Out today (Thursday 4th May), On His Majesty\u2019s Secret Service<\/a> \u2013 the title a play on Fleming\u2019s own On Her Majesty\u2019s Secret Service<\/a>, published in 1963 \u2013 is being released to mark the coronation of King Charles III and sees Bond tasked with thwarting a usurper to the throne who is seeking to disrupt proceedings.<\/p>\n Higson \u2013 who penned five books featuring a young Bond between 2005 and 2008 \u2013 was initially contacted by Ian Fleming Publications about writing a short story themed around the coronation. \u201cBut I got so excited by it, and so carried away that it became a novel,\u201d he tells RadioTimes.com<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a short novel, but it\u2019s still a proper, full-on James Bond story.\u201d<\/p>\n All royalties from the sale of the book will go to support the work of the National Literacy Trust. \u201cThey\u2019d originally wanted a couple of the Royal charities to be the beneficiaries,\u201d Higson explains. \u201cSo they said, \u2018Probably best not to make it about anyone trying to stop the coronation of King Charles,\u2019 at which point you think\u2026 \u2018But that\u2019d make a great story!’\u201d<\/p>\n The author continues: \u201cI thought, \u2018Yes, I want to write a story where a rival claimant to the throne threatens not only the monarchy but the stability of the UK, and Bond is sent to sort it out.\u2019 At which point we did move to a different charity, so there was no controversy.\u201d<\/p> Higson was first approached about the project in February, wrote the book throughout March, and it was off to the printers by April \u2013 a rapid-fire process even by Fleming\u2019s own standards (Bond\u2019s creator was famed for writing quickly) and one that Higson describes as \u201cmadness\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI was supposed to be writing a sequel to my last kids\u2019 book\u2026 I had to take a month out writing that and sheepishly go to my publishers and say, \u2018Look, I\u2019m really sorry, I\u2019ve sneaked off and had an affair with someone else.’\u201d<\/p>\n One benefit of such a tight turnaround was he had no time to overthink the challenges that lay ahead, including writing an adult 007 for the first time and transposing a character birthed in the 1950s into a setting that couldn\u2019t be more contemporary.<\/p>\n \u201cPossibly if I\u2019d had more time I might have overthought it, because my [previous] books were always very much Fleming\u2019s Bond and drawing on the timeline of Fleming\u2019s world. But I just launched into it and I was very pleased that Bond came alive on the page\u2026,\u201d Higson explains.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was enough of Fleming\u2019s Bond in there, there were elements of the cinematic Bond, but he was also a contemporary 35-year-old man. Casino Royale<\/a> came out in 1953, so a 35-year-old man then is very different to someone of that age today, so I couldn\u2019t just reproduce Fleming\u2019s Bond. It needs to be recognisably that same character, but also he\u2019s someone who is born into the modern world, and will have slightly different views and attitudes on some things.<\/p>\n \u201cFleming\u2019s Bond can work in a contemporary setting if we just tweak a couple of things. The main thing about Bond is, it\u2019s what he does, really, that makes him who he is. As long as James Bond gets to do James Bond things and you have enough of the other trappings that we\u2019re familiar with, then he is James Bond.\u201d<\/p>\n Previous Bond continuation novels written by authors post-Fleming have variously kept the character rooted in his original era of the 1950s and early 1960s or relocated him, as Higson\u2019s does, to the present day. There have even been calls from fans for the film series to leap back in time and return 007 to his Cold War roots<\/a>, though Higson doesn\u2019t expect it will happen and firmly believes a contemporary Bond can work on-screen as well as on the page.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can still do Bond in the present day, because it\u2019s an action thriller. So many other people are doing things like Bond \u2013 there\u2019s that incredibly expensive new Amazon series Citadel<\/a>\u2026 it\u2019s essentially a James Bond story, it\u2019s in that mad world of international spies and secret agents that Fleming and [Bond films producer] Eon basically created between them. The Mission: Impossible films are essentially James Bond films.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople all around the world\u2026 we just want to go and see some escapist action adventure. So they\u2019re not going to start making period films of Bond.\u201d<\/p>\n Higson does admit, however, that he\u2019d be intrigued by the prospect of period-accurate Fleming adaptations produced as a spin-off of the main film series.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always thought \u2013 and I know a lot of the fans would love it \u2013 that there could be a sort of separate stream, which you could do on TV, on Netflix or Amazon, which went back to Casino Royale and did all the books in the time they were set and stuck roughly to what happens in the books, just as a great period drama on TV, which I think people would be a lot more accepting of.\u201d<\/p>\n A lifelong Bond fan, Higson\u2019s latest as well as his earlier 007 adventures are peppered with references to the original Fleming stories for aficionados to spot. Though he did return to the source material before starting work on On His Majesty\u2019s Secret Service, it wasn\u2019t all that challenging to immerse himself again in 007\u2019s world.<\/p>\n \u201cThat stuff was in me, lying dormant like a chicken pox virus,\u201d he laughs. \u201cRe-reading those books, it just really came alive quickly. I realised I\u2019ve been so pickled in Bond that it\u2019s oozing out of my pores. So I started writing and there was Fleming\u2019s Bond come back to life, but as a contemporary young man. I was very pleased \u2013 and it was a lot of fun reading the books, because it\u2019s probably about 15 years since I last read them.\u201d<\/p>\n Could this be the start of something, then? Prior to the release of On His Majesty\u2019s Secret Service, the likes of Sebastian Faulks, Jeffrey Deaver and William Boyd have all written new 007 novels, with Anthony Horowitz most recently contributing a trilogy of books between 2018 and 2022. Is a follow-up from Higson next in line?<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t talked about whether we might do more, because at the moment the estate is very involved in the new Kim Sherwood series where she\u2019s created her own world,\u201d he explains. Kicking off with Double or Nothing<\/a> in April 2023, author Sherwood\u2019s books take place after Bond\u2019s disappearance, following a new trio of 00 agents instead.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to step on the toes of that,\u201d Higson says. \u201cI think probably her books will be given space and be allowed to run their course before they would come back to me. We shall see. I\u2019ve got a lot of other projects on as well, so I can\u2019t guarantee that I could write another one as quickly!\u201d<\/p> ![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2020\/06\/daniel-craig-james-bond-a2ed57d-scaled.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-3359193-5f4ae82.jpg?quality=90&crop=9px%2C490px%2C3089px%2C2057px&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>