Happy birthday dear Fleming

Today we celebrate Ian Fleming's birthday. He was born on May 28th in 1908 and would have been 110 years old would he have lived today.

In celebration I was hunting the internet for a new and rare photo but I found something equally thrilling. Archivo 007 on Instagram have uploaded a colorized photo of Fleming that looks fantastic

Since there are not many photographs of Fleming in color there are always fun when you do find one, even if they are fake.

So this year I celebrate the Fleming birthday with the below photo (click on the photo to see a bigger version).

  

Hear Anthony Horowitz talk about his new 007 novel!

Anthony Horowitz are discussing his new James Bond novel on June 1 at Southbank Centre!

I am one of all Bond fans that will travel to London on June 1 to here Anthony Horowitz spend 90 minutes talking about his latest creation FOREVER AND A DAY, the latest James Bond book, to be released on May 31.

What convinced me to travel to London to hear his speech was one of many things. A video I found on Youtube earlier is one of them. It is a 90 minute long debate about who was the best author Ian Fleming or John Le Carré where Anthony takes Ian Fleming's side and you have to watch it to see how well he does

You can find that video here.

Another reason for traveling from Stockholm to this event is to meet fellow Bond and Fleming fans. It is always fun to meet other die hard Bond fans.

But if you haven't bought your ticket yet, JAMES BOND THE SECRET AGENT blog, among a few other blogs, has been allowed to offer our readers a -20% discount on the very last tickets available.

All you have to do is follow this link and use the promo code SPY to get the lower price for your tickets. 

What seats do you have? Comment bellow.

As we all now Anthony Horowitz is the continuation writer for James Bond and released Trigger Mortis is 2015. The very well received novel lead to his second James Bond novel Forever and a day published on may 31, one day before the event in southbank centre on June 1.

The amazing James Bond drawings by Michael Gillette, Part 1

Back in 2008, when Ian Fleming would have turned 100 years old, publishers Penguin books released their centenary edition of all of his Bond novels. 

They turned to artist Michael Gillette to come up with a classic cover design which would unify the whole series. His paintings featured the female leads of each book, with the titles drawn across the body. 

These books were only produced in a printing of 4000 copies as a first edition and a second edition. This makes a complete set very hard to find and especially if you must have all as first editions. 

Back in 2008 the books cost £14.99 but nowadays cost as much as £80 each on Ebay.

I am so curious to why OHMSS got
a different cover in Germany?

 

So I started collecting some of them, in no rush, as I understood the need for patience to acquire a full set. 

But then I found Michael's web page, and to my happiness he is actually selling officially licensed reprints in full colors that are even more attractive to look at then the book collection.

So, I decided that I need the boxed set in my collection. They look so great and since the cover design is such a big part of my collecting side these will be enjoyed for many years to come for me. 

Here is the link to Michael's own web page where you can order your own collection, or maybe just your favorite book cover in the series. 

I will have to come back to you, the readers, once the boxed set has arrived.