Books, by publication sequence

Short stories

In the summer of 1958, the CBS television network commissioned Fleming to write episodes of a television show based on the James Bond character. This deal came about after the success of the 1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale as an episode of the CBS television series Climax!^[26] Fleming agreed to the deal, and began to write outlines for the series; however, CBS later dropped the idea.^[27] In January and February of 1959 Fleming adapted four of the television plots into short stories and added a fifth story he had written in the summer of 1958.^[28] The stories were originally titled The Rough with the Smooth, although this was changed to For Your Eyes Only for publication, which included the subtitle Five Secret Occasions in the Life of James Bond.^[26]

After Fleming's death, a second collection featuring two short stories was released, Octopussy and The Living Daylights.^[29] When the paperback edition of the book was published, "The Property of a Lady" was also included^[30] and, by 2002, "007 in New York" had been added to the book by Penguin Books.^[31]

Fictional chronologies

Independent scholar John Griswold constructed a "high-level chronology of James Bond's life", based on the logic of depicted events and actual periods referred to in the books.^{[43][nb 4]} This chronology differs from the publication sequence.^[44] Griswold also deliberately discounts the chronological significance of actual historic events mentioned in the novels and stories, arguing that Fleming made such references for effect without synchronising them accurately to his fiction.^[45] Fellow Bond-scholar Henry Chancellor also worked through the Bond chronology, which broadly agrees with Griswold, although there are differences. Chancellor noted that "Fleming was always vague about dates", although the novels are supposed to be set in order of publication.^[46]

1968–1979

Following Fleming's death in 1964, Glidrose Productions, publishers of the James Bond novels and since renamed Ian Fleming Publications, approached author James Leasor to write a continuation novel, but he declined.^[50] Glidrose then commissioned Kingsley Amis, who, under the pseudonym of "Robert Markham", wrote Colonel Sun, which was published on 28 March 1968.^[30]

In 1973, Glidrose permitted the publication of John Pearson's fictional biography of Bond entitled James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007. This book, written in the first person, posits that Bond was a real person about whom Ian Fleming wrote a series of adventures. This is the only Bond work where the author shares the copyright with Glidrose.

In 1977, the Eon Productions film The Spy Who Loved Me was released and, due to the radical differences between the film and the original novel of the same name, Eon productions authorised a novelisation, James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me. The 1979 film Moonraker, which other than the villain's name also substantially diverged from the source novel, was also produced in novel form, as James Bond and Moonraker; both books were written by screenwriter Christopher Wood.^[51]

1981–1996: John Gardner

In the 1980s, the Bond series was revived with new novels by John Gardner, although initially he almost turned the series down.^[55] Between 1981 and 1996, Gardner went on to write sixteen Bond books in total; two of the books he wrote—Licence to Kill and GoldenEye—were novelisations of Eon Productions films of the same name. Gardner stated that he wanted "to bring Mr. Bond into the 1980s",^[56] although he retained the ages of the characters as they were when Fleming had left them.^[57] Even though Gardner kept the ages the same, he made Bond grey at the temples as a nod to the passing of the years.^[58] In 1996, Gardner retired from writing James Bond books due to ill health.^[59] With the influence of the American publishers, Putnam's, the Gardner novels showed an increase in the number of Americanisms used in the book, such as a waiter wearing "pants", rather than trousers, in The Man from Barbarossa.^[60] James Harker, writing in The Guardian, considered that the Gardner books were "dogged by silliness",^[60] giving examples of Scorpius, where much of the action is set in Chippenham, and Win, Lose or Die, where "Bond gets chummy with an unconvincing Maggie Thatcher".^[60]

1996–2002: Raymond Benson

In 1996, American author Raymond Benson became the writer of the Bond novels. Benson had previously written The James Bond Bedside Companion, first published in 1984,^[76] and had also written scenarios and support material published in 1986 for the James Bond 007 tabletop role-playing game. By the time he moved on to other, non-Bond related projects in 2002, Benson had written six Bond novels, three novelisations, and three short stories.^[77] Benson followed Gardner's pattern of setting Bond in the contemporary timeframe of the 1990s^[78] and, according to academic Jeremy Black, had more echoes of Fleming's style than John Gardner.^[79]

Benson also changed Bond's gun back to the Walther PPK,^[80] put him behind the wheel of a Jaguar XK8^[81] and made him swear more,^[82] which led Black to note that there was an increased level of crudity lacking in either Fleming or Gardner.^[79] However, commenting in The Australian, Peter Janson-Smith, Fleming's former literary agent, noted that Benson "has got the Fleming feel ... It's as close to Fleming as I have seen."^[83] The Peterborough Evening Telegraph agreed, stating that with Benson's 007, in keeping more with Fleming, "PC-ness goes out the window and it's a more ruthless Bond with bad habits."^[84] The Sunday Mercury in 1999 said, "Benson has made Bond less gimmicky, concentrating on the action rather than the gadgets. The result is a slick enough read for dedicated Bond fans who like blazing guns (Walthers, of course) and beautiful women"^[85] and Kirkus Reviews called Benson's 007 "a chip off the old block and, if not a gilt-edged Bond, at least a double-A."^[86]

2008–Present

Glidrose twice approached Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novels, about writing a Bond novel but he turned them down.^[95] Ian Fleming Publications then commissioned Sebastian Faulks to write a continuation novel, which was released on 28 May 2008, the 100th anniversary of Ian Fleming's birth.^[96] The book—titled Devil May Care—was published in the UK by Penguin Books and by Doubleday in the US.^[97] Faulks ignored the timeframe established by Gardner and Benson and instead reverted to that used by Fleming and Amis, basing his novel in the 1960s;^[78] he also managed to use a number of the cultural touchstones of the sixties in the book.^[98] Faulks was said to be true to Bond's original character and background, providing "a Flemingesque hero"^[78] who drove a battleship grey 1967 T-series Bentley.^[81]

The American writer Jeffery Deaver was then commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications to produce Carte Blanche, which was published on 26 May 2011.^[99] The book updated Bond working for a post-9/11 agency, independent of MI5 or MI6.^[100] On 26 September 2013 the novel Solo, by William Boyd was published in the UK and by HarperCollins in Canada and the US; the book was once again set in the 1960s.^[101][102] In October 2014 it was announced that Anthony Horowitz was to write a further Bond instalment. The novel, titled Trigger Mortis, is set in the 1950s, and it contains material written, but previously unreleased, by Fleming.^[103] In February 2018, it was announced that a second Horowitz novel, again building upon unpublished Fleming and this time a prequel to Casino Royale, titled Forever and a Day would be published by Jonathan Cape on 31 May 2018.^[104] On 28 May 2021, it was announced that Horowitz is writing a third James Bond book, taking place after Ian Fleming's final Bond novel, The Man with the Golden Gun.^[105] On 16 December 2021, it was announced the novel titled With a Mind to Kill is set for release on 26 May 2022.^[106]

On His Majesty's Secret Service by Charlie Higson was released in May 2023 to tie in with the coronation of King Charles III.^[107]