October 20, 2015

FLEMING CONTEST WINNERS

Thank you to the many Spy Vibers from around the world who entered our contest to win a signed copy of The Man With the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters by Fergus Fleming. One of the highlights of the summer was spending time with Fergus and hearing about this new anthology of his uncle's James Bond-related letters. The Man With the Golden Typewriter contains numerous unpublished letters by Ian Fleming, which have been sourced from the Fleming Archive, the Cape Archive and private collections from around the world. I've been waiting eagerly for his book for many years and am so excited to see Fergus has completed the task. Spy Vibe had three signed copies to give away curtesy of Bloomsbury and I'm now pleased to announce the winners selected in a random drawing. I wish a had a hundred copies to send to everyone! The lucky Spy Vibers to win The Man With the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters signed by Fergus Fleming are: David Foster from Australia, Mike Huie from North Carolina, and Brian McKaig from Northern Ireland. Congratulations! The contest asked for a favorite Fleming quote, so I have listed some of them below. I urge everyone to order this book and enjoy unparalleled access to the world of Ian Fleming. Available in hardcover and kindle editions from AmazonUK and Amazon. Stay tuned! Up next on SPY VIBE: UK author Mike Richardson discusses his new book about the making of the 1960s Casino Royale film! Selection of related Spy Vibe posts: Fleming's TypewriterRare FlemingFleming's MusicIan Fleming's JapanIan Fleming: Wicked GrinIan Fleming Memorial, Rare Fleming ShortThai Bond DesignBond vs Modernism, The Goldfinger VariationsDouble 007 Book DesignsDouble 007 designs IIrare Ian Fleming editionBook Design DopplegangersTurkish Bond designErno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming CatalogJon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, David Tennant Reads ChittySpy Vibe's Ian Fleming archive on Pinterst.


Ian Fleming quotes from a selection of Spy Vibe contest entries (for eagle eyes, quotes are still unedited and unchecked): I have included my literary favorite, the opening to From a View To a Kill, at the top. Enjoy!

"The eyes behind the wide black rubber goggles were cold as flint. In the howling speed-turmoil of a BSA M20 doing seventy, they were the only quiet things in the hurtling flesh and metal. Protected by the glass of the goggles, they stared fixedly ahead from just above the centre of the handlebars, and their dark unwavering focus was that of gun muzzles." 

"The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning."

“You only live twice. Once when you are born and once when you look death in the face.”

“Never say 'No' to adventure.  Always say 'Yes', otherwise you'll lead a very dull life.”

"She had a gay, to-hell-with-you face that, Bond thought, would become animal in passion.  In bed she would fight and bite and then suddenly melt into hot surrender.  He could almost see the proud, sensual mouth bare away from the even white teeth in a snarl of desire and then, afterwards, soften into a half-pout of loving slavery."

"Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: 'Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action'."

"I will not spend my days in trying to prolong them.  I will use my time."

"You are linked to the ground mechanic's careless fingers in Nassau just as you are linked to the weak head of the little man in the family saloon who mistakes the red light for the green and meets you head-on, for the first and last time, as you are motoring quietly home from some private sin."

"I write for warm-blooded heterosexuals in railway trains, aeroplanes, and beds."

"It is better to travel hopefully... than to arrive."

“But I am greedy for life. I do too much of everything all the time. Suddenly one day my heart will fail. The Iron Crab will get me as it got my father. But I am not afraid of The Crab. At least I shall have died from an honourable disease. Perhaps they will put on my tombstone. 'This Man Died from Living Too Much'.”

"They had got off before nine and it was still cool as they crossed the mountains that run along Jamaica's back like the central ridges of a crocodile's armour. The road wound down towards the northern plains through some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, the tropical vegetation changing with the altitude. The green flanks of the uplands, all feathered with bamboo interspersed with the dark, glinting green of the breadfruit and the sudden Bengal fire of Flame of the Forest, gave way to the lower forests of ebony, mahogany, mahoe and logwood. And when they reached the plains of Agualta Vale the green sea of sugar-cane and bananas stretched away to where the distant fringe of glittering shrapnel bursts marked the palm groves along the north coast."

"History is moving pretty quickly these days, and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts."


Selected Spy Vibe Posts: Early Saint Box SetLost Diana Rigg InterviewDiana Rigg EventIan Fleming LettersNew Gillette 007 CoversPirate RadioSpectre Advanced PosterHonor Blackman at 90UNCLE SchoolIan Fleming MemorialRadiophonic ExhibitPortmeirion PhotosDoctor Who ExhibitFarewell SteedPussy Galore ReturnsDiana Rigg birthdaySherlock at 221BInvisible AgentSaint Interview: Ian DickersonSaint DoppelgängerFleming's TypewriterRare FlemingFleming's MusicIan Fleming's JapanJim Wilson Corgi InterviewFantomas DesignJeremy Duns on BondJohn Buss interviewAvengers Season 5 TitlesSaint VolvoMod Tales InterviewAgente Secreto ComicsDanger Man Comics 2Danger Man ComicsJohn Drake ComicsDer Mann Von UNCLEGolden Margaret NolanMan From UNCLE RocksteadyPussy Galore Calypso, Cynthia Lennon R.I.P.Edward Mann FashionLeonard Nimoy TributeShatner at 84Bob Morane seriesThai Bond DesignBond vs ModernismArt of ModestyTokyo Beat 1964Feraud Mod FashionGreen Hornet MangaNo 6 FestivalAvengers Interview: Michael RichardsonIan Fleming: Wicked GrinJane Bond Hong Kong RecordsRyan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.Comics Week: ArchieComics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMANComics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Shakespeare Spies: Diana RiggShakespeare Spies I, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny InterviewThe 10th Victim Japanese and KindleU.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, Trina Robbins InterviewCatsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton.

October 18, 2015

FLEMING CONTEST ENDS TODAY

Contest Ends Tonight: Last day to enter! Win a signed copy of The Man With the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters. One of the highlights of the summer was spending time with writer Fergus Fleming (Ian Fleming's nephew) and hearing about his upcoming anthology of his uncle's James Bond-related letters. The Man With the Golden Typewriter contains numerous unpublished letters by Ian Fleming, which have been sourced from the Fleming Archive, the Cape Archive and private collections from around the world. I've been waiting eagerly for his book for many years and am so excited to see Fergus completing the task and keeping the project within the family. Bloomsbury has just released the book and I have three signed copies to give away to readers! That's right, you can win a copy of The Man With the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters signed by Fergus Fleming. Directions: All you have to do is email me at spyvibe[at]gmail.com with 1) "Letters" in the subject heading, 2) your mailing address, and 3) your favorite Ian Fleming quote. Winners will be chosen at random. Deadline is midnight October 18th. E-mails and addresses will not be kept on file. Good luck Spy Vibers! See press release below. Selection of related Spy Vibe posts: Fleming's TypewriterRare FlemingFleming's MusicIan Fleming's JapanIan Fleming: Wicked GrinIan Fleming MemorialThai Bond DesignBond vs Modernism, The Goldfinger VariationsDouble 007 Book DesignsDouble 007 designs IIrare Ian Fleming editionBook Design DopplegangersTurkish Bond designErno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming CatalogJon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, David Tennant Reads Chitty, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming archive on Pinterst. Enjoy!


"On 16 August 1952, Ian Fleming wrote to his wife, Ann, 'My love, This is only a tiny letter to try out my new typewriter and to see if it will write golden words since it is made of gold'. He had bought the gold-plated typewriter as a present to himself for finishing his first novel, Casino Royale. It marked in glamorous style the arrival of James Bond, agent 007, and the start of a career that saw Fleming become one of the world's most celebrated thriller writers. And he did write golden words. Before his death in 1964 he produced fourteen bestselling Bond books, two works of non-fiction and the famous children's story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. Fleming's output was matched by an equally energetic flow of letters. He wrote constantly, to his wife, publisher, editors, fans, friends and critics, charting 007's progress with correspondence that ranged from badgering Jonathan Cape about his quota of free copies ­- a coin was tossed; Fleming lost - to apologising for having mistaken a certain brand of perfume and for equipping Bond with the wrong kind of gun. His letters also reflect his friendships with contemporaries such as Raymond Chandler, NoĂ«l Coward and Somerset Maugham. Before the world-famous films came the world-famous novels. This books tells the story of the man who wrote them and how he created spy fiction's most compelling hero." Order from AmazonUK and Amazon.


Selected Spy Vibe Posts: Early Saint Box SetLost Diana Rigg InterviewDiana Rigg EventIan Fleming LettersNew Gillette 007 CoversPirate RadioSpectre Advanced PosterHonor Blackman at 90UNCLE SchoolIan Fleming MemorialRadiophonic ExhibitPortmeirion PhotosDoctor Who ExhibitFarewell SteedPussy Galore ReturnsDiana Rigg birthdaySherlock at 221BInvisible AgentSaint Interview: Ian DickersonSaint DoppelgängerFleming's TypewriterRare FlemingFleming's MusicIan Fleming's JapanJim Wilson Corgi InterviewFantomas DesignJeremy Duns on BondJohn Buss interviewAvengers Season 5 TitlesSaint VolvoMod Tales InterviewAgente Secreto ComicsDanger Man Comics 2Danger Man ComicsJohn Drake ComicsDer Mann Von UNCLEGolden Margaret NolanMan From UNCLE RocksteadyPussy Galore Calypso, Cynthia Lennon R.I.P.Edward Mann FashionLeonard Nimoy TributeShatner at 84Bob Morane seriesThai Bond DesignBond vs ModernismArt of ModestyTokyo Beat 1964Feraud Mod FashionGreen Hornet MangaNo 6 FestivalAvengers Interview: Michael RichardsonIan Fleming: Wicked GrinJane Bond Hong Kong RecordsRyan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.Comics Week: ArchieComics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMANComics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Shakespeare Spies: Diana RiggShakespeare Spies I, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny InterviewThe 10th Victim Japanese and KindleU.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, Trina Robbins InterviewCatsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton

October 16, 2015

EARLY SAINT TV BOX SET

New release: The original black and white seasons of The Saint starring Roger Moore (Seasons 1 & 2) were released in a 10-disc box set this week by Shout Factory in the States. From the press release: "All 39 heavenly episodes from Season 1 & 2 of THE SAINT: Modern-day Robin Hood. Wealthy man of mystery. Debonair rogue. Call Simon Templar what you will, but never cross THE SAINT. A timeless figure of adventure since his creation by Leslie Charteris in 1928, The Saint has thrilled adventure aficionados with his exploits in a variety of media, including novels, movies, and radio: but nowhere was the dashing Mr. Templar more indelibly realized than in his 1960s television series, starring the perfectly cast Roger Moore in the title role. Seasons One and Two of The Saint set the stage for what would become a six season run on television, and paved the way for the dashing Roger Moore to take on the role of an even more famous man of action later in his career. With guest starring appearances by such notables as Oliver Reed (Tommy, Gladiator), Academy Award-winning actress Julie Christie (Darling, Doctor Zhivago) and a pair of beauties from the spy classic Goldfinger (Honor Blackman and Shirley Eaton), The Saint is a wild and witty adventure that is every bit as fun and exciting today as it was when it first aired." Bonus Features include: Audio Commentary On "The Talented Husband" And "The Saint Plays With Fire" By Roger Moore, Robert S. Baker (Executive Producer), and Johnny Goodman (Associate Producer); Audio Commentary On "Luella" By Roy Ward Backer (Director) and Sue Lloyd (Guest Star). 39 episodes. Black and White. US fans will be excited to see the series again for a reasonable price, especially if you've balked at the high cost of A&E's out-of-print editions. Spy Vibers can pick up the set for under $40. More info at the distributor's website here. Shout Factory also released a Complete Series box set last May. Enjoy! Also, don't miss out on Spy Vibe's contest to win a SIGNED copy of the new book, The Man With the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters, by Fergus Fleming. Two days left to enter! Details below. 


Contest: Two days left to enter! Win a signed copy of The Man With the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters! One of the highlights of the summer was spending time with writer Fergus Fleming (Ian Fleming's nephew) and hearing about his upcoming anthology of his uncle's James Bond-related letters. The Man With the Golden Typewriter will contain numerous unpublished letters by Ian Fleming, which have been sourced from the Fleming Archive, the Cape Archive and private collections from around the world. I've been waiting eagerly for his book for many years and am so excited to see Fergus completing the task and keeping the project within the family. Bloomsbury has just released the book and I have three signed copies to give away to readers! That's right, you can win a copy of The Man With the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters signed by Fergus Fleming. Directions: All you have to do is email me at spyvibe[at]gmail.com with 1) "Letters" in the subject heading, 2) your mailing address, and 3) your favorite Ian Fleming quote. Winners will be chosen at random on October 18th. E-mails and addresses will not be kept on file. Good luck Spy Vibers! More details on our CONTEST POST here


Selected Spy Vibe posts: Lost Diana Rigg InterviewDiana Rigg EventIan Fleming LettersNew Gillette 007 CoversPirate RadioSpectre Advanced PosterHonor Blackman at 90UNCLE SchoolIan Fleming MemorialRadiophonic ExhibitPortmeirion PhotosDoctor Who ExhibitFarewell SteedPussy Galore ReturnsDiana Rigg birthdaySherlock at 221BInvisible AgentSaint Interview: Ian DickersonSaint DoppelgängerFleming's TypewriterRare FlemingFleming's MusicIan Fleming's JapanJim Wilson Corgi InterviewFantomas DesignJeremy Duns on BondJohn Buss interviewAvengers Season 5 TitlesSaint VolvoMod Tales InterviewAgente Secreto ComicsDanger Man Comics 2Danger Man ComicsJohn Drake ComicsDer Mann Von UNCLEGolden Margaret NolanMan From UNCLE RocksteadyPussy Galore Calypso, Cynthia Lennon R.I.P.Edward Mann FashionLeonard Nimoy TributeShatner at 84Bob Morane seriesThai Bond DesignBond vs ModernismArt of ModestyTokyo Beat 1964Feraud Mod FashionGreen Hornet MangaNo 6 FestivalAvengers Interview: Michael RichardsonIan Fleming: Wicked GrinJane Bond Hong Kong RecordsRyan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.Comics Week: ArchieComics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMANComics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Shakespeare Spies: Diana RiggShakespeare Spies I, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny InterviewThe 10th Victim Japanese and KindleU.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, Trina Robbins InterviewCatsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton