The Diamond Age of Bond fiction
The 'Golden Age' of James Bond books - that defining era when Ian Fleming delivered a title a year - is a period rightly bathed in a reverential glow. Fleming’s run is the undisputed gold standard, the foundation upon which the entire modern espionage thriller was built. But we should not let literary history overshadow the fact that we are currently living through a uniquely bright period: the Diamond Age of Bond fiction.
Why Diamond? Well, diamonds are forged under immense pressure. In this instance, the colossal weight of a global legacy and the demand to keep a mid-century cultural icon vital in the twenty-first century. A diamond’s brilliance comes from its facets; it is meticulously cut to catch the light from multiple angles. Today’s continuation literature operates on exactly this principle, presenting a multitude of distinct cuts of Fleming’s ‘Bond diamond’ for different demographics. While a specific cut might not be to everyone’s taste, it is crucial to recognise that even the most hotly debated instalments have their fierce, dedicated admirers. The sheer volume, durability, and variety of the current era are nothing short of dazzling.
Mark Edlitz has done a fabulous job of chronicling the entire history of Bond continuation fiction in his books Bond After Fleming and Keeping 007 Alive. I warmly recommend both of these books to anyone interested who wants a comprehensive understanding of the literary side of 007 (and not just because I provided the Afterword to the second value).
Here is my take on the major milestones:
Kingsley Amis delivered a brilliant first cut of the Bond diamond in 1968 with Colonel Sun. To date, it’s the only continuation novel to have material explicitly adapted for film (the torture scene informed the script of Spectre). Courtesy of friend, colleague and biographer of Fleming, John Pearson, James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 hit book shops in 1973. I especially like the way it presents us with a James Bond struggling with staying in retirement. Beginning in 1981, John Gardner completed an impressive sixteen-novel run. Whatever you think of their literary qualities, they’re certainly never boring! Raymond Benson is a favourite of many. Some of Benson’s books are intentionally more cinematic, others explore Bond more psychologically, which I have always thought of as the neglected facet of the Fleming diamond.
Launched in 2005 by Charlie Higson and continued bySteve Cole, the Young Bond series was not the first book written for children in the world of Bond. But in The Adventures of 003½ (which actually predated Colonel Sun by a year) the protagonist was Bond’s nephew. Both Young Bond authors steadfastly refused to patronise their younger audience, retaining the visceral action and melancholy edge of Fleming’s original vision to show exactly how the rough diamond of a teenage James forged his survival instincts.
As the new millennium dawned, Ian Fleming Publications pivoted to a 'guest star' model, resulting in a display case of wildly varying variety. These included Sebastian Faulks’s Devil May Care (2008) Jeffery Deaver’s Carte Blanche (2011) and William Boyd’s Solo (2013). Between 2015 and 2022, Anthony Horowitz hopped around the Fleming Bond timeline, entertainingly filling in some blanks over three well-regarded novels, incorporating some of Ian’s unused material along the way.
Diamonds Are For Everyone
Every new Bond novel is a recut of the unbreakable ‘Bond diamond’ created by Ian Fleming. Now picture light shining through Fleming’s diamond, splintering into a spectrum of distinct colours (or picture the cover of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon and you’ll get the idea).
This is what’s been happening since 2022. The Bond book world has diversified, turning out not just a sizeable fistful of new gems, but making us see the Fleming diamond in new lights. Welcome to the Diamond Age.
Ushering us in, Kim Sherwood launched her Double O trilogy in 2022, focusing on a new generation of agents: Double or Nothing (2022), A Spy Like Me (2024), Hurricane Room (2026). For some, Sherwood’s progressive world-building is a radically different shape to the traditional cut, and expanding the universe beyond James Bond himself has sparked lively debate. Yet, it has cultivated a passionately devoted new audience, proving that the Double O Section can catch the light spectacularly even when its marquee name is off-stage, although Bond is very rarely far from characters’ thoughts and feelings. What makes the Double O trilogy so special is its literary quality. It took Fleming’s works 50 years to acquire the label ‘Literature’. Sherwood’s was talked of in these terms instantly. This does not contradict Fleming’s dictum that the most important quality of a thriller is to keep people turning the pages: Sherwood’s novels are as thrilling as they are well-written. These books will be read - and re-read - by Bond fans for decades to come.
For those craving a more classic treatment of 007, Higson delivered On His Majesty's Secret Service (2023), commissioned for the King's coronation. Despite adhering to the Fleming formula, Higson attracted accusations (from a small but vocal minority) of making Bond ‘woke’ for some of his modern details and a plot which resonated with the real world rise of the Far Right. For everyone else, it was a joyous, rapid-fire romp demonstrating that Fleming’s classic espionage formula still has tremendous sparkle.
2025 saw the release of Raymond Benson’s The Hook and the Eye. Starring Felix Leiter, this was a wonderful reminder that the franchise’s secondary characters offer entirely different, compelling angles to explore the world Fleming created. Benson was the ideal author to bring Leiter to thrilling, multi-dimensional life. Late 2025 gave us another novel focused on an ally of 007’s: Vaseem Khan's Quantum of Menace took Q out of MI6 and dropped him into a charming home counties whodunnit, Khan proved the franchise can gleam just as brightly in the cosy crime genre. The sequel, The Man with the Golden Compass, arrives in October 2026.
Looking at the relentless release schedule of 2026 and beyond, it is clear the Diamond Age is operating at peak brilliance. May brought us Hurricane Room, the critically-lauded climax to Sherwood’s trilogy.
September 2026 delivers the reissue of Charlie Higson's Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier, the release of the audio drama of his first Young Bond novel, SilverFin, AND Higson’s return to the adult Bond arena with King Zero. Higson is bypassing Golden Age nostalgia, keeping what we love about 007 but dropping him squarely into the geopolitical complexities of the modern day.
It remains a great concern of mine that Bond needs to remain relevant for younger audiences. So I’m delighted that 2027 sees the arrival of Mike (M.W.) Craven's James Bond and the Secret Agent Academy. Craven is best known for his series of adult thrillers which I finally plucked up the courage to read recently. Be warned: these are not kids’ books! So who knows what Craven is cooking up with his Bond books aimed at 8-12 year olds, in which 007 himself mentors a new generation of heroes.
It is healthy to break the habit of measuring every new release against the Golden Age of Fleming. The diamond Ian created can withstand any amount of recutting and the Bond literary world is now excitingly multi-faceted. Some cuts are traditional, others are sharply modern, but the overarching truth is that there is a James Bond continuation work for everyone, of all ages and preferences. The literary world of 007 has never shone brighter.
