Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

The title for William Boyd’s new addition to the James Bond saga has finally been revealed: the story, out in September, will be entitled Solo.

According to the author,  “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.”

This is of course not the first time that Bond has headed off on a vendetta: the movie Licence to Kill, novelised by John Gardner, was based on this, and Quantum of Solace saw 007 operating without instructions.

Boyd is the third author to add to the saga in recent years: Sebastian Faulks penned Devil May Care in 2008, and Jeffrey Deaver contributed Carte Blanche. Unlike the latter, Boyd’s story will remain with the character created by Fleming, rather than updating him.