Visit To Dymocks Melbourne

The team at my work had an early Christmas lunch today in the City.  Afterwards I had some time to visit the Dymocks Melbourne store.  

I had a search in the Fiction and Crime/Thriller categories but couldn't find any of the new Raymond Benson, Vaseem Khan or Kim Sherwood novels featuring James Bond characters.  I've heard Kim's second novel from her Double O Series is having a second paperback printing, but it appears the other two novels haven't made it from the UK yet.  

There were still plenty of Ian Fleming novels though, including the latest hardbacks from Ian Fleming Publications which I haven't seen on Australian shelves before.

There were also a couple of film related books about Bond as well as the latest edition of John Pearson's "James Bond - The Authorised Biography".

It's great to see so much Bond on Aussie shelves at the moment with more to come.

And finally, a couple of photos of the soon to be opened Metro tunnel:

Raymond Benson And James Bond Are Back !!!

Raymond Benson wrote six James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003, plus three film novelisations.  Many consider his interpretation of Bond an update for a new generation of readers.

22 years later Raymond has re-entered the Bond literary world with a new novel titled "The Hook And The Eye" featuring the character Felix Leiter originally created by Ian Fleming.

Last week I received a copy of this novel signed by the author himself.  The book was published by Ian Fleming Publications and generously sent from the U.K. by another Bond book collector, Peter C.

Another paperback with a really interesting cover design (plus a great bookmark) to add to my collection.  And the reviews I've seen online from people who've already read the novel have been very positive too.  Let's hope this is the first of many Felix Leiter novels from Raymond Benson, and I think it's great to have him back.

Second Time Lucky

In January of this year I found a copy of a book for sale online I'd been hunting for several years.  Prior to handing over my credit card number I'd studied the photos and asked the seller the usual questions: Any inscriptions?  What's the spine like?  Is it ex-library?  Needless to say the copy they'd promised was not the copy that arrived...

... and luckily they offered me a full refund.

Fast forward to last month and I finally found another copy for sale.  It arrived a week ago and upon opening the well packed parcel I discovered there were no library stamps this time!

Published in the U.K. by Mammoth Books, "As Good As Gold" was written by Dave Morris in 1993.  It was released to coincide with the James Bond Jr. cartoon series on TV screens at the time.

There were several other children's books published featuring this character in the early 1990's.  All are included on PizGloria.com but this is the only "Choose Your Own Adventure" type book released.

Here's the two copies I now own, however the ex-library placeholder on the left can go now.

For further details I created this new page on my website.  Apart from colouring books I believe I now have all the James Bond Jr. books ever published.