At 144 pages it’s more of a novella, but that’s fine. I’ll gladly take what I can get. Very curious to see Higson’s version of an adult modern Bond.
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Well everyone, we are officially in the 70th anniversary month! I hope we get more news! I think that On His Majesty’s Secret Service will be delayed in the US, unfortunately. At least we’re getting a novel a year! Possibly two, if you count Kim Sherwood’s Double 00 Book 2!
I completely agree. Very exciting news. It’s always great to be getting the literary 007 back in a new adventure.
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Tomorrow is the official 70th anniversary of James Bond’s debut. Do you think something big will happen?
I’m inclined to say no. But let’s see what happens.
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In all honesty, why would they do something specific for a 70th anniversary? This is not as symbolic as 50 or 100. Even for the movies, which could draw the public eye more than books, “Bond 60” was way less celebrated than “Bond 50” with all its props and memorabilia.
Of course I maybe wrong, but I don’t expect anything apart from an Instagram post and maybe a few new book covers over at 007 store…
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Will they be in the public domain by the 80th anniversary? If so, this is one last chance at an “anniversary” cash grab.
Danjaq own them as trade marks, not copyright, which makes it a bit more complicated.
https://www.loveniplaw.co.uk/difference-trademark-copyright/
I’m fully expecting the 007 Store to release something, probably garish, from a “luxury” brand in a “limited edition” of 70,000 at £700 each to commemorate (read: capitalise) on the anniversary. Would be in line with their usual output.
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I think you’re right–apparently European/UK copyright lasts 70 years after the death of the author. So in 2034 the Bond books will lose their copyright. James Bond will still be trademarked, but in Canada, where Fleming is already in public domain, “unofficial” copies of the books are being sold by Indigo, the country’s biggest bookchain. There’s also a Canada-only annotated edition of Casino Royale, which is the sort of project IFP should have undertaken for the 70th anniversary instead of creating bowdlerized editions.
Thanks for that.
The annotated CR looks interesting. It may be Canada-only but there’s a US price listed on the site, so I may look into it. If I ever buy the books again, it would have to be this kind of “value added” iteration, and I have my doubts the Fleming estate could provide a scholarly annotation with the kind of objectivity and candor that might require.
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Happy Anniversary!
In Archivo 007 we pay tribute through an impressive video with hundreds of CR covers. Yes, your edition is here too…
We can’t publish it on youtube because it is also a musical tribute, but I assure you, you are going to enjoy it… CHECK HERE
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I thought I’d seen every cover of CR but a lot of those foreign ones were completely new to me!
Have you tried uploading the video to DailyMotion? I was able to view it on OneDrive but it required logging into my account.
Stunning piece of work and an interesting insight.
For the German ones, I can see that it’s not quite complete, but pretty much.
One missing is a rare color variant of the (German) first edition, one is an omnibus which his hard to find with dust jacket, and I’m not sure if I saw the German version of the Gilette cover among them. But that’s only me, nitpicking 
I think the next time that something will be announced after On His Majesty’s Secret Service could be Ian Fleming’s birthday on May 28.
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I think we did get some Bond news right in that tweet - namely Dynamite is still working on more adaptations of the novels and hardcovers of Himeros and Agent Of Spectre will be out later this year!
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Looks like the hardcover of the previous Dynamite story will release on July 25th:
With Agent Of Spectre and Himeros being released September 12, for now.
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