New Bond Novel to be Set in 1969

Author William Boyd (Any Human Heart) has become the third writer invited to play in Ian Fleming’s fictional world. Boyd’s Bond novel will come out in the fall of 2013, just in time to mark the 60th anniversary of the creation of James Bond. From The Independent:

The acclaimed author of Any Human Heart, Boyd is giving little away about the plot, or even a title but has disclosed that his story is set amid the political and social ferment of the late 60s. “All I will say is it’s set in 1969,” Boyd told Radio Times. “Fleming died in 1964. He was in his mid-50s, so conceivably if he’d looked after himself a bit better, hadn’t smoked and drunk so much, he might have written a James Bond novel in that year.”

The author has avoided Skyfall, the latest Bond film, which became the highest-grossing movie in UK box office history after just 40 days. “I deliberately haven’t seen it,” Boyd said.

The full piece is here.