"From the shores of Dieppe in 1942 to The Foreign Department in Kemsley House, from treasure hunting in Norfolk and fine dining in London to a golden typewriter in Jamaica, these are the writings of Ian Fleming. This collection of rarely-seen journalism spans Fleming’s career as an author, encompassing reviews for the Sunday Times, Second World War documents, travel journalism and his correspondence with Raymond Chandler and Geoffrey Boothroyd. It also includes newly-unearthed articles that have not been available for over half a century plus two very early works of fiction."
"Ian Lancaster Fleming (May 28, 1908 to August 12, 1964) was an English writer, best known for his James Bond series of spy novels, and his only children's novel, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Fleming himself was heavily involved in British intelligence during World War II. Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 to March 26, 1959) was an American novelist and screenwriter. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. All but one of his eight novels have been made into motion pictures. Chandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature, including pioneering the hardboiled school of detective fiction. The protagonist of his novels, Philip Marlowe, is considered by some to be synonymous with "private detective." The following recording is from the late 1950s."
"Ian Lancaster Fleming (May 28, 1908 to August 12, 1964) was an English writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. The Bond stories rank among the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide. Fleming also wrote the children's story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang (1964) and two works of non-fiction."
"BOND MUST PROVE HIS LOYALTY TO MI6 IN A DEADLY DUEL
Bond may have a license to kill, but “Pistols” Scaramanga has a talent for it. He’s a KGB-trained assassin who’s left a trail of dead British Secret Service agents in his wake. His weapon of choice? A gold-plated Colt .45.
In the aftermath of his brainwashing by the Soviets, Bond is given one last chance to win back M’s trust: terminate Scaramanga before he strikes MI6 again.
Traveling to Jamaica under an assumed name, Bond manages to infiltrate Scaramanga’s organisation and soon discovers that the hit man’s criminal ambitions have expanded to include arson, drug smuggling, and industrial sabotage. Worst of all for Bond, Scaramanga has a golden bullet inscribed with the numbers 007 and he’s eager to put it to use.
Under the heat of the Caribbean sun, Bond faces a seemingly impossible task: win a duel against the Man with the Golden Gun."
"A CAPTIVATING JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD FROM THE CREATOR OF JAMES BOND
Ian Fleming’s world travels and interests, as well as his journalism and wartime experiences, lent authority to everything he wrote. In 1959, the Sunday Times commissioned Fleming to write a series of dispatches from the world’s most beguiling locales. The result was Thrilling Cities, a masterpiece of well-observed travelogue that stands ably alongside the author’s Bond canon.
From Hong Kong to Honolulu, New York to Naples, he left the bright main streets for the back alleys, abandoning tourist sites in favor of underground haunts, and mingling with celebrities, gangsters and geishas. The result is a series of vivid snapshots of a mysterious, vanished world from a twentieth century Western perspective.
Just like his most famous fictional creation, Ian Fleming was a well-traveled man of the world who knew where to go to find excitement, adventure… and danger. In Thrilling Cities, he takes us along on a journey of international intrigue worthy of James Bond."
"JAMES BOND GOES HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH SMERSH IN A BID TO SECURE A KEY PIECE OF SOVIET INTELLIGENCE
SMERSH, the Russian intelligence unit whose acronym stands for “Death to Spies,” is hell-bent on destroying Special Agent James Bond.
His death would deal a catastrophic hammer blow to the heart of the British Secret Service.
The lure? A beautiful woman who needs 007’s help. Tatiana Romanova is a Russian spy who promises to hand over the prized Spektor decoding machine if Bond aids her defection. Bond suspects a trap but can’t resist the opportunity to give the British the upper hand in a chilling new front of the Cold War.
So begins a deadly game of bluff and double bluff, with Bond a marked man as he enters the murky world of Balkan espionage."
"THE TRUE STORY OF AN INTERNATIONAL CRIME RING AND ITS DOWNFALL
In 1957, as the Cold War raged, Ian Fleming took a respite from writing James Bond to craft a work of nonfiction every bit as tense as a Bond adventure. Aided by an ex-MI5 agent and International Diamond Security Organization operative going by the alias “John Blaize,” Fleming chronicled the IDSO’s infiltration of the “million-carat network” – the world’s most notorious diamond smuggling ring.
Every year, a shadowy band of racketeers pirated a fortune in diamonds out of Africa, and the majority of the stolen gems wound up in the hands of Communist nations. In response, the IDSO commissioned a private army, led by legendary British spymaster Sir Percy Sillitoe, to penetrate and topple the ring.
When the operation was complete, the Sunday Times gave the story to Fleming, who had impressed Sillitoe with his earlier Bond adventure Diamonds Are Forever. A remarkable feat of investigative journalism, The Diamond Smugglers is the thrilling true story behind one of the greatest spy operations in history."
"JAMES BOND IS PUT TO THE TEST AGAINST AN EGOTISTICAL SCIENTIST WITH NEFARIOUS AIMS
Dispatched by M to investigate the mysterious disappearance of MI6’s Jamaica station chief, Bond was expecting a holiday in the sun. But when he discovers a deadly centipede placed in his hotel room, the vacation is over.
On this island, all suspicious activity leads inexorably to Dr. Julius No, a reclusive megalomaniac with steel pincers for hands. To find out what the good doctor is hiding, 007 must enlist the aid of local fisherman Quarrel and alluring beachcomber Honeychile Rider.
Together they will combat a local legend the natives call “the Dragon,” before Bond alone must face the most punishing test of all: an obstacle course – designed by the sadistic Dr. No himself – that measures the limits of the human body’s capacity for agony."
"JAMES BOND IS HOT ON THE TRAIL OF TWO STOLEN ATOM BOMBS
Upon M’s insistence, James Bond takes a two-week respite in a secluded natural health spa. But amid the bland teas and tasteless yoghurts Bond stumbles onto the trail of a lethal man with ties to a new secret organization called SPECTRE. When SPECTRE hijacks two A-bombs, a frantic global search for the weapons ensues, and M’s hunch that the plane containing the bombs will make a clean drop into the ocean sends Bond to the Bahamas to investigate.
On the island paradise, 007 finds a wealthy pleasure seeker’s treasure hunt and meets Domino Vitali, the gorgeous mistress of Emilio Largo, otherwise known as SPECTRE’s Number 1. But as powerful as he is, Emilio works for someone else: Ernst Stavro Blofeld, a peculiar man with a deadly creative mind."
"JAMES BOND AS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE
Unlike the rest of the books in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series, The Spy Who Loved Me is told from the perspective of a woman who fell for 007 – and owes him her life.
Vivienne Michel, a precocious French Canadian raised in the United Kingdom, feels like a foreigner in every land. With only a supercharged Vespa and a handful of American dollars, she travels down winding roads into the pine forests of the Adirondacks. After stopping at the Dreamy Pines Motor Court and being coerced into caretaking at the vacant motel for the night, Viv opens the door to two armed mobsters and realizes being a woman alone is no easy task. But when a third stranger arrives – a confident Englishman with a keen sense for sizing things up – the tables are turned.
Still reeling in the wake of Operation Thunderball, Bond had planned for his jaunt through the Adirondacks to be a period of rest before his return to Europe. But that all changes when his tire goes flat in front of a certain motel…"
"JAMES BOND MUST STOP A GOLD-OBSESSED MILLIONAIRE AND THE HEIST OF THE CENTURY
Auric Goldfinger is the richest man in England – though his wealth can’t be found in banks. He’s been hoarding vast stockpiles of his namesake metal, and it has attracted the suspicion of Bond’s superiors at MI6.
Sent to investigate, Bond uncovers an ingenious gold-smuggling scheme, as well as Goldfinger’s most daring caper yet: Operation Grand Slam, a heist so audacious it could bring down the world economy and put the fate of the West in the hands of SMERSH. Only 007 can stop the enigmatic millionaire and his murderous mania for gold."
"JAMES BOND PLAYS A DEADLY GAME OF CHANCE IN IAN FLEMING’S LEGENDARY FIRST 007 NOVEL
“Le Chiffre” is a ruthless operative and the accountant for a soviet SMERSH cell in France, but he’s on the verge of disaster after gambling away his client’s money. Taking the last of his stash, he lures a dozen wealthy players to a high-stakes baccarat game, hoping to hustle his way whole.
The British Secret Service would like to see this red thorn plucked from the hide of Europe, and sends their best card sharp, James Bond, to bankrupt Le Chiffre for good.
With the cards running against him and SMERSH operatives threatening to kill him and his beautiful ally, Vesper Lynd, 007 needs his luck to turn before he wagers away their lives."
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