The next James Bond book will be named "Solo" which will see the super spy travel to three continents.
William Boyd, whose James Bond continuation novel is billed as one of this year's publishing highlights, today made the announcement on the opening day of The London Book Fair, where he was 'author of the day'.
Boyd, a Booker-nominated author, was commissioned last year by the Ian Fleming estate to write a new Bond book.
"Sometimes less is more. For me as a novelist the simple beauty of 'Solo' as the title of the next James Bond novel is that this short four-letter word is particularly and strikingly apt for the novel I have written," he explained about his choice of title.
"In my novel, events conspire to make Bond go off on a self-appointed mission of his own, unannounced and without any authorisation - and he's fully prepared to take the consequences of his audacity.
"The journey Bond goes on takes in three continents - with the main focus honing in on Africa. It's what happens to Bond in Africa that generates his urge to 'go solo' and take matters into his own hands in the US," he says.
According to Boyd, titles are very important to him and as soon as he wrote down 'Solo' on a sheet of paper he saw its potential.
"Not only did it fit the theme of the novel perfectly, it's also a great punchy word, instantly and internationally comprehensible, graphically alluring and, as an extra bonus, it's strangely Bondian in the sense that we might be subliminally aware of the '00' of '007' lurking just behind those juxtaposed O's of SOLO..."
The book will feature a veteran secret agent, with Bond aged 45. It will be published on September 26 in the UK by Fleming's original publisher, Jonathan Cape, an imprint of Vintage Publishing in hardback, ebook and audio editions.
HarperCollins will publish the book in Canada and the US on October 8.
Says Corinne Turner, MD of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, "Ian Fleming had a great aptitude for naming his books and his Bond titles have become true classics. Solo is a simple yet striking title which fits perfectly alongside the other books in the Bond canon.
