By the way, if anyone is interested in seeing more of my choices in the Casting the Continuation Novels thread, I will need someone to place a comment there before I can continue.
Of course, if you don’t, then… 
Have a good day. 
I really hope we see a quick pivot to Higson with a continuation of his modern Bond. Sounds like he has plenty of ideas.
Haven’t read that yet. Hoping to soon!
Honestly, the question for me is not so much who but what. I think we’re due a full-fledged contemporary Bond novel. At this point its been 13 years since the last one. I think between Horowitz, as well as Amis, Faulks and Boyd before him, we’ve exhausted the potential of the Fleming timeline and it’s time for something new.
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Paraphrasing Cubby Broccoli “When in doubt go back to Fleming”
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Fingers crossed this announcement is something worthwhile.
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This week, I read Batman’s Villains One Bad Day storylines for certain villains. These included The Riddler, Two-Face, The Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, Bane, Clayface, Ra’s al Ghul and The Killing Joke. I think it would be interesting to have a novel of short stories for certain Bond villains like this. Maybe a different author for each character. Also, highly recommended anyone, they are great quick reads. Bond has some iconic villains, they shouldn’t be wasted. Dynamite Comics has proven this.
After talking with a few people about James Patterson writing a Bond book, I find a few flaws. Namely, how much would he honestly write? Someone said that Patterson’s mostly a brand now, isn’t he, with the heavy lifting coming from his co-authors. I just want a new book, but I’d only like James Patterson to write a short story for Bond and his world at most. Plus, I think he’d (or his coauthors) want more creative control than IFP would allow. My two suggestions (Charles Cumming and Charlotte Philby) I think would.
After meeting him last earlier this month, I also want to suggest John Jackson Miller as an author. He has written many Star Wars and Star Trek books, Iron Man comics, a comic book adaptation of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and coming in October, Batman: Resurrection, set between Batman and Batman Returns. He does a lot of world building, namely in action. He would be an interesting choice.
I’d also like to add Kevin J. Anderson to my Bond Continuation Novel wishlist. He’s written a lot of spinoff and prequel novels. He does collaborate with others as well, in particular with his wife. Like John Jackson Miller, he has a reputation for working with established franchises. He could add a hint of science fiction to Bond, that could be a unique take for Bond, but grounded in reality.
One last opinion. I think it could be interesting for IFP to try having a first person narrated Bond novel again. Like Fleming’s The Spy Who Loved Me. By either Bond himself, the main villain(s), or the man Bond Woman again. Dynamite Comics has done with their M, Moneypenny and Felix Leiter stories. Also, their adaptations of Casino Royale and Live and Let Die do it. Van Jensen called it Bond Vision. It could be an interesting story choice to try again.
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About 20 years ago I was hugely interested in who would eventually pick up after Benson ended his tenure. For years I championed Boyd and also thought Horowitz was well suited. Overall though, Charlie Higson delivered the most welcome surprise for me. I read the others, and at times I was entertained. But I tend to look overly critical at their efforts, maybe unfairly so.
Today I don’t invest much thought in suitable future continuation projects. I’m happy if people enjoy Deaver or Horowitz or Sherwood, that’s the only thing that matters. Experience shows it’s a much harder act to write a Bond continuation than people would expect. I’m not sure I’d want to wish that particular curse upon an author I like.
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I think that the curse of being a 007 author is that they all hope that their book gets made into a movie. Even Ian Fleming himself said that he wanted his books on screen. Us as fans are always so hateful on anyone who isn’t Fleming. As for Raymond Benson, Never Dream of Dying I feel would make a great movie. The reason is that you could see a Bond movie through a ally’s eyes. Rene Mathis deserves another shot at a cinematic redemption, he is Bond’s ally as much as Felix Leiter in some ways. I also feel that Blast From The Past would make a great subplot for if a older 007 movie is done. Irma Bunt has a lot of potential to be a great villain, who comes back to haunt 007 in more ways than one. Forever and a Day would be a great Bond origin story for a new actor. Then use Carte Blanche as a guide to reintroduce the recurring characters in Bond’s world. Apparently, Jeffery Deaver has said that EON has the rights to his book.
Looking over some of the past choices, here’s my top picks for Bond’s literary adventures, in no particular order.
Charles Cumming.
Charlotte Philby.
Barry Eisler.
Sarah Hannah.
Gillian McAllister.
Gillian Flynn.
Guy Adams.
David Koepp.
Kevin J Anderson.
John Jackson Miller.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
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Yes, that’s what he told me in an interview back in the day (March 2012). I asked him how he’d see the chances of Carte Blanche ever getting filmed. He said it could happen because Eon bought the rights. That was part of the deal because that’s what they always do. But apparently, it wouldn’t be “the new one” (SF was in the making), but if it ever happened, he joked that he’d love to play Severan Hydt himself.
Eon is certainly bound to buy the rights to each new book, regardless if they’re going to film it or not. They won’t ever let it happen again that anyone else gets their hands on Bond rights.
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Anthony Horowitz has talked about this a few times. EON buy the rights to the books immediately because, he was pretty sure, they didn’t want others to use James Bond related things.
His wife is a producer…I’m thinking that’s an informed guess.
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https://www.youtube.com/@RolandHulme
Has anyone watched what Roland Hulme has had to say? A lot of his viewpoints line up with mine. His idea of IFP doing an adult Bond novel and a spinoff novel in one year is what I think IFP should do for a few years. They’re sitting on a goldmine, and they should go back to their way of at least one novel a year. Listen to Roland to get results!
Well, one name does rather spring to mind… I’ve actually written one Bond story already, though my published books feature Sherlock Holmes (And helped restore Undershaw, Sir. Arthur’s home, now a school for children with Learning Issues; his office has been patiently restored as part of this) But I adore both Fleming’s work and the films - I’d have to work to a brief; ideally, as with my earlier story, it would be Cold War era, but Bond was always ‘today’, so it would require a relevance and a feel of prescience that you often find in Fleming’s works. I have read the continuation stuff and it’s frustrating to see people ‘speaking’ with Ian Fleming’s voice, but missing the mark or - appallingly, crashing errors into the page that ruin the work for me. I read a lot of books by contemporary Writers; Mick Herron’s ‘Slow Horses’ for instance, revealing a Master of plotting and dialogue - even though his knowledge of the Security Service seems scant, but then Charles Cumming, the closest to the real thing you’ll ever get writes grounded, believable stories that would suit TV or Film wonderfully… But they are poles apart in style from James Bond. Tarantino’s greatest strength for me is always his dialogue. He clearly revels in wielding and wrangling the words his characters speak and I’d love to see him do a Spy film, if not Bond. Stephen King’s so far out I struggle, but sit through ‘Rose Red’ alone at night and if you aren’t at least spooked by it, you’re probably immune to Horror. Imagine ‘Live and Let Die’ done properly without the daft Kananga/Mr. Big charade, but with Mr. Big and the Loa of Baron Samedi - done by King! As it is, Geoffrey Holder robbed the film straight from under the normally peerless Kotto and the final shot hints at the supernatural beautifully… anyway, who’s to say with AI coming along the next Bond won’t be written by AI-Fleming, with the villain of the piece the AI itself?
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Actually, King’s ‘The Wind Through the Keyhole’ has a little M/Bond/Q-Boothroyd homage when Roland is briefed by his father about his next assignment.
And of course the entire ‘11/22/63’ is a variation on the behind-the-enemy-lines theme of every other spy thriller. King knows the genre and every so often likes to take its elements and transplants them into his own King-verse, as in ‘The Institute’ or ‘Everything’s Eventual’ amongst others.
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Great post and connections. It would be not so much of a surprise if those people did write Bond in that style.
I’d rather be in charge of IFP over EON, as I believe I could get more different literary Bond products out there sooner.
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It’s not difficult as they tend to concentrate on the films and the books seem to be an afterthought - even though Bond was born of the Books! The key is Taste; it has to be first rate. Take a look at some of the shonk-a-donk on offer from the 007.com site - ludicrous bears with no connexion* to Bond at all. Same with graphic novels - done authentically, kept ‘on message’ they work. *Chandler lent me this spelling. I prefer it.
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It sounds like IFP might be moving into publishing more books on a regular basis. Based on the survey questions. I’m ok with that. Once the 3rd Double-00 is published, they might be interested in publishing Bond books on a yearly basis. So someone at IFP might be interested in what the fans want on a daily basis. I’m happy with that, I’d rather be in charge of IFP than EON! If you haven’t taken their survey yet, please do!
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Here’s my source for Jeffrey Deaver not coming back for a second Bond book. It’s a bit of a shame. As it did feel like he was building towards a bigger story. Maybe a future short story one day.
Also, here’s my reasoning for Charlotte Philby writing a Bond book. She is known for her spy work. She has also has talked about James Bond publicly, and has connections to the Fleming family. I believe she deserves a chance at writing a Bond novel. She is more than qualified.
https://wondery.com/shows/the-spy-who/episode/15026-the-spy-who-inspired-007-the-other-james-bonds/
She would be better than Sebastian Faulks!
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All ideas for Bond‘s future are hilariously bad and populistic.
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