1978 reprint by Panther Books of the first and only James Bond novel by “Robert Markham”

Robert Markham is a pseudonym created by Glidrose Publications in the mid-1960s. By 1967, Glidrose, the publishers of the James Bond novel series created by Ian Fleming, had exhausted all available material written by Fleming before his death in 1964. Desiring to continue the high-selling James Bond novel franchise, Glidrose decided to commission a series of new novels, which would be written by different authors but all credited to “Robert Markham.” The first, and to date, only, author commissioned was Kingsley Amis, who was a close friend of Fleming’s and had written a number of Bond-related books, including the popular The James Bond Dossier.

For the pseudonym, the name “George Glidrose” was initially suggested by Peter Fleming, Ian Fleming’s brother, however, this was shot down by Jonathan Cape who claimed the name had no selling power. Markham was then chosen and the novel Colonel Sun was subsequently published in 1968 to generally good reviews and moderate sales. Amis’ involvement as a continuation author was not a secret, and some early editions of the book identified Amis as the author, though the main Robert Markham credit remained.

See also:

• Bond novels: Post-Ian Fleming