Bookshop in London plans Bond party

Special book dealer PETER HARRINGTON is having a SPECTRE party on November 3. 

Peter Harrington is famous for having many first editions and special books in their shop. I myself have never been to the shop in person but I have ordered at least one Fleming book and am planing a visit in December when I am going to London.

As you might be aware the James Bond perfume fragrance that is on sale now is from Paul Smith and this party is a collaboration between Paul Smith and the Peter Harrington bookshop. 

Following the release of highly anticipated Bond film SPECTRE, guests will be invited to browse Paul Smith menswear, alongside Fleming first editions and ephemera, all available to purchase on the night.

Complementary nibbles and martinis will be served from 6pm-8pm.

I myself cant attend this event since I live in Sweden but if you are a collector of Ian Fleming books and live nearby I suggest that you contact them and ask them if you can be on the invitation list.

Best of luck but do not buy anything I intend to buy in December. 

In an earlier blog post I recommended you all to check out the BBC Shortlist documentary on Bond that was broadcast the other day. This link did not work for people living outside of the UK. Now the same program has been uploaded to Youtube. You can check it out below. Thanks to Niclas for the heads up! 

It's easy to make a James Bond film!

Today saw the premiere of the new James Bond film SPECTRE in Sweden. And since we celebrate Halloween this weekend in Sweden we only had to work half day so I could take Mrs Bäckman to Stockholms biggest cinema screen to attend the premiere of SPECTRE.

Now this blog is aiming to be as spoiler free as possible and I know that countries like France and the USA have not yet had its premiere so there will be no spoilers here. I decided early on to not see more then the teaser trailer for SPECTRE and read no articles. That worked out fine and I believe that made me enjoy the film more when all the surprise were still there. But I wonder how many of the fans noticed that for SPECTRE Daniel Craig was a co-producer and I feel certain that this was a classic Hollywood way to make him come back to play James Bond by not giving him a to high salary. But instead, to give him two salaries, one as an actor and one as a producer with a % of box office as well. This is also why you will see him again in BOND 25. No actor says no to such a great offer. 

But to upset a few I will have to put my chin out and say that it is truly easy to make a James Bond film. All you have to do is to follow the one true formula that Producer Albert R Broccoli talks about in his biography WHEN THE SNOW MELTS. In this book he explains the success of the franchise in one sentence: "Make sure that every penny is up there on the screen" and that is exactly how SPECTRE has been made. It may also help to shift actors according to were they are born so that they can promote the film in their native countries. And for the bigger part of the film use actors from countries with allot of inhabitants like France, Germany, Italy and others. Just like the continuation novels have a tendency to always start in London and during the mission always visit the US in some way to please the US publisher and readers.   

When the Snow melts - Cubby Broccoli

Now if you have already seen SPECTRE or have not I do hope you have not missed the BBC James Bond special program on TIMESHIFT called LOOKING FOR MR. BOND: 007 AT THE BBC. This is a 60 minute documentary with only material from the BBC archive. Since I live in Sweden I must say that the bigger part of this documentary was material I had never seen. Its a truly MUST SEE if you are a fan of the James Bond films. Click here to get to the program.

I have recived 8 pagages with James Bond related books this week. I will try and share them with you as quickly as possible.  

You can find used copies of Cubby Broccolis book WHEN THE SNOW MELTS by clicking here.

Did you notice this in SPECTRE?

The day after the Royal gala premiere of the new James Bond film SPECTRE took place this Monday, IAN FLEMING PUBLICATIONS had their special screening of the film for family, friends and specially invited. Amongst the invited was Young Bond author Charlie Higson, Andrew Lycett (author of the Ian Fleming biography) and Kate Millis, fiction editor at Orion publishing who publishes the James Bond novels. 

When reading there Twitter feed they all seemed to enjoy the film allot. I myself will have to wait until tomorrow at 14:15 (here in Stockholm Sweden) to see SPECTRE. Since hardly anyone has not liked it my expectations gets higher by the hour. I have not even seen a trailer for the film yet, kept my self totally in the dark not reading any interviews and so on.

IAN FLEMING PUBLICATIONS has posted a blog post on there website this Monday saying that there will be a scene in SPECTRE that has its origin from the COLONEL SUN book written by Kingsley Amis under the name Robert Markham in 1968. 

My COLONEL SUN Australian book club edition.

The Colonel Sun scene which features in SPECTRE is one of pivotal importance both to the film and the book and fans are encouraged to identify which part stems from Amis’ pen.
Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. commented that ‘The Fleming family and The Kingsley Amis Estate hope that fans of SPECTRE will be encouraged to reach for this thrilling book by one of the finest writers of the 20thcentury.’

Also out this week is another BBC Radio program about James Bond / Ian Fleming and Scotland. It is hosted by Robbie Coltrane who appeared in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye.
The radio program is called is called JAMES BOND: LICENCE TO KILT and can be found by clicking here. The show is 28 minutes long. Enjoy!

If you wish to buy your copy of COLONEL SUN and sponsor the blog at the same time you can do so by order your book on Amazon UK below.

A close look at Casino Royale - The book that is!

When I commute by train or take a walk during my lunch break I like to enjoy what my smartphone can offer me.  The other day I found this fantastic documentary on YouTube.

It was a one hour long close look at Ian Flemings first novel Casino Royale and you can see the program below.  it shows many (for me) new facts about Ian Fleming and also the BBC interview in really great picture quality. You truly get the feeling that you get closer to Ian Fleming and to his first book of 14.

I was planing to write a whole blog post about the following but I insert it here instead.
Have you ever thought about how much page 60 of Casino Royale actually means to us Bond fans. On this page you get Bond to present himself as Bond... James Bond and a few lines lower he order his Vodka Martini, shaken, not stirred. That page has followed his books and films since 1953 to present day. Quite amazing.

check out the documentary below! You will not be disappointed! It might even make you want to read the book...again.