Frequently Asked Questions

WILL YOU BE WRITING ANY MORE YOUNG BOND BOOKS?

I’m afraid I’m not planning on writing any more young James Bond books. I’m too busy writing the Enemy series. But Ian Fleming publications (who own James Bond,) have hired a brilliant new writer to carry on where I left off. His name is Steve Cole and the first of the new Young Bond series will be out towards the end of 2014.

WILL THERE BE A YOUNG BOND FILM

At the moment there are no plans to make any Young James Bond films. A company called Eon make all the adult James Bond films, and they are the only people allowed to make any kind of James Bond film, whatever age he is - whether he’s a 14-year-old boy on a 90-year-old man. They are very busy doing the Daniel Craig adult James Bond films at the moment and aren’t interested in doing any young James Bond films.

CAN I BE IN IT?

A lot of people get in touch asking if they could be James Bond in a Young Bond film - a lot of you obviously fancy yourselves as James Bond! As there are no plans for a film (see above) I’m afraid you’ll just have to make your own James Bond film and put it on the Internet. Even if Eon films did decide to make a Young James Bond film it would be ages before they started filming, by which time you’d probably be too old. Sorry about that.

WHAT ARE THE YOUNG BOND BOOKS IN ORDER?

I wrote five full-length Young Bond books - they are…

1. SilverFin
2. Blood Fever
3. Double or Die.
4. Hurricane Gold
5. By Royal Command

We also produced a graphic novel of SilverFin and there is a Young Bond factual book, with some great illustrations and maps and diagrams, telling you everything you need to know about the world of Young Bond. It’s called ‘Danger Society: The Young Bond Companion. As well as factual stuff it contains a new stand-alone Young Bond novella. So, if you want to read absolutely everything I wrote about Young Bond you need to get hold of it.

IS IT NECESSARY TO READ THE YOUNG BOND BOOKS IN THE ORDER THEY WERE WRITTEN?

No, it’s not completely necessary. Each book is a separate adventure, but there are some characters who come back more than once, particularly his friends at school and James Bond does change through the books as he grows up and learns from his experiences. I suppose for the full experience you should start at the beginning and work your way through, but you can jump in any way really. Hurricane Gold is a really popular one in the series, and could easily be read out of sequence.

How many books will be in the enemy series?

I am planning to write seven books in the series. It takes me about a year to write one of my books so the publication date dates of the last two books will be September 2014 and September 2015. The story will be all wrapped up and you will learn what happens to all of the characters from the series. The last book – The End - which I am writing now, will feature a huge battle between the army of the sickos, led by St George, and the army of the kids. Maybe in a couple of years time, if the books are still popular and readers really want it I might write a sequel to the series who knows? When I finished the 7th book I will have been working on this series for seven years of my life and I’m looking forward to writing something different and moving onto something else.

WHAT ARE THE ENEMY BOOKS IN ORDER?

1. The Enemy
2. The Dead
3. The Fear
4. The Sacrifice
5. The Fallen
6. The Hunted (September 2014)
7. The End (September 2015)

Is it necessary to read the books in order?

Each book in the series is a self-contained adventure but they do all fit together to make a long story. For the best reading experience you should start at the beginning and read straight through, however you could start with any book and if you like it go back to the beginning. Readers who have read the whole series will know that the timeline is not linear, that is to say one book doesn’t necessarily follow directly after the one before. The second book, for instance, starts a year before the first book, and the rest of the series jumps forward backwards and sideways in time.

Why don’t the books come out in America at the same time as the books in England?

I am English and the books were originally published here in England. It was only later on that my American publisher, Hyperion, decided that they would like to publish the books. So there was a time delay between the first one coming out in England and the first one coming out in America. As I write one a year my American publishers also publish one a year. I’m sorry to all American readers if you have to wait a few months longer than my English readers. If you're impatient you can always buy the books from England.

Are the American editions of the books different to the British additions?

There are some small differences between the American books and the English books. There were a couple of very gory passages in the first book, The Enemy, which I had to slightly change for the American market. But since then the only changes have been to Americanize a few of the words to make the books clearer for my US readers. We didn’t change all of the English words to American equivalents as I think American kids like the fact that the books are set in England and therefore some of the language and the references are very British. However some have been changed. ‘Pavement’, for instance has been changed to ‘sidewalk’ and ‘petrol’ to ‘gasoline’. A few other ordinary words like this have been changed so that an American reader won’t get tripped up whilst reading.

Are you going to kill off any more of my favourite characters?

I'm sorry if I've killed too many of your favourites, but the good die as well as the bad in this world. It wouldn’t be scary or tense if only minor characters were killed. At the moment I'm planning the last book – featuring the final battle. And it’s going to be gory. Get ready to cry.

Is there going to be a film or TV series of the enemy?

At the moment there are no plans to film the series. For a start it would be quite hard to make a really intense, gory, zombie style film or TV series that the kids who enjoy the books would be able to watch legally. Also kids grow up fast, and as the 7 books only really cover a period of a few weeks we would have to change the story a little as we came back to film each year and the kids were all a year older. I’d love to try one day, though. We have been talking to some people about it but there are no immediate plans. In the meantime have you watched all the trailers we’ve made for the books? You can find them on the website.

What will you write next when you finish the series?

First of all I will have a long holiday. It’s been hard work writing these books. I have a few ideas for other possible series. I’ve always loved fantasy books, for instance, and have had an idea that I been working on since I was a teenager that I might finally get the time to write up properly. Or I might write a historical series, or a science-fiction series… who knows? I’ll tell you in two years time.