"The face of war is changing. The other side doesn't play by the rules much anymore. There's thinking, in some
circles, that we need to play by a different set of rules too..."
James Bond, in his early thirties and already a veteran of the Afghan War, has been recruited to a new organization. Conceived in the
post-9/11 world, it operates independent of MI5, MI6 and the Ministry of Defense, its very existence deniable. Its aim: To protect the Realm, by any means necessary.
A Night Action alert calls James Bond away
from dinner with a beautiful woman. Headquarters has decrypted an electronic whisper about an attack scheduled for later in the week: Casualties estimated in the thousands, British interests adversely
affected.
And Agent 007 has been given carte blanche.
Jeffery Deaver's Carte Blanche has been released in the USA, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, France, Czech Republic,
Netherlands, Russia, Israel, Korea, Spain, Germany, Poland and other countries. It is available now in paperback in the US and Canada. The mass market paperback will be released in the UK and Ireland on May 24,
2012.
The new James Bond book, due to be published later this year and written by best
-selling thriller writer Jeffery Deaver, is to be called Carte Blanche. Its title and cover artwork are unveiled today (Monday 17th January), at a special launch event at the
InterContinental Hotel in Dubai.
Like Fleming, Jeffery Deaver takes inspiration from exotic locations around the world,
and after visiting Dubai for the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature last year he decided to set part of Carte Blanche in the United Arab Emirates City.
Carte Blanche is due to be published by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK, a few days
before Fleming's birthday, on 26th May 2011. It has been commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. It will be published in the USA and Canada on June 14, 2011 by Simon & Schuster.
Jeffery Deaver comments, "I'm really
excited about being back in Dubai. It is an inspirational and awe-inspiring city and makes a perfect Bond location — especially for a novel that pushes our hero to new extremes."
Regarding the book's title, Deaver added, "In the world of espionage, giving an agent carte blanche on a mission comes with an enormous amount of trust and constantly tests both personal and
professional judgement. Part of the nonstop suspense in the novel is the looming question of what is acceptable in matters of national and international security. Are there lines that even James
Bond should not cross?"
Unlike the most recent James Bond book, Sebastian Faulks' period piece Devil May Care, Jeffery Deaver's Bond will have a contemporary setting. As part of
his latest assignment, the modern-day secret agent travels with Emirates Airline and spends a number of thrilling hours in Dubai both meeting up with an old friend and tracking a very disturbing villain.
The novel's setting encompasses Deira and Port Saeed, and the history of the Emirates provides an exciting backdrop for some heart-stopping action.
Bond is renowned for visiting the most exotic and glamorous of cities and this is the first time Dubai has featured in a James Bond novel.
Jeffery Deaver will be making a special appearance at Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, on Tuesday 18th January, when he will be speaking about his love of Bond and his experience of writing Carte Blanche.
Carte Blanche also features Fleming's favourite car – a Bentley. Historically, Bond owned three Bentley cars in the course of the fourteen original novels written by Ian
Fleming and, bringing the plot completely up to date, Bond drives a Bentley Continental GT in the new book.
—
How this came about... In 2004, Deaver won the Crime Writers' Association's Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for his book Garden of Beasts. In his acceptance speech he talked about
his life-long admiration of Fleming's writing.
Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, was in the
audience. She explains, 'I'd always enjoyed Jeffery Deaver's thrillers, but I particularly liked Garden of Beasts: it demonstrated that he was not only a master of the
contemporary American thriller but could also write compelling novels of period suspense within a European setting. I didn't know anything about the author himself
and expected a fairly low key response from him when he received our award.
'I was surprised and delighted when he spoke very fondly of Ian and about the
influence that the Bond books had had on his own writing career. It was at that point that I first thought that James Bond could have an interesting adventure in Jeffery Deaver's hands.'
Deaver comments, 'I can't describe the thrill I felt when first approached by Ian Fleming's estate to ask if I'd be interested in writing the next book in the James Bond
series. I began reading them when I was about nine or ten, ignorant of the Cold War politics they explored but enthralled by their sense of adventure and derring-do. I
continued to read and reread them, which was fortunate because as a teen and adult I found, of course, nuances, that were invisible to a child.'
He continues, 'The Bond books were important parts of my life – both literarily and personally. They appealed to me as wonderful stories but they also stood as
singular examples of a thriller writer's craft. I learned, through osmosis as well as design, much technique from Mr. Fleming's work; compactness, attention to detail,
heroic though flawed characters, fast-pacing, concrete imagery and straight-forward prose.'
A Statement From Jeffery Deaver
When first approached by Ian Fleming's estate and the publishing company that oversees his work to ask if I'd be interested in writing the next book in the James Bond series, I
can't describe the thrill I felt.
My history with Bond goes back fifty years. I was about eight or nine when I picked
up my first Bond novel. I was a bit precocious when it came to reading, but I have my parents to thank for that. They had a rule that I was not allowed to watch certain
movies, but I could read anything that I could get my hands on. This was ironic since, in the 1950s and early '60s, you'd never see sex or violence on the screen. So, I was
allowed to read every Bond book my father brought home or that I could afford with my allowance.
I felt Fleming's influence early. My first narrative fiction, written when I was eleven,
was based on Bond. It was about a spy who stole a top-secret airplane from the Russians. The agent was American but had a British connection, having been stationed, like my father, in East Anglia during WWII.
I can still recall the moment when I heard on the news that Fleming had died – I was in my mid-teens. It was as if I had lost a good friend or uncle. Nearly as troubling was
the TV anchorman who reported that Bond, too, would die in the final pages of the last book, The Man with the Golden Gun. I was in agony until I could buy it the
moment it was released. I read it in one sitting and learned the truth - at least I'd only have to mourn the loss of one of my heroes, not two.
I have won or been nominated for a number of awards for my thriller writing but the one that I'm the most proud of is the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, presented in
conjunction with the UK's Crime Writers' Association, for my thriller Garden of Beasts. The award is in the shape of a commando knife that Fleming is said to have
carried in his days working for the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War. The imposing award sits in the middle of my mantelpiece at home.
I don't want to give much away about the new book yet, except to say that it takes place in the present day and that the story occurs over a short period of time and
finds Bond in three or four exotic locations around the globe.
The novel will maintain the persona of James Bond as Fleming created him and the
unique tone the author brought to his books, while incorporating my own literary trademarks: detailed research, fast pacing and surprise twists.
As far as any parallels between Bond's life and mine, there are a few, I'll admit. I enjoy fast cars – I've owned a Maserati and a Jaguar, and I now take my BMW M3 or
Infiniti G37 to the track occasionally. I'm a downhill skier and scuba diver. I enjoy single-malt scotch and American bourbons—not vodka, though if I recall from my
reading of the Bond books, the spy himself drank whisky considerably more often than his "shaken, not-stirred" martinis.
-- photo credit Janie Airey
The Bond Books
Over 100 million Bond books have been sold (and over half the world's population has seen a Bond film!)
Ian Fleming wrote 14 James Bond books: Casino Royale (1953); Live and Let Die (1954); Moonraker (1955); Diamonds Are Forever (1956); From Russia with Love (1957); Dr. No (1958); Goldfinger (1959); For your Eyes Only (1960); Thunderball (1961); The Spy Who Loved Me (1962); On Her Majesty's Secret
Service (1963); You Only Live Twice (1964); The Man With The Golden Gun (1965) and Octopussy and the Living Daylights (1966)
Fleming's other works include the children's favourite, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1964), which was made into a film and stage musical, The Diamond Smugglers (1957) and a collection of travel writings called Thrilling Cities
(1963)
The Ian Fleming centenary was celebrated on 28th May 2008 with the publication of Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks. This publication formed the
centrepiece to a year of celebrations which included a star-studded gala at the London Palladium, a BBC documentary presented by Joanna Lumley, an
exhibition at the Imperial War Museum and a charity golf tournament held in aid of the British Heart Foundation
Charlie Higson is author of the Young Bond books which are published by Puffin
Samantha Weinberg, writing as Kate Westbrook, is the author of the Moneypenny Diaries
Other previous authors of official James Bond novels include Kingsley Amis, John Gardner and Raymond Benson
