novel to anyone they would haul him into court.

[Wade]

Originally posted by Bryce (003)
This whole notion SUCKS! First MGM goes off  in a panic attack over 3 pages and now Glidrose pulls the plug on (God forbid) new source material....

What's this deal about MGM and three pages? To what does that refer?

And just to get my two cents in: I think the Fleming side is cutting off its nose to spite its face. If they really wanted to attract readers, they could either promote the hell out of Benson's books, giving him a bit more time to write each one, OR hire a new, established author for each one, making a publicity stunt out of each publication AND making the books attractive to EON for possible use as source material, if only because they might want to be linked up to whatever writer was involved.

[clinkeroo]

Originally posted by DLibrasnow
Who knows how Glidrose works. I read an interview with Kingsley Amis about 20 years ago. He apparently wrote a Bond book with Bond as a young man in the Navy (kind of a prequel if you like) and when he showed it to Glidrose they apparently told him that if he ever showed the novel to anyone they would haul him into court.

Wow, there's one I haven't heard before. Can any one expound upon this incident, or direct me toward the interview.

Thanks,

[Turn]

In another thread a few weeks ago I asked why outside of the Bond fan community you rarely if ever hear about a new Benson Bond novel being released. They get no promotion, reviews or anything in the publications I read.

You can find the hardbacks, but you really need to look hard to find a paperback copy anywhere. As I don't prefer to spend upwards of $25 for a brand new novel, the paperback would be an attractive alternative, but those just aren't out there at the bookstores I frequent, and there are several.

Back in the early to mid-period of John Gardner, it was easy to find reviews and see the titles on store shelves. The only thing I can find out these days is the DAD tie-in novel, and even it is not that high profile, with a few copies here and there while things like Gangs of New York and The Hours are everywhere.

[Simon]

How does this copyright thing work if they don't continue to publish novels? I don't understand this.

Rafterman, are you saying that literary Bond becomes public property or something?

Cheers.

[zencat]

I'm not really sure myself. But I think copyright lasts for 50 or 100 years. So I think by publishing a new novel, they kind of restart the clock on their ownership of James Bond. But maybe I have this all wrong. Someone correct me if I do.

[Simon]

Thanks for that - I'd heard of the 50 year rule but wondered whether it applied only to the individual book or the whole canon, or indeed, just the author.

If so, Casino Royale can be reprinted by anyone next year!!

[doublenoughtspy]

The laws have changed, but when Fleming died, there was a law in Britain that said that copyrights only extended 10 years after the authors death or something insane like that.

That scared Glidrose, and almost simultaneously Andrei Gulyashki was about to publish Avakum Zakov Vs 007 (a story where a KGB agent beats Bond) and so they knew they had to do something so they hired Amis, after convincing Anne Fleming that she and Caspar would no longer have the Bond cash cow to rely on if there wasn't a continuation novel.

Avakum Zakov Vs 007 was serialized in Kosmolkia Pravda (kids version of Pravda newspaper), and published in paperback in Australia in 1967. The novel was also published in Turkey.

I have never been able to track down the Australian paperback (and its not in the Glidrose archives either - but Peter knew all about it when I brought it up when I was there doing the archiving) but I did however go to the Library of Congress and made copies of the Pravda issues with the story which I am working on having translated.

All I know so far is that the story takes place in the Artic I think.

There are other Zakov novels out there, such as the Zakov mission - but don't be fooled - Bond is not in them.

[kevrichardson]

Originally posted by Coop

All Glidrose had to do was commission a talented author to write a new novel and then get the publishers to give it a big print run and take out a few ads in those papers or magazines with Bond and Jinx on the cover.  A few posters and cardboard cutouts in the bookshops and, hey presto, a bestselling Bond novel
You can almost picture them, sitting in an oak-panelled room, sipping brandy.  Half of them asleep.  What a bunch of wasters.  No wonder Eon despise them.  Eon makes films that, after 40 years, are still eagerly awaited blockbusters?  And Glidrose?  They've turned a best-selling series into a set of badly selling books that most Bond fans don't even know exist.

Perhaps it was not in "Glidrose" best interest to do what you have written. "Glidrose" has a long history of failing to understand the important of literary James Bond. After the early success of the Gardner novel , even they were allowed to lap into limbo. No can explain why on earth they along with the original Fleming novel where out of print. It' is only within the last year that the Fleming novels have return to print. That only as a tie in to the 40th anniversary of the films . An the 50 th of Casino Royale. God only know wwhat underhanded role EON played in this .

[Simon]

Grief - just when you thought you knew everything there was to know, along comes this.........

Amazing.

[Blue Eyes]

and published in paperback in Australia in 1967.

Do you happen to know who the publisher was.

And another thing, didn't Casper commit suicide prior to Ian's death?

[kevrichardson]

Originally posted by Blue Eyes

Do you happen to know who the publisher was.
And another thing, didn't Casper commit suicide prior to Ian's death?

He committed suicide year after Fleming's death.

[doublenoughtspy]

Avakoum Zahov Versus 007
Sydney [Australia]: Scripts. Paperback. 1967.

So Scripts is the publisher.

As for Caspar's death - Ian Fleming died in 1964 - Caspar Fleming died of a drug overdose in 1975. 11 years later - not 1 as Mr Richardson erroneously claims, and not before Fleming's death.

Were you thinking of Anne & Ian's stillborn child, a female, perhaps Blue Eyes?

[doublenoughtspy]

Oh, and the other thing - Fleming died on August 12 - Caspar's 12th birthday.

It just so happens to be my birthday as well.

[Xenobia]

I thought Casper was a teenager when he is dad passed on. That's horrible his dad died on his birthday.

As for all us worried about the literary legacy...let's just remember that there was a time with the cinematic legacy was in despair, and it came back. The novels will too.

-- Xenobia

[Blue Eyes]

Avakoum Zahov Versus 007
Sydney [Australia]: Scripts. Paperback. 1967

I'm down in Australia so I'll check out some of the bookshops around, and also try and see if I can find Scripts anywhere.

[Mister Asterix]

Perhaps this whole deal has to do with the U.S. extending copyrights recently to something like 90 years.

As for the copyright expiring so many years after Fleming's death, that has never been the case as the books hold a corporate copyright not an authors' copyright. Fleming wrote the books under contract of Glidrose—a company of which he was the sole owner. With the corporation holding the copyright the expiration would not be link at all to the author's death.

[Blue Eyes]

Won't the copyright for the character of Bond expire in 2052 though?

[Mister Asterix]

Originally posted by Blue Eyes
Won't the copyright for the character of Bond expire in 2052 though?

Not if they keep expanding the copyright laws at the rate that they have recently.

[Blofeld's Cat]

Originally posted by Blue Eyes


I'm down in Australia so I'll check out some of the bookshops around, and also try and see if I can find Scripts anywhere.

I did a few advanced book searches at various sites, but couldn't find this title, but I managed to find a few books published by Scripts. Anyone remember Alvin Purple?

[kevrichardson]

Originally posted by doublenoughtspy
Avakoum Zahov Versus 007
Sydney [Australia]: Scripts. Paperback. 1967.

So Scripts is the publisher.

As for Caspar's death - Ian Fleming died in 1964 - Caspar Fleming died of a drug overdose in 1975.  11 years later - not 1 as Mr Richardson erroneously claims, and not before Fleming's death.
Were you thinking of Anne & Ian's stillborn child, a female, perhaps Blue Eyes?

No i did not type a (s) after year . I known he died long after his father. Anne Fleming died in 1981 of cancer . So what the **** are you driving at. Either why every one should understand that Benson ****ed up literary Bond to a point that a serious business decision was make to suspend the serious . The Gardner books made money and had a loyal following. It's better to look for a more "talented" writer than Benson than to have the Bond literary series desend to the level of chape romance novels.

[Blue Eyes]

Interesting rant.

Were you thinking of Anne & Ian's stillborn child, a female, perhaps Blue Eyes?

I think I must have been. I knew Ian reacted badly to the death of a child, and I incorrectly associated that with Casper. Twas a handsome lad.

[Dr Noah]

"It' is only within the last year that the Fleming novels have return to print"

Fleming's novels have aways been in print here in the UK, I don't think that I have ever been in a large bookshop where there asn't at least a handful of Fleming titles on the shelves. In fact the only titles I haven't seen readily available are "Thrilling Cities" and "The Diamond Smugglers".