Sun Theatre Bondathon Film Festival

Last night I attended the 1983 James Bond film "Never Say Never Again" at the Sun Theatre in Yarraville with another Aussie Bond fan.  The cinema is currently screening all the James Bond films as part of a 'Bondathon' from November 30 to December 3. 

Yesterday afternoon they also screened the Climax TV episode of "Casino Royale" from 1954 starring Barry Nelson and the comedy spoof film of the same name from 1967.  My friend attended these screenings and commented to me they were much better than he remembered.  For me though, I was only interested in "NSNA".  I wanted to see it at a cinema again for the first time in 40 years.

And what did we both think of "NSNA" ?  Obviously some scenes involving computers are a bit dated, and the soundtrack in places isn't great, but overall we felt the film still holds up very well.  And Sean Connery in his last performance as Bond redeems himself from his "Diamond's Are Forever" sleep walk.

If last night was any indication I definitely recommend attending other films in the festival.  Plus there's this great passport the cinema is giving away to people which they'll stamp for each film attended from the Bond programme.

Just one thing though, be sure you know the way back from Yarraville to Melbourne with all the roadworks and detours currently occurring, otherwise you could end up visiting Coode Island on your journey home like I did !

The Hunt For James Bond Continues...

This afternoon my wife and I were in the City to experience the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra perform the soundtrack to "The Empire Strikes Back" while simultaneously screening the film.  It was fantastic !

Afterwards we visited Dymocks on Collins Street where I discovered the new paperback print of Kim Sherwood's "Double Or Nothing".  Unfortunately one cover corner of the book was slightly scuffed, and they only had one copy in store, but at least I know this printing is now available on Australian book shelves.  The hunt continues...

Here's some photos from my visit, including the new Ian Fleming biography by Nicholas Shakespeare, and some other James Bond related titles:

A Tale Of Two Cities - Sydney

Part 1) Sydney

My wife and I have just returned from Sydney after participating in the Sydney Marathon.  The weather was very warm and the City looked great as usual.

During our trips interstate/overseas we always set aside time to visit a few book stores.  My wife actually does all the hard work, she creates the list of stores to visit.  And when we finally had a spare morning to investigate the addresses on the list we realised the closest secondhand book store from our hotel in Circular Quay was at least 20 minutes away by public transport.  We couldn't find a single secondhand book store in the Sydney CBD.

With limited time we decided to only visit two book stores, both of which sell new books.  

The first was Kinokuniya Sydney.  The last time we visited one of these chain of stores was in Singapore a few years ago.  This store in Sydney was just as large, and it was great to find copies of the 70 Years Of 007 series on the shelves published earlier this year by Ian Fleming Publications.

The second store we visited was Dymocks.  The chain of Dymocks bookstores is probably the largest bricks and mortar seller of new books in Australia.  My wife and I spent almost an hour in this fine store.  The only Bond novel I could find was Anthony Horowitz's "With A Mind To Kill" which was released in a new paperback size a couple of months ago.

And finally, here's some more random photos from out trip:

U.S. Copy Of "With A Mind To Kill" Arrives

Just over a week ago I ordered a paperback copy of Anthony Horowitz's "With A Mind To Kill" published by Harper in the United States and today it arrived in the post.

The cover is almost identical to the UK edition published by Vintage but slightly smaller in size. 

70th Anniversary James Bond Series Arrives

Back in April of 1953 Ian Fleming's first James Bond adventure, "Casino Royale", was published. In April of this year, to celebrate the novel's 70th anniversary, Ian Fleming Publications released a completely new series of paperbacks with cover designs by Webb & Webb.  As a complete set is yet to surface for sale on book shelves here in Australia I ordered the complete set online.  They arrived in the post several weeks ago.

As you can see from the photos above the cover designs are fantastic (even the back covers !) and sitting on a shelf together the spines look fantastic.  Here they are on PizGloria.com.

There has been some controversy about the release of these editions as some text has been changed to bring the novels in line with current community attitudes.  I'm not going to discuss that topic here, instead I'll leave you with your own viewpoint.

Further, "Thrilling Cities" and "The Diamond Smugglers", two non-Bond novels also written by Ian Fleming, were released at the same time with similar cover designs.  I'll add another post featuring these covers later.

Latest Bond Paperbacks In Oz

Earlier this year, in April, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of "Casino Royale", Ian Fleming Publications released a new series of paperbacks.  This series includes the 12 James Bond adventures, 2 short story anthologies and 2 non-Bond novels: "Thrilling Cities" and "The Diamond Smugglers".

As I'm in Australia these books have taken a long time to hit bookshelves here.  In fact I was concerned they'd never arrive.  However when I visited the Dymocks City store on Friday I was pleasantly surprised to find two copies available: "Casino Royale" and "Moonraker".  There was also the mass market paperback size version of Anthony Horowitz's "With A Mind To Kill" which I have never physically seen before either.

I purchased the Horowitz Bond novel which I'll add to PizGloria.com when possible.  As for the Fleming titles I hope to organise a set of these new paperbacks soon.

Goldsboro Books "On His Majesty's Secret Service"

To celebrate the coronation of King Charles III on May 6, 2023 a new James Bond novel was released in the UK.  The novel was titled "On His Majesty's Secret Service" and written by Charlie Higson who has previously written several Young Bond novels.   

I received my hardcover copy from the UK last week; a signed by the author and numbered (335) edition provided by Goldsboro Books.

All the royalties of sales of this book are being donated to the UK National Literacy Trust.

Just one last thing... Goldsboro Books pack their books amazingly well.  Here's a photo of the packaging my book came in which meant there was definitely no chance of the book being damaged during its journey to Australia.  And if anyone needs some bubble wrap I now have a couple of spare rolls... but who's complaining.

Signet "Casino Royale" Arrives

I received a new addition to my James Bond paperback collection today, a copy of "Casino Royale" published by Signet in the US.  

This is the 27th printing of this title from Signet.  This particular cover has a circular sticker on the cover promoting the 1967 comedy/spoof film version starring David Niven as 007.  The sticker reads "Now an exciting new motion picture".

I already have another copy of this Signet title with a similar sticker on the cover, however the sticker on my first copy has more of a cog wheel appearance.  It contains identical text though.  Both copies also have 007 printed in the top left corner.

There are two other versions of this cover in my collection.  The same cover with 007 printed in the top left corner sans sticker and another copy without the 007 and again without a sticker.  

If you're wondering where I purchased this latest copy it was from John F. in New Zealand who is currently selling his entire Bond book collection.  There are plenty of other great items still available too. 

Annual Yarragon Book Fair 2023

Yesterday we visited Yarragon again for the annual book fair.  As usual my wife and her parents were on board, but sadly, and for the first time, my wife's sister was absent.

Being a wet day we avoided the occasional idiot on the road to safely reach the Gippsland town in just over two hours.

The place was packed with people who had also made the same trek.

Once we reached the town hall we paid the gold coin entry fee and splt up to start our own book hunts.  My wife and her parents are avid readers, while I was searching for additions to my James Bond collection and PizGloria.com.  Small paperbacks were $1 each while trade size paperbacks and all hardbacks were $2.

Unusually this was the only Bond novel we found in the entire book fair, a copy of the continuation novel "Devil May Care" by Sebastian Faulks.  I didn't need to purchase it though as I already have several copies with the same cover.

My wife on the other hand purchased ten books for $11 while my parents-in-laws another 10 for around $10.  For a short time I felt disappointment until I visited the local bakery which bakes the best carrot cake on the planet.  I know it's a big call but I've tried many carrot cakes from around the world and none come close to their recipe.

We also had a delicious lunch at the local pub like usual.  I had a great pizza (no photo necessary) however here's a photo of my wife's lamb roast.  She said it tasted fantastic.

Another year, another Yarragon book fair.  Plenty of books purchased although no luck for me.  We will definitely return next year.