Reporting For Duty
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Categories
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
Troll or not - thats actually pretty funny.
Pretty feeble title though.
Not a patch on Carte Blanche or even Devil May Care. Lets hope that this means it reverses the current trend of good title = weak book.
If that is the cover then my idea of a 007 link in the title goes down the pan.
Another idea is that the Bond producers were trying to get Skyfall filming in Africa, very early on in the planning. This fell through, obviously, but could the setting in South Africa be a plan to get this book turned into a film. Bond is 45 years old, around what Daniel Craig is?
Press Release
William Boyd, whose James Bond continuation novel is set to be one of this year’s publishing highlights, has today announced that his book will be called Solo.
The announcement came on the opening day of The London Book Fair, where Boyd is Author of the Day.
He explained his choice of title:
‘Sometimes less is more. For me as a novelist the simple beauty of Solo as the title of the next James Bond novel is that this short four-letter word is particularly and strikingly apt for the novel I have written. In my novel, events conspire to make Bond go off on a self-appointed mission of his own, unannounced and without any authorization - and he’s fully prepared to take the consequences of his audacity.
‘The journey Bond goes on takes in three continents – with the main focus honing in on Africa. It’s what happens to Bond in Africa that generates his urge to “go solo” and take matters into his own hands in the USA.
‘Thus far and no further, at this stage…’
He continues: ‘Titles are very important to me and as soon as I wrote down Solo on a sheet of paper I saw its potential. Not only did it fit the theme of the novel perfectly, it’s also a great punchy word, instantly and internationally comprehensible, graphically alluring and, as an extra bonus, it’s strangely Bondian in the sense that we might be subliminally aware of the “00” of “007” lurking just behind those juxtaposed O’s of SOLO…’
Very little else has been revealed about the book at this stage, other than that it will feature a veteran secret agent, with Bond aged 45. It will be published on 26 September in the UK by Fleming’s original publisher, Jonathan Cape, an imprint of Vintage Publishing, part of The Random House Group, in hardback, ebook and audio editions. HarperCollins will publish the book in Canada and the U.S. on 8 October.
Boyd certainly seems passionate enough about Bond. I hope this passion translates into a fantastic book.
Solo seems as though it will be a continuation novel in the truest sense of the word, with it fitting in with Fleming's chronology.
There will be two female characters in the novel whom Bond will get to know, and there will also be a car - although the gadgets will be thin on the ground.
The year it is set, 1969, is significant to the plot, too. The geopolitical situation of that year will come into play.
Bond will travel from Europe to Africa and then on to America. Boyd hints that the title "solo" will have some reference to what happens to him in Africa.
Anyway, more will be up on the main site soon.
As has been said, it's the novel itself that really matters. It better be good.
The title isn't overhelming but it's simplicity amd meaning does create an air of mystery. Atleast it's not some known saying like 'Devil May Care' or 'Carte Blanche'. I do have confidence in this book. I'm all for some rich character movement with some welcome doses of psychology. I welcome more than what Fleming gave us. I hope Boyd is given some freedom regarding detail and that he isn't made to cut too much out. I like how Bond will be returning to the USA. I wonder what city. Anywhere outside of the state of California would be good.
Don't know why Bond has to continually globe trot though in these modern Bond thrillers.
EDIT. Also I'm hoping that Bond returning to the USA finally means him coming to Chicago. My home town would be perfect for Bond. At least that's what I've always thought. Was very surprised Raymond Benson never put Bond there as he lives in the same suburb I do (which is mentioned in Never Dream of Dying)
I don't know why the books (continued) can't nail titles - the previous two both had cliche phrases (as opposed to a Fleming twist of a phrase). And this one is just a bit...blank
Still, the quality of the books is pretty good. I enjoyed Devil, though know some did not, and I really liked the Deaver one. I'm pretty sure this will be a good read.
Thinking about it, Charlie Higson is the only one who has delivered some very Bondian titles....
Knowing our luck, next time it will be a present day novel set in 2016!
I agree, a sense of continuation for the novels would be nice again.
Anyway I have it on order from Amazon and will have to wait and see.
Hopefully. That's a good theory to go with.