MI6 previews the new collection of Raymond Benson's official James Bond continuation novels "The Union Trilogy", including cover artwork...

Book Preview: The Union Trilogy
30th January 2008

James Bond - The Union Trilogy by Raymond Benson

In keeping with the glut of books that will be published around the Ian Fleming centenary this year, more good news for literary fans as past continuation author Raymond Benson as announced news of an anthology.

Via his official site, Benson confirmed that an anthology of three of his James Bond novels will be published in the U.S. in October 2008 by Pegasus Books.

The collection will contain the 'Union Trilogy' of novels, comprising "High Time To Kill" (1999), "Doubleshot" (2000), and "Never Dream of Dying" (2001).

As a bonus, the complete uncut short story "Blast From The Past" will be included. This story originally appeared in the January 1997 issue of Playboy in a truncated version. The full-length "director's cut" was published in Italian and in French, and will appear for the first time in English. A new introduction by the author will top off the omnibus.

Pegasus hopes to publish a second volume of Benson's remaining 007 novels and short stories in 2009 if the first collection does well.

 


Above: Cover artwork for the compendium, designed by Michael Fusco

About The Author
Raymond Benson wrote "The James Bond Bedside Companion", which was short listed for the Edgar Allen Poe Award for best biographical/critical work, before taking over the role of official James Bond author from John Gardner. He is a director of the Ian Fleming Foundation and served as vice-president of the American James Bond 007 Fan Club for several years. Benson is also the designer and writer of several award-winning computer games and spent over a decade in New York directing stage productions and composing music. He has taught Film Theory classes at the New School for Social Research in New York and interactive screen writing at Columbia College in Chicago. Benson is married, has one son and lives in suburban Chicago. He stepped down from the role as official 007 author in February 2003 after penning six original novels and three movie novelisations.

Pre-Order - Amazon UK
Pre-Order - Amazon USA

Datastream
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 832
RRP: $19.95
Released: October 2008

Related Articles
Raymond Benson - Literary Coverage