Young Bond is a series of five young adult
spy novelsThe genre of spy fiction—sometimes called spy thriller or sometimes shortened simply to spy-fi—arose before World War I at about the same time that the first modern intelligence agencies were formed. The genre is closely related to political thrillers and military fiction.The Dreyfus Affair...
by
Charlie HigsonCharles Murray Higson , more commonly known as Charlie Higson, is an English actor, comedian and author. He has also written and produced for television.-Biography:...
featuring
Ian FlemingIan Lancaster Fleming was a British author and journalist. Fleming is best remembered for creating the character of James Bond and chronicling Bond's adventures in twelve novels and nine short stories...
's
secret agentSecret Agent is a 1936 British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll and Robert Young...
James BondJames Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr...
as a young teenage boy attending school at
Eton CollegeEton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent boarding school for boys aged approx. 13 to 19. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
in the 1930s. The series was originally planned to include only five novels, however, after the release of the fifth novel, a second series has been mentioned as a possibility.
Since the release of the first novel
SilverFinSilverFin is the first novel in the Young Bond series that depicts Ian Fleming's superspy James Bond as a teenager in the 1930s. It was written by Charlie Higson and released in the UK on March 3, 2005 by Puffin Books in conjunction with a large marketing campaign; a Canadian release of the same...
in 2005, the series has become very successful and has led to further works including games, a
graphic novelA graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using the comics form. The term is employed in a broad manner, encompassing non-fiction works and thematically linked short stories as well as fictional stories across a number of genres.Graphic novels are typically...
and even a supplemental travel guide. The last book,
By Royal Command, was published in September 2008.
English-language versions of the books are published by
Puffin BooksPuffin Books is the children's imprint of British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s and '70s it has been the largest publisher of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world.-History:...
in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and
Hyperion Books For ChildrenHyperion is a general-interest book publishing part of the Disney-ABC Television Group, a division of The Walt Disney Company, established in 1991. Hyperion publishes general-interest fiction and non-fiction books for adults under the following imprints: ABC Daytime Press, ESPN Books, Hyperion...
in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Books in the series
According to Charlie Higson,
Ian Fleming PublicationsIan Fleming Publications is the production company formerly known as both Glidrose Productions Limited and Glidrose Publications Limited, named after its founders John Gliddon and Norman Rose...
initially planned for him to only write one novel and that every subsequent novel would be written by a rotating author, possibly similar to the defunct
Robert MarkhamRobert Markham is a pseudonym created by Glidrose Publications in the mid-1960s. By 1967, Glidrose, the publishers of the James Bond novel series created by Ian Fleming, had exhausted all available material written by Fleming before his death in 1964...
pseudonym of the late 1960s. This plan fell apart and Higson agreed to author future books in the series. However, comments made by Higson in an interview could suggest that after Higson's five books are completed, the series may be continued by another author.
- SilverFin
SilverFin is the first novel in the Young Bond series that depicts Ian Fleming's superspy James Bond as a teenager in the 1930s. It was written by Charlie Higson and released in the UK on March 3, 2005 by Puffin Books in conjunction with a large marketing campaign; a Canadian release of the same...
(2005): In 1933, thirteen-year-old James Bond arrives at Eton CollegeEton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent boarding school for boys aged approx. 13 to 19. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
for boys for the first time to continue his schooling. There he meets an American bully and his arms dealing father, Lord Randolph Hellebore. While on Easter break, Bond's adventure continues in the Highlands of ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
where James investigates a local boy's disappearance. Teaming up with Red KellyLeonard Patrick "Red" Kelly, CM , is a retired Canadian hockey player in the NHL. He played on more Stanley Cup winning teams than any player who never played for the Montreal Canadiens...
, the boy's Cockney cousin, James finally reaches a castle and a loch which is home to the Hellebores and discovers their deadly secret.
- Blood Fever
Blood Fever is the second novel in the Young Bond series depicting Ian Fleming's superspy James Bond as a teenager in the 1930s. The novel, written by Charlie Higson, was released in the UK on January 5, 2006 by Puffin Books and in the U.S. by Miramax Books/Hyperion on June 1, 2006.Unlike the...
(2006): In 1933, James Bond is back at Eton where he is now a member of a secret risk-taking club known as the Danger Society. When summer vacation arrives Bond goes on a field trip to the ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
island of SardiniaSardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . The area of Sardinia is . The nearest land masses to the island are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia, and the Spanish Balearic Islands...
where he stays with his much older cousin Victor. While there, James investigates a RomanRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
secret society known as the Millenaria that had plans throughout history to restore the Roman Empire. It seems the Millenaria are still active and are led by the sinister Count Ugo Carnifex.
- Double or Die (2007): The third Young Bond novel is set entirely in England during Christmas and finds James searching for a missing school master in the darkest corners of London. The book involves Russian spies attempting to build an early computer. The title of the book was chosen by fans via an online poll and kept secret until the day of publication.
- Hurricane Gold (2007): The fourth Young Bond novel, Hurricane Gold, is set in Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and the CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
. The book was released on September 6, 2007 in the UK. The plot is centered around Bond trying to foil the robbery of a team of professional criminals, only to end up following them around Mexico and eventually to a mysterious Caribbean island called Lagrimas Negras. The book contains many references to Mayan mythology and much of the end is focused on it.
- By Royal Command (2008) : The fifth Young Bond novel was released in the UK on September 3, 2008. The book deals with Bond leaving Eton College due to the incident with the maid, as mentioned in You Only Live Twice. The Royal Family and the British secret service also play a part in the plot (revealing that Bond's tutor is a British spy). In this book, James Bond falls in love with his Irish maid, Roan.
Graphic novels
- SilverFin: The Graphic Novel
SilverFin is the first novel in the Young Bond series that depicts Ian Fleming's superspy James Bond as a teenager in the 1930s. It was written by Charlie Higson and released in the UK on March 3, 2005 by Puffin Books in conjunction with a large marketing campaign; a Canadian release of the same...
(2008) : The first Young Bond novel, SilverFin, was released as a graphic novel on October 2, 2008 by Puffin Books. The book was written by Charlie Higson and illustrated by renowned comic book artist Kev WalkerKevin "Kev" Walker is a British comics artist and illustrator, based in Leeds, who worked mainly on 2000 AD and Warhammer comics and the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering...
. It will be released by Disney Publishing in the U.S. as both a hardcover and paperback in July 2010.
Supplementary books
- The Young Bond Rough Guide to London, Puffin Books/Rough Guides (2007)
- 64-page booklet featuring London locations from Double or Die.
- Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier
Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier is a non-fiction companion to the Young Bond series of novels written by Charlie Higson. The book will contain in-depth character profiles to the cars, the weapons and the exotic locations, plus facts, statistics, photographs, maps, and illustrations by Kev...
, Puffin Books (2009)
- Complete and definitive guide to the world and adventures of Young Bond. Includes the brand-new Young Bond short story "A Hard Man to Kill" by Charlie Higson. Release date: October 29, 2009.
Short story
An original Young Bond short story by Charlie Higson titled
A Hard Man to Kill will be published in the companion book
Danger Society: The Young Bond DossierDanger Society: The Young Bond Dossier is a non-fiction companion to the Young Bond series of novels written by Charlie Higson. The book will contain in-depth character profiles to the cars, the weapons and the exotic locations, plus facts, statistics, photographs, maps, and illustrations by Kev...
on October 29, 2009. The story is set between the books
Hurricane Gold and
By Royal Command and involves Young Bond traveling back to London aboard the French ocean liner SS Colombie. An extract from the story appeared in the paperback edition of
By Royal Command. It is the longest James Bond short story yet written.
Young Bond Series 2?
Charlie Higson says that a second cycle of Young Bond books is a possibility. This second series would be aimed at a "slightly older readership" and would include Bond losing his
virginityA virgin is, originally, a woman who has never had sexual intercourse. Virginity is the state of being a virgin. It is derived from the Latin virgo, which means "sexually inexperienced woman", used typically of adolescents, but also of older women, and even goddesses.As in Latin, the English word...
in Paris at the age of 16 (as established in the Ian Fleming short story, "From A View To A Kill"). However, Ian Fleming Publications have not yet commissioned a second series of Young Bond novels.
History and controversy
Prior to the release of
SilverFin, the idea of a
Young Bond series had not gone over too well with the fans of the more traditional Bond literature and had come under heavy fire, with some fans comparing it to an unsuccessful 1960s attempt by Bond's publishers to launch a youth-oriented line of fiction that resulted in only one book:
003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior is a 1967 James Bond spin-off novel carrying the Glidrose Productions copyright. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Jonathan Cape publishing company in 1967 and later in 1968 in the United States by Random House. The novel was written under...
written under the
pseudonymA pseudonym is a fictitious name used by a person, or sometimes, a group.Pseudonyms are often used to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre and computer hackers' handles. Actors, musicians, and other...
R. D. Mascott. There was also a moderately successful
James Bond Jr.James Bond Jr. is a fictional character described as the nephew of Ian Fleming's masterspy James Bond. The name "James Bond Junior" was first used in 1967 for an unsuccessful spinoff novel entitled 003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior written under the pseudonym R. D. Mascott...
television series in the early 1990s aimed at children that dealt with Bond's supposed nephew.
John GardnerJohn Edmund Gardner was an English spy novelist, most notably for the James Bond series.-Early life:Gardner was born in Seaton Delaval, Northumberland. He graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge and did postgraduate study at Oxford...
, who had written fourteen original novels and two novelisations featuring the adult Bond, was also critical of the series prior to the release of the first book. He stated:
- "It's just the last desperate attempt to draw in a new audience. The films have little to do with the Bond we used to know, and now the books are going the same way."
Higson, for his part, has been on record as stating that he intends to stay true to the backstory Ian Fleming created for Bond, though this in many ways contradicts the popular
James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 , by John Pearson, is a fictional biography of James Bond; Pearson also wrote the biography The Life of Ian Fleming ....
by
John PearsonJohn Pearson is a writer best associated with James Bond creator Ian Fleming.Pearson was Fleming's assistant at the London Sunday Times and would go on to write the first biography of Ian Fleming, 1966's The Life of Ian Fleming.Pearson would also become the third official James Bond author of the...
.
When
SilverFin was published in March 2005, reviews of the novel were good. This, in addition to a large marketing campaign in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, elevated
SilverFin to the number eight spot on the Booksellers list of bestselling children's books in the UK. By November 2005,
SilverFin had already sold 500,000 copies worldwide.
A second book in the Young Bond series,
Blood Fever, was released on January 5, 2006 in the UK having been delayed from an initial release in October 2005. The book reached the number one spot on the Booksellers list of bestselling children's books in the UK in its second week of release and held the spot for eleven weeks.
Double or Die, the third book in the series, was released in the UK on January 4, 2007, having had its title announced the day before. The title was voted on in a national poll on the official Young Bond website; the other two titles to choose from were
N.E.M.E.S.I.S. and
The Deadlock Cipher. After the first three days of Double or Dies release it took the number two spot on the Booksellers list of bestselling children's books in the UK and number fourteen in the overall UK Top 50 list. A week later it had climbed to number one on the children's list and the number twelve spot overall.
As of March 2009, the Young Bond novels have have sold over 5 million copies and have been translated into 25 languages.
U.S. publication
In June 2004 it was announced that the Young Bond series would be published by Miramax Books, then still a part of Disney. The acquisition was announced by Miramax co-chair Harvey Weinstein and Miramax Books president & editor in chief Jonathan Burnham. The deal’s price tag was not disclosed, but was understood to be in the six-figure range. Miramax, in conjunction with Disney's Hyperion Books for Children label, published SilverFin
in 2005 and Blood Fever
in 2006. Following Miramax's split from Disney, Ian Fleming Publications struck a new deal for the remaining books with Hyperion Books for Children. This created a gap between publication of the books in the UK and U.S., with the third book, Double or Die
not appearing in the U.S. until April 2008. Book Four, Hurricane Gold
, was published by Disney-Hyperion in April 2009. Also in 2009, Disney-Hyperion re-released SilverFin
and Blood Fever
with new cover art by artist Kev Walker. By Royal Command
will be released in the U.S. in May 2010. SilverFin: The Graphic Novel
will be released as both a hardcover and paperback in July 2010.
Games
With the release of the Hurricane Gold book
TAMBAand Fleming media released the
Avenue of Death game which is based on one of the chapters in the book.
On August 11, 2008 Puffin Books announced the first Young Bond alternate reality game (ARG),
The Shadow War. The online game started on the 23rd August, when Charlie Higson set the first mission during his appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. In the game, players around the world use a range of media, including the Young Bond books themselves and the worldwide web, to complete the missions and influence the outcome of the game. Charlie Higson took part in a live online event that concluded the game on October 8, 2008.
Other media
On January 27, 2005 Puffin launched the official Young Bond website
www.youngbond.com. The site contains downloads, games, character images by
Kev WalkerKevin "Kev" Walker is a British comics artist and illustrator, based in Leeds, who worked mainly on 2000 AD and Warhammer comics and the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering...
and book extracts. Joining "the Danger Society" allowed users to post in a forum (now closed) and receive email newsletters with the latest Young Bond news. Originally, the site was designed to look like Young Bond's room at Eton, but the site received a major overhaul in May 2008 and now features a more contemporary look. Official news is streamed to the site from the fansite
www.youngbonddossier.com run by "zencat" (American screenwriter
John CoxJohn Cox is an American screenwriter born and currently residing in Los Angeles, CA. Cox co-wrote the film Boot Camp , and the most current draft of Sgt. Rock for Joel Silver and Warner Bros. He also wrote Virulents for New Regency and director John Moore...
).
On April 23, 2005, Ian Fleming Publications released the first illustration of the thirteen-year-old James Bond drawn by
Kev WalkerKevin "Kev" Walker is a British comics artist and illustrator, based in Leeds, who worked mainly on 2000 AD and Warhammer comics and the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering...
. Walker illustrations have also been used on the covers of the U.S. hardback editions of Blood Fever
and Double or Die
. Walker will illustrate the SilverFin
graphic novel to be released in the UK on October 2, 2008.
Due to the success of SilverFin
and Blood Fever, Hollywood has been interested in adapting these novels to film; however, Ian Fleming Publications and Charlie Higson have said they hope to release a few more books before possibly considering it. Today, it is believed the film rights to James Bond on film reside exclusively with
Danjaq, LLCDanjaq, LLC is the holding company responsible for the copyright and trademarks to the characters, elements, and other material related to James Bond on screen. It is currently owned and managed by the family of Albert R. Broccoli, the co-initiator of the popular film franchise...
, the parent company of
EON ProductionsEON Productions is a film production company known for producing the James Bond film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom...
, however, according to Charlie Higson this is not exactly the case.
Other books among teen readers include the popular
Alex RiderAlex Rider is a series of spy novels by English author Anthony Horowitz about a young spy named Alex Rider. The series is aimed primarily for teenagers.Seven novels have been published to date, as well as three graphic novels, two short stories and a supplementary book...
series by Anthony HorowitzAnthony Horowitz , is an English author and screenwriter. He has written many children's novels, including The Power of Five, Alex Rider and The Diamond Brothers series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's Hercule...
; the Jimmy CoatesJimmy Coates is a series of children's books written by the English author Joe Craig. His books are sometimes compared to the works of Jack Heath , Robert Muchamore CHERUB, Anthony Horowitz and Robert Ludlum...
series by Joe Craig; and Agent Cody BanksAgent Cody Banks is a 2003 film that follows the adventures of the 15-year-old title character who has to finish his chores, avoid getting grounded, and save the world by going undercover for the CIA. Hilary Duff, Angie Harmon, Keith David, Ian McShane, and Arnold Vosloo co-star. The film is...
. These books, along with Charlie Higson's Young Bond series, have introduced many teens into reading for the first time.
External links