During the long years of World War II, Australia’s small farming communities paid a terrible price. In the rural towns of New South Wales, one family each week discovered that their son or husband or brother or father would not be coming home. In the throws of such grief, one seldom considers the man who delivers the news.

The Telegram Man takes us into the world of Bill Williams, the man who must deliver the worst kind of news and John Lewis the man who is destined to hear it. John Boyne’s poetic short story American Farm ‘44 has been transported to the Australian outback allowing us to explore, through the micro-cosmos of Bill and John, how World War II forever changed the face of Australian culture.

The Telegram Man is a 15-minute short film set in 1942 country town NSW. The screenplay has been developed jointly by the film’s director/producer James F. Khehtie and writer Victoria Wharfe McIntyre based on a short story by John Boyne, the award-winning author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.  Please watch the evocative trailer here

The novel, currently known as Project X, will be published one year from today for Ian Fleming’s birthday – 28 May 2011. It will be published by Jeffery Deaver’s publishers Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and Simon & Schuster in the US.

Jeffery Deaver has written 26 novels and sold more than 20 million books worldwide. His books have topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and he has been described as ‘the most creative, skilled and intriguing thriller writer in the world’ (Daily Telegraph) and ‘the master of ticking-bomb suspense’ (People magazine).

007 came to life fully-formed in 1952 when Ian Fleming wrote Casino Royale.   Since then over 100 million James Bond books have sold worldwide.

 In 2004, Deaver won the Crime Writers’ Association’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for his book Garden of Beasts.  In his acceptance speech he talked about his life-long admiration of Fleming’s writing.

Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, was in the audience. She explains, ‘I’d always enjoyed Jeffery Deaver’s thrillers, but I particularly liked Garden of Beasts:  it demonstrated that he was not only a master of the contemporary American thriller but could also write compelling novels of period suspense within a European setting.  I didn’t know anything about the author himself and expected a fairly low key response from him when he received our award.

 ‘I was surprised and delighted when he spoke very fondly of Ian and about the influence that the Bond books had had on his own writing career.   It was at that point that I first thought that James Bond could have an interesting adventure in Jeffery Deaver’s hands.’

Deaver comments, ‘I can’t describe the thrill I felt when first approached by Ian Fleming’s estate to ask if I’d be interested in writing the next book in the James Bond series.  I began reading them when I was about nine or ten, ignorant of the Cold War politics they explored but enthralled by their sense of adventure and derring-do. I continued to read and reread them, which was fortunate because as a teen and adult I found, of course, nuances, that were invisible to a child.’

He continues, ‘The Bond books were important parts of my life – both literarily and personally.  They appealed to me as wonderful stories but they also stood as singular examples of a thriller writer’s craft. I learned, through osmosis as well as design, much technique from Mr. Fleming’s work; compactness, attention to detail, heroic though flawed characters, fast-pacing, concrete imagery and straight-forward prose.’

Unlike Sebastian Faulks’ centenary novel, Devil May Care, Project X will be set in the present day. Jeffery Deaver has started work on the book and his title is yet to be revealed.

Jamie Hodder-Williams, CEO of Hodder & Stoughton, comments, “Hodder & Stoughton is delighted that Jeff has been chosen to write the next James Bond novel, which we will be proud to publish.  He’s a total professional, who has been with us for over 17 years and he’s immensely popular with booksellers and readers across all our markets.  He’s such a great choice because his blend of fast-paced action with meticulous research will produce a thriller that will both honour Ian Fleming and at the same time be utterly contemporary.  I can’t wait to read it.”

David Rosenthal, Executive vice-president and Publisher of Simon & Schuster, comments, “For Simon & Schuster, Deaver and Bond are a peerless combination: clever, suspenseful and sophisticated. Jeff Deaver will produce a popular entertainment of the highest order.”

Jeffery Deaver is the author of a number of internationally bestselling crime series. He is best known for his Kathryn Dance and Lincoln Rhyme books, most notably The Bone Collector, which was adapted for film in 1999, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.  Deaver has also written two award-winning short story collections, as well as stand-alone novels including Garden of Beasts and The Bodies Left Behind, which was named Novel of the Year at the International Thriller Writers’ Awards in 2009.

Jeffery Deaver was born near Chicago in 1950.  Before becoming a full-time author in 1990, he was a journalist, like Fleming, and attorney. He started writing suspense novels on the long commute to and from his office on Wall Street. His books are now translated into 25 languages. Deaver lives in North Carolina.

Jeffery Deaver’s latest Lincoln Rhyme thriller, The Burning Wire, will be published in the US on 1 June and in the UK on 22 July.  A standalone thriller titled Edge will follow in November 2010 in both the US and the UK. 

The original Fleming novels are published worldwide by Penguin Books.

For further information, please contact:

Lucy Chavasse or Katy MacMillan-Scott at Colman Getty

Telephone: 00 44 207 631 2666 / Email: firstname@colmangetty.co.uk

Out of hours contacts: 07876 528902 / 07786 567 887

 For any US enquiries, please contact:

Kelly Welsh at Simon & Schuster

Telephone: 001 212 698 7008 / Email: kelly.welsh@simonandschuster.com

Out of hours contact: 917-453-0642 

Statement from Jeffery Deaver

When first approached by Ian Fleming’s estate and the publishing company that oversees his work to ask if I’d be interested in writing the next book in the James Bond series, I can’t describe the thrill I felt.

My history with Bond goes back fifty years.  I was about eight or nine when I picked up my first Bond novel. I was a bit precocious when it came to reading, but I have my parents to thank for that. They had a rule that I was not allowed to watch certain movies, but I could read anything that I could get my hands on. This was ironic since, in the 1950s and early ’60s, you’d never see sex or violence on the screen. So, I was allowed to read every Bond book my father brought home or that I could afford with my allowance.

I felt Fleming’s influence early. My first narrative fiction, written when I was eleven, was based on Bond. It was about a spy who stole a top-secret airplane from the Russians. The agent was American but had a British connection, having been stationed, like my father, in East Anglia during WWII.

I can still recall the moment when I heard on the news that Fleming had died – I was in my mid-teens. It was as if I had lost a good friend or uncle. Nearly as troubling was the TV anchorman who reported that Bond, too, would die in the final pages of the last book, The Man with the Golden Gun. I was in agony until I could buy it the moment it was released. I read it in one sitting and learned the truth – at least I’d only have to mourn the loss of one of my heroes, not two.

I have won or been nominated for a number of awards for my thriller writing but the one that I’m the most proud of is the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, presented in conjunction with the UK’s Crime Writers’ Association, for my thriller Garden of Beasts. The award is in the shape of a commando knife that Fleming is said to have carried in his days working for the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War. The imposing award sits in the middle of my mantelpiece at home.

I don’t want to give much away about the new book yet, except to say that it takes place in the present day and that the story occurs over a short period of time and finds Bond in three or four exotic locations around the globe.

The novel will maintain the persona of James Bond as Fleming created him and the unique tone the author brought to his books, while incorporating my own literary trademarks: detailed research, fast pacing and surprise twists.

As far as any parallels between Bond’s life and mine, there are a few, I’ll admit. I enjoy fast cars – I’ve owned a Maserati and a Jaguar, and I now take my BMW M3 or Infiniti G37 to the track occasionally. I’m a downhill skier and scuba diver. I enjoy single-malt scotch and American bourbons—not vodka, though if I recall from my reading of the Bond books, the spy himself drank whisky considerably more often than his “shaken, not-stirred” martinis.

Michael Joseph publishing director Mari Evans bought UK and Commonwealth rights in two novels by Fiona Neill for an undisclosed sum. The first, What the Nanny Saw, is the story of a young woman who comes to work for a wealthy, privileged London family, but finds herself “unwittingly embroiled in a scandal that threatens to ruin everyone caught in its wake”. What the Nanny Saw will be published next summer.

Evans said: “I’m absolutely over the moon to have Fiona joining the Michael Joseph list, she writes timely and compulsive novels that appeal to the zeitgeist and she’ll be a perfect complement to our women’s fiction portfolio. We feel incredibly lucky to have her and can’t wait to begin working with her.”

North American rights in the first title have gone to Sarah McGrath at Riverhead.

Come along and meet the James Bond elephant, currently resident on the Southbank in London. To celebrate the UN International Day for Biological Diversity, Ian Fleming’s niece, Lucy Fleming, and Oliver Lloyd, the artist behind the design, will be manning the James Bond Elephant for Elephant Parade between 10am and 2pm this Saturday, 22nd May, so get down there for your chance to ask any burning questions! The elephant is also up for sale as Lot number 121 at the online auction for The Elephant Parade at www.givinglots.co.uk.

On 7th March 2010, The Independent on Sunday newspaper seriously defamed Ms. Margolis by referring to her as a “hooker” in the title of an article that she wrote for them, published in both the paper and online editions.

The resulting effect of this libel was immeasurable, and Ms. Margolis was forced to issue legal proceedings against Independent News & Media Ltd.

These proceedings have now come to a conclusion and substantial damages have been offered to Ms. Margolis for the distress and impact to her reputation, both personal and professional, that this libel caused.

There will be a statement read in open court in a hearing tomorrow, Friday 21st May 2010 at 10.30am, court 13 at the Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand, London.

Ms. Margolis will be available for interview or comment following the hearing.

Background to case:

Press Gazette
Journalism.co.uk
New Statesman
Guardian
Gawker

The first, Cuckoo, is to be published in summer 2011 and is the haunting story of a young couple whose perfectly constructed lives begin to fall dramatically apart from the moment an old friend comes to stay.

Woodburn said ‘it’s a deliciously unsettling and twisty psychological drama that had me utterly gripped from the start. It’s the kind of novel that gets right under your skin, in the best kind of way, and I’m thrilled to be publishing it.’

Julia Crouch started out as a theatre director and playwright. Then she moved into graphic and website design and she now writes full time in a shed at the bottom of her garden. She lives in Brighton with her husband, the actor and playwright Tim Crouch, and their three children.

She said ‘I am very excited about being signed by Headline. Their great commitment to my work has allowed me to make the move into full time writing. It is a dream come true for me.’

The entries are as follows:

• Regi Claire – Fighting It (Two Ravens Press), David Constantine – The Sheiling (Comma Press), Jeremy Dyson – The Cranes that Build Cranes (Little Brown), Jane Feaver – with Love Me Tender (Random House), Patrick Gale – Gentleman’s Relish (Harper Collins), Sian Hughes – The Beach Hut (Biscuit Publishing), Mark Illis – Tender (Salt Publishing).
• A.L. Kennedy – What Becomes (Jonathan Cape), Tom Lee – Greenfly (Harvill Secker).
• Michael J Farrel – Life in the Universe (The Stinging Fly), Ben Moor – More Trees To Climb (Portobello), Nuala Ní Chonchúir – Nude (Salt Publishing). Philip O Ceallaigh – The Pleasant Light of Day (Penguin), Robert Shearman – Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical(Big Finish).
• Charles Stross – Wireless (Little Brown), Craig Taylor – One Million Tiny Plays About Britain (Bloomsbury), Douglas Thompson – Ultrameta (Eibonvale Press) and Simon Van Booy – Love Begins in Winter (Beautiful Books).

The shortlist will be revealed on 8^th May and the winners announced at an awards ceremony in July at Charing Cross Blackwell Store in London.

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