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James Bond and the Secret Agent Academy
MaxCasino
United States
https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/james-bond-will-return-on-the-page-0k2h7zd7f
The Sunday Times can reveal that the crime writer MW Craven has just been signed to write a new series of Bond books aimed at 8 to 12-year-olds. The first, James Bond and the Secret Agent Academy, will be published next June. It will feature a retired Bond, his licence to kill revoked, training a new generation of teenage spies.
Wasn’t on my bingo card for what IFP had in store for novels, but I’m not mad about it. I am curious where this will go. I appreciate that IFP is trying to do something to help create the next generation of Bond fans. I'm sure an Adult Bond novel is in the works.
The Sunday Times can reveal that the crime writer MW Craven has just been signed to write a new series of Bond books aimed at 8 to 12-year-olds. The first, James Bond and the Secret Agent Academy, will be published next June. It will feature a retired Bond, his licence to kill revoked, training a new generation of teenage spies.
Wasn’t on my bingo card for what IFP had in store for novels, but I’m not mad about it. I am curious where this will go. I appreciate that IFP is trying to do something to help create the next generation of Bond fans. I'm sure an Adult Bond novel is in the works.
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Comments
At this point, IFP are sort of diluting the source here. Before we had at most two authors working at once on pretty Bond-centric stories. Now? 00-series, Q series, Leiter series and now a training series. And pretty much no Bond in sight for the lot of them.
I discovered Bond because he was popular. That popularity triggered me to try a novel at a young age. For me, it was Devil May Care. I don't think catering to kids with something far away from what the ethos of Bond is will get them hooked on Bond. It'll just get them hooked on something else!
Sounds godawful.
"How kind of you, IFP. The children will be so thrilled."
Seriously though, if this helps create new Bond fans from an early age as well as getting them off their phones for a while then I'm all for it.
Of the two new 007 projects this week (how is that guy suing for lack of use of the trademark?!), First Light seems like the one which is more likely to bring Bond up to date.
Looking back through Bond history I do appreciate injects like The Adventures of James Bond Junior: 003½, James Bond Jr cartoon/comics/books, the Find Your Fate Series, and other oddities. I don't connect them to the official films and novels.
Maybe Bond will be an enigma to the students, they react to him but he's not so directly present.
This is interesting.
But looking at Bond's personality, he's not the one who would likely to interact with younger people, especially teenagers (as described in that article), Bond is a man who preferred a solitary life, I think Bond's Jamaican retirement in NTTD is a much more accurate of showing what Bond's retirement life would've looked like.
But who knows? Maybe they could've done it right and would actually be good at the end, I'm not going to judge it yet, not at least until I've read it.
Personally, I don't get the sense this is a Young Bond type thing (those books they were generally well written and gripping, although a bit outlandish, and I doubt they were the reason many young Bond fans are... well, fans today. They were good in my opinion though). The truth is I doubt any property under the current IFP will attract many new fans, and these spin offs are a bizarre and fruitless endeavour to a side of this franchise relatively few are invested in anyway.
Maybe. Maybe not. Probably so. But you never know. So why not try it if the concept is compelling enough and the writing up to snuff? In a post EON Bond-world, it may be in IFP’s interest to take Amazon’s ambitions seriously, and their recent projects may suggest that they do: Double-O spinoff, Q’s own adventure, Felix Leiter’s continuation, Young Bond, Retired Bond. I suppose if IFP can pull it off, I’d rather their curated and shepherded projects serve as templates, if not direct adaptations, of Amazon’s inevitable sequels and prequels, and universe-building adaptions and interconnected multimedia.
I guess, in short, what I’m trying to ask is, all things being equal, and anything not done being unknown, why not? Why not do as much as possible to ensure that Fleming stays relevant. Aside from not producing an award-deserving biopic, IFP have done a good job at contextualizing Fleming, wherever possible, within theaters of war, journalism, soldering, literature, film, politics, espionage and celebrity. They’ve successfully, and rightfully, positioned Fleming as the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of his day.
He’s not relevant, as in widely popular (although his creation is), but his place in history is coming into ever clearer focus and importance; his works are enshrined as a testament to their time and genre; he’s the father of one of the most recognizable icons across literature and film and pop culture. The legacy is solidified and looks to be entering an unexpected, yet promising, new phase. So why not try something experimental and fun? While these things need to deliver, most essentially in quality, it’s been 70 years. One new fan is one new fan.
Every kid my age loved these books:
https://www.ianfleming.com/announcing-james-bond-and-the-secret-agent-academy/?v=7885444af42e
So like seriously am i so out of touch that wanting a modern day spy thriller featuring James Bond as the protagonist is just not what anyone else wants? Really?
The problem is even if Bond goes down an interconnected, world building, spin off route, I don't think IFP should be any sort of template for it. At least when you get successful spin offs (Batman's generally a good example with the Batman Beyond cartoon coming from the original Animated series - actually not far off this concept - and of course the recent Penguin series) there's genuinely a sense it's drawing off of the original works and expanding those stories. You can do whatever you want, but I'd argue there should always be a sense it's worthwhile. To me what IFP have been doing recently just feels like throwing a bunch of ideas at the wall in the hopes they get very specific audiences onboard (who may or may not have any interest in Bond anyway). A Felix Leiter spin off set in the 50s. A weird modern day Q murder mystery. Now whatever the hell this is. It feels a bit directionless and difficult to get completely new audiences invested.
But like others have said perhaps many of us just aren't the audience. And it won't matter in the long run. If it fails it'll just be another little subchapter in James Bond history. Plenty of oddities in there.
Which is a strategy I guess, but you've got James Bond, which is a brand most book sellers would kill for. Do a big launch, get a big name to write it (celeb authors do sell I'm afraid) and it'll do fine, won't it?
Yeah, I think that's the feel I get for this strategy. In principle, there's no reason any of these spin offs have to be connected to Bond, or at least that's the impression I get. It's tricky to get new, long term fans of this character if these spin offs have very little concept of him or what he's about.
Something like the Q Mysteries presumably hinges on an older demographic's affection for watching a Bond film on a bank holiday, does it? It's not really aimed at Ian Fleming readers, and you'll get a certain percentage of Bond fans anyway, it seems more for the Thursday Murder crowd. I tend to think a better way might be to pay Amazon for the rights to Roger Moore's image for the cover and get a famous comedy writer (Walliams?) to write a sort of knowing, warm pastiche of an unmade Roger film or something like that if you're aiming for that sort of person, because I'm not convinced they're interested in Bond enough to pick up a Q book.
Actually, unless he's all signed up to a particular publishing house, I would not rule out a Walliams book in any form. I bet you they've tried to get him.
Very disappointing to think this is the route they've chosen to broaden Bond's reach and introduce the character to new readers.
I think it's what the majority of literary Bond fans want but regrettably it doesn't seem to be what IFP wants to focus on at the current time.
If James Bond is going to be in the public domain, I understand that they are looking for ways to protect it.
It's just that everything about this is weird. The fact that they're all teenagers, the fact that it's aimed so aggressively at such younger readers (I could be wrong but in my experience younger age groups aren't ones that always react well when you're seen trying to 'pander' to them. Again, the Young Bond books are quite good in the sense they were generally for younger readers but didn't have that same pandering feel to them).
It's an odd little description of these books. I'm not sure how well judged it is phrasing it like that (it gives the impression Bond is old hat and these other characters are 'better'. Not saying Bond - old or young - shouldn't have flaws or opinions which are somewhat questionable, but I think this framing will just annoy people, even if in practice it's done well).
Memorandum sent 9/6/2025
Classification: Gold level (For Your Eyes Only)
To our agents in the field,
Some of you may have noted a certain Double O’s absence from HQ as of late. Whilst you’d be forgiven for assuming that he was simply out on an extended mission, I’m afraid the truth is rather more... complicated. It’s too much for me to go into here, but we have a new recruit – Agent M.W. Craven – whose first assignment has been to transcribe all of the (frankly astounding) details, and our colleagues over at Ian Fleming Publications have just announced the result: James Bond and the Secret Agent Academy.
Kicking off an action-packed new series for readers aged 8-12 (although judging by the reaction when it passed by M’s desk for approval ((he dropped his pipe)), it promises to appeal to more than just children), James Bond and the Secret Agent Academy is a major new 007 literary adventure. One that leads me to believe that Craven has been fully committing to his cover alias as a bestselling and award-winning thriller writer.
Agents are reminded that the next episode in the digital serialisation of Raymond Benson’s Felix Leiter adventure The Hook and the Eye is released tomorrow. Benson has also been working on a series of videos that recap the events of the latest episode, and delve into plenty of behind-the-scenes details about the writing process for the story. You can watch the first one here – perfect for refreshing your memory of what happened in the tantalising and propulsive Episode 1.
I also understand that more of the coveted Ian Fleming Notebooks will be released later this week, and I deciphered one communique that hinted at some new cover tones... Colour me intrigued. Keep an eye on Ian Fleming Publications’ social media channels for news of when they’re available.
Sincerely,
Miss Moneypenny
I’m confused how this new project, or any other, from IFP is all that different from what Batman is doing or has done. I’m genuinely confused how a book series about Bond training new recruits is somehow so far off from something like Batman Beyond. If you don’t like the concept, then fair enough. But I’m not seeing the problem. If you’re OK with Batman continually updating, expanding and probing its mythology for new takes, then I don’t get the distinction you’re making when it comes to Bond.
Batman Beyond followed on from the Animated Series, expanding on a version of the character that had been developed and audiences had an attachment to/knew. Penguin does this too with The Batman. They weren’t just randomly using an existing IP to appeal to a radically different age group, shoehorning it into a radically different genre, without any context. Even Young Bond made its connection to Fleming quite clear.
Yes, there’s a big difference between this and those examples.