We are one step closer to the world's first unauthorized but completely legal James Bond anthology today: here is the table of contents for LICENCE EXPIRED: The Unauthorized James Bond. There are 19 stories altogether from fantastic writers. My co-editor and partner Madeline Ashby has written more about the road we've traversed so far at her own blog--so I will be brief.
This is going to be a fantastic collection. There are stories here that inhabit the space between the novels Fleming wrote and stories that take James Bond on a wing to undiscovered lands; stories that dig deep into the more problematic elements of the James Bond mythology (the still-shocking sexism, racism, and sadism) and stories that are almost as shocking for their raw humanity. The stories are sensual, and propulsive, and often, very, very funny. I can't imagine anyone wanting to miss it.
Because of the discrepancies in international copyright law, it will only be available for purchase in Canada, where copyright is extended 50 years past an author's death. That may not last long--there are rumors coming out of the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations that Canada will be asked to extend copyright protection from 50 to 70 years--but we're confident any legislative changes won't beat our November 17 2015 publication date.
They better not. Because this, if I say so myself, is an extraordinary lineup.
• Forward by Matt Sherman
• Introduction: The Bitch is Dead by David Nickle
• “One Is Sorrow” by Jacqueline Baker
• “The Gale of the World” by Robert J. Wiersema
• “Red Indians” by Richard Lee Byers
• “The Gladiator Lie” by Kelly Robson
• “Half the Sky” by E.L. Chen
• “In Havana” by Jeffrey Ford
• “Mastering the Art of French Killing” by Michael Skeet
• “A Dirty Business” by Iain McLaughlin
• “Sorrow’s Spy” by Catherine McLeod
• “Mosaic” by Karl Schroeder
• “The Spy Who Remembered Me” by James Alan Gardner
• “Daedelus” by Jamie Mason
• “Through Your Eyes Only” by A.M. Dellamonica
• “Two Graves” by Ian Rogers
• “No Mr. Bond” by Charles Stross
• “The Man with the Beholden Gun: an e-pistol-ary story by some other Ian Fleming” by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer
• “The Cyclorama” by Laird Barron
• “You Never Love Once” by Claude Lalumière
• “Not an Honourable Disease” by Corey Redekop
• Afterword by Madeline Ashby
For more info, check out ChiZIne Publications' LICENCE EXPIRED website, right here.
