Yahoo Movies James Bond's origins to be explored in new Casino Royale prequel novel
The origins of James Bond are going to be explored further in Forever and a Day, a new 007 novel by Anthony Horowitz.
Horowitz’s second James Bond novel, using original material from Ian Fleming, will be published on 31 May, 2018, and it promises to reveal how Bond earned his licence to kill.
Beyond the Young Bond imprint of books, the story of James Bond pre-Casino Royale has never been explored in detail, making this the first “adult” Bond novel to act as a prequel.
Set in the South of France before the events of Fleming’s debut Bond novel Casino Royale (first published in 1953), Forever and a Day begins with the death of the previous secret agent designated 007, before Bond steps up to claim the mantle.
‘M laid down his pipe and stared at it tetchily. “We have no choice. We’re just going to bring forward this other chap you’ve been preparing. But you didn’t tell me his name.”
“It’s Bond, sir,” the Chief of Staff replied.
“James Bond.”’ – An excerpt from Forever and a Day
“I couldn’t have been happier when the Ian Fleming estate invited me back to write a second Bond,” said Horowitz whose first 007 novel – Trigger Mortis – was published in 2016.
“I very much enjoyed writing Forever and a Day, exploring what might have been Bond’s first mission and imagining some of the forces that might have turned him into the iconic figure that the whole world knows. I hope Ian Fleming would have approved!”
Forever and a Day will reveal 007’s origins.
The original Casino Royale novel, and the 2006 film adaptation starring Daniel Craig, touched on how Bond earned his “Double O” status. In Bond’s words, you get to earn the licence to kill when “you’ve had to kill a chap in cold blood in the course of some assignment.”
Horowitz’s previous novel was a big hit with Bond aficionados, so this new novel should keep fans happy while they wait for Bond 25 to hit cinemas in 2019.
“What makes Horowitz’s Bond so appealing is the spirit and essence and verve of his writing,” says Ajay Chowdhury Esq., editor of the journal of the James Bond International Fan Club.
“The author has managed to capture that unique world-weary, knowing style of Fleming together with the Bond creator’s sense of journalistic detail and espionage poetry. Anthony Horowitz’s enthusiastic enjoyment of literary Bond shone through before and will undoubtedly shine through again.”
Forever and a Day will be published in the UK by Jonathan Cape – Ian Fleming’s original publisher and an imprint of Vintage Publishing – on 31 May, 2018.
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