First three John Gardner Bond novels to be republished in January 2004

02-Jun-2003 • Collecting

Fantastic news for literary 007 fans - the first three Bond novels by John Gardner are set to be republished in a compendium.

The three titles by Gardner, who took over from Kingsley Amis (the "George Lazenby" of the literary domain as he only completed one title), were first published over 20 years ago.

Released in January 2004 in the UK, the title is priced at a bargain Â£9.99, although if you pre-order you can save Â£2.

Click here to buy from MI6 Shop for only Â£7.99

Licence Renewed (1981)
"Bond is back and he`s better than ever. Miss Moneypenny thinks so. So does attractive Anna Reilly. And it`s only a matter of time before Lavender Peacock, the beautiful ward of the Laird of Murcaldy, will heartily agree. Bond is drinking noticeably less spirits these days; he`s perhaps more diligent about exercise and has a special low tar tobacco blended for his cigarettes at Morelands of Grovesnor Street. Political restraints are squeezing in on the Service. In M`s words, `There are moments when this country needs a trouble-shooter - a blunt instrument - and by heaven it`s going to have one.`

One of these moments has indisputably arrived. There is something very ominous about the meetings (insufficiently investigated by M.I.5) between the international terrorist known as Franco and the renowned nuclear physicist who has dubiously inherited the title on Laird of Murcaldy - Dr Anton (not a well-known Scottish name) Murik. Someone must infiltrate the Laird`s castle and only Bond could so deftly extract an invitation from Murik on Gold Cup Day at Ascot. Then with a Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 Magnum in its secret compartment and an impressive selection of Q`s latest gadgetry ingeniously dispersed throughout his luggage, Bond points the Saab 900 Turbo (with a lower pollution level than a Bentley) towards the north-west Highlands and the fun begins.

The most famous spy in the world pits his nerve and cunning against a dangerously deranged opponent - one prepared to sacrifice most of the Western world to prove that only he can make it safe from accidental holocaust. As the seconds tick away on the valued Rolex Oyster Perpetual, the world comes nearer this ironic annihilation; Bond comes nearer a frightful death and ever nearer Miss Lavender Peacock."

For Special Services (1982)

In For Special Services, Bond is on loan to the United States Government, his partner none other than the tough and beautiful Cedar, daughter of 007`s old friend Felix Leiter. Their enemy? An old adversary, the legendary SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), has reappeared. Bond and Cedar find themselves in some deadly and terrifying situations - from skyjack to plunging elevator, from armies of killer ants in the Mid-West to horror on a private mono-rail - before they come face to face with the heir to Bloefeld`s iniquitous empire."

Icebreaker (1983)

Indestructible as ever, Bond is back in a third assignment from John Gardner - a deadly assignment undertaken in cohort with Bond`s opposite numbers from the United States, the Soviet Union and Israel in the desolate Arctic wastes of Lapland. Yet if resurgent fascism is the common enemy, who is really to be feared? Can SMERSH be trusted to resist the temptation to seek vengeance on Bond? Is it the breezy American or the voluptuous Israeli who is acting as a double agent? Are the Finns merely using Bond to break the K.G.B.`s stranglehold on their tenuous national autonomy?

Never has Bond encountered such an unnervingly deceitful bunch of collaborators or been subject to such a bewildering series of potentially lethal shocks.