James Bond novel by William Boyd out in September

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/feb/19/william-boyd-james-bond-novel

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A new James Bond novel will be published in September, written by British novelist William Boyd, the estate of the British spy's creator Ian Fleming said on Monday.

Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1953 and 13 more before he died 11 years later, aged 56.

The title and plot of the new book remain under wraps, but the Fleming estate gave a hint of the style and the setting to woo fans who have been wowed by Daniel Craig's film portrayal of 007 in Skyfall.

"We can reveal that this novel will see a return to the classic Bond era, featuring a 45-year-old 007 in 1969," the estate said.

The novel will be published in Britain on 26 September by Jonathan Cape, Fleming's original publisher, and available from HarperCollins, a subsidiary of News Corp, in the US and Canada from early October.

To keep the literary James Bond brand alive, his estate has invited various authors to continue the Bond story. The Bond catalogue is one of the most prized in publishing, with global sales of more than 100m copies.

Sebastian Faulks' novel Devil May Care was published to mark Fleming's 100th birthday in 2008 and US thriller writer Jeffery Deaver wrote Carte Blanche in 2011.

The British author Boyd has won acclaim for writing page-turners with complex plots often set in unique historical milieus, from first world war-era East Africa to 1936 Los Angeles.

His latest novel, Waiting for Sunrise, came out last year.

When Boyd was asked to write the Bond novel, he said it was a "fantastic, exciting challenge". He added that he was already familiar with Fleming as he once put him in one of his novels as a character.