Following Ian Fleming’s death in 1964, Glidrose Productions, publishers of the James Bond novels, planned a new book series, credited to the pseudonym Robert Markham and written by a rotating series of authors. Ultimately, only one Markham novel saw print, 1968’s Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis.

Amis had previously written two books on the world of James Bond, the 1964 essay The James Bond Dossier and the tongue-in-cheek 1965 release The Book of Bond, or Every Man His Own 007. Amis had also been claimed for many years as the ghost writer of The Man with the Golden Gun, although this has been debunked by numerous sources.

In 1973, Fleming biographer John Pearson was commissioned by Glidrose to biograph the fictional character James Bond. Pearson wrote James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 in the first person as if meeting the secret agent himself. The book was well-received by aficionados—readers and viewers, alike. Since the book has many discrepancies with Fleming’s Bond (for example his birth year), the canonical status of the book is debated among fans—some consider it apocryphal, though at least one publisher, Pan Books, issued it as an official novel along with the rest of Fleming’s series for its first paperback edition. Glidrose reportedly considered a new series of novels written by Pearson, but this did not come to pass. Prior to writing this, Pearson had written an early biography of Ian Fleming, The Life of Ian Fleming.

In 1977, the film The Spy Who Loved Me was released and was subsequently novelised and published by Glidrose due to the radical difference between the script and Fleming’s novel of the same name. This would happen again with 1979’s Moonraker. Both novelisations were written by screenwriter Christopher Wood and were the first official novelisations, although technically, Fleming’s Thunderball was a novelisation having been based on scripts by himself, Kevin McClory, and Jack Whittingham (although it predated the film), and the For Your Eyes Only collection was also, for the most part, based upon unproduced scripts.

In the 1980s, the series was revived with new novels by John Gardner; between 1981 and 1996, he wrote 14 James Bond novels and two screenplay novelisations, surpassing Fleming’s original output. The biggest change in Gardner’s series was updating 007’s world to the 1980s; however, it would keep the characters the same age as they were in Fleming’s novels. Gardner’s series is considered a success although their canonical status is disputed.

In the 1980s, the series was finally revived with new novels by John Gardner; between 1981 and 1996, he wrote fourteen James Bond novels and two screenplay novelisations, surpassing Fleming’s original output.

In 1996, Gardner retired from writing James Bond books due to ill health, and American Raymond Benson quickly replaced him. As a James Bond novelist, Benson was initially controversial for being American, and for ignoring much of the continuity established by Gardner. Benson had previously written The James Bond Bedside Companion, a book dedicated to Ian Fleming, the official novels, and the films. The book was initially released in 1984 and updated in 1988. Benson also contributed to the creation of several modules in the popular James Bond 007 role-playing game in the 1980s. Benson wrote six James Bond novels, three novelisations, and three short stories.

Benson’s three short stories remain uncollected, unlike previous short stories from Ian Fleming. Benson also wrote a fourth short story entitled “The Heart of Erzulie” that was rejected for publication.

Benson abruptly resigned as Bond novelist at the end of 2002 to write original, non-Bond works of his own. At the same time, Ian Fleming Publications planned to focus on reissuing Fleming’s original novels for the 50th anniversary of the character and re-examine its publishing strategy. The year 2003 marked the first year since 1985 that a new James Bond novel had not been published.

In April 2004, Ian Fleming Publications announced a new series of James Bond books. Instead of continuing from where Benson ended in 2002, the new series featured James Bond as a thirteen-year-old boy attending Eton College. Written by Charlie Higson the series aligns faithfully with the adult Bond’s back-story established by Fleming in Bond’s obituary in You Only Live Twice. The first Young Bond novel, SilverFin, was released to good reviews in 2005 and became an international bestseller.

The Moneypenny Diaries is a trilogy of novels chronicling the life of Miss Moneypenny, M’s personal secretary. The novels are penned by Samantha Weinberg under the pseudonym Kate Westbrook, who is depicted as the book’s “editor”. Weinberg is the first woman to write officially licenced Bond-related literature, although Johanna Harwood had previously co-written the screenplay for Dr No and had adapted From Russia with Love for the screen.

Post-Ian Fleming authors of James Bond:

• Kingsley Amis
• Christopher Wood
• John Gardner
• Raymond Benson
• Charlie Higson
• Samantha Weinberg
• Sebastian Faulks
• Jefferey Deaver

See also:

• Bond novels
• Bond novels: Ian Fleming
• Bond-related books
• Bond-related fiction
• Ian Fleming Publications