Anthony Horowitz, who turned down Young Bond series, critical but unworried about SilverFin

30-Mar-2005 • Young Bond

Popular author Anthony Horowitz, who turned down the chance to write the Young James Bond series, says he is not worred about Charlie Higson's SilverFin.

Speaking about his latest book "Ark Angel" starring his teenage spy charcater Alex Rider to the Daily Telegraph, Horowitz said "I always think that where the Bond films went wrong in recent years was their inability to find credible villains. All the villains in [my] books are inspired by people in the news."

That mention of Bond is significant, since Charlie Higson's just-published Silverfin is, in many people's eyes, an attempt to ride on the back of the popularity of the Rider books, by recounting the exploits of a teenage James Bond 007.

Horowitz, who was originally approached by the Fleming estate as a possible author, has read it and is unworried. "Children's writers are not in competition with each other, because we all want children to read 10 books, not one. And, in any case, his book is not really a spy thriller at all - it is more in the tradition of Enid Blyton or John Buchan, curiously, than of Ian Fleming."

What does worry him, however, is a sudden rash of thrillers for children, some average, some abysmal. "A writer like myself doesn't gain anything by bad children's books coming out," he says.

Thanks to `JP` for the alert.