Author Matt Sherman, on of the world's top Bond experts, draws from a lifetime of James Bond knowledge and intimate friendships with many of the Bond cast and crew. Enjoy his playful patter about Bond's games, insider stories and games between the games. Let's play!
Bond is back with a license to thrill. Forty-three years ago, Ian Fleming wrote his last great 007 adventure. Now, in Devil May Care, the world's most iconic spy returns in a Cold War story spanning the world's exotic locations. By invitation of the Fleming estate to mark the centenary of his birth, acclaimed novelist Sebastian Faulks picks up where Fleming left off, writing a tour de force that will electrify every James Bond fan. A fitting tribute to the Bond tradition, Devil May Care stands on its own as a triumph of witty prose and plenty of double-0 action. "In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write a thousand words in the morning, then go snorkeling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another thousand words in the late afternoon, then more martinis and glamorous women. In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch, and the snorkeling." —Sebastian Faulks
Edward Bond Plays:9 brings together recent work by the writer of the classic stage plays Saved, Lear, The Pope's Wedding, and Early Morning. The volume comprises five new plays and a comprehensive introduction by the author exploring theories of writing and theatre. Innocence is the final play in The Paris Pentad, a dramatic epic stretching from the 1940s to the end of the twenty-first century. The conflicts at the heart of civilisation have erupted into violence, and the characters in Innocence must seek refuge in each other to escape the cruelty of war. Window, Tune, Balancing Act and The Edge are plays commissioned by The Big Brum Theatre. With themes of drug use, violence, suicide, and mother-son relations, the plays focus on problems directly aimed at modern youth culture. Ideally suited to students, performers and particularly university showcases, they are short, interesting and powerful pieces. This edition also includes some of Bond's previously unpublished Theatre Poems.
JAMES BOND declares war on Le Chiffre, French Communist and paymaster of the Soviet murder organization SMERSH. The battle begins for the ace secret agent in a fifty-million-franc game of baccarat...gains momentum in his fiery love affair with a sensuous lady spy...and reaches a chilling climax with fiendish torture at the hands of a master sadist. The critics give a winning hand to Ian Fleming’s superlative thriller of espionage, adventure, intrigue and murder—CASINO ROYALE “Hums with tension...Author Fleming keeps his incidents and characters spinning through their paces like juggling balls.”—Time “A speed-breaker for thrills with a big dramatic scene set in a crowded casino.” Atlanta Journal Constitution “Excitement enough to intrigue the most hardened reader.”—Newark News “Mounting suspense on every page.”—Houston Chronicle “It’s superlative, everything such a story should be...One can only beg for more from Mr. Fleming.”—Pensacola News-Journal
This book gives an in-depth and invigorating analysis of reflexivity in recent British drama - the way drama comments on drama. The interplay of dramatic forms, the cross-fertilization of historical traditions are explored in relation to major contemporary authors and theatrical practices. When drama takes itself as its own object of study it paradoxically highlights the most vital issues of its time. Key questions are raised about the nature of theatricality in play-writing and performance in this the first full-length treatment of the subject.
The story of the music that accompanies the cinematic adventures of Ian Fleming's intrepid Agent 007 is one of surprising real-life drama. In The Music of James Bond, author Jon Burlingame throws open studio and courtroom doors alike to reveal the full and extraordinary history of the sounds of James Bond, spicing the story with a wealth of fascinating and previously undisclosed tales. Burlingame devotes a chapter to each Bond film, providing the backstory for the music (including a reader-friendly analysis of each score) from the last-minute creation of the now-famous "James Bond Theme" in Dr. No to John Barry's trend-setting early scores for such films as Goldfinger and Thunderball. We learn how synthesizers, disco and modern electronica techniques played a role in subsequent scores, and how composer David Arnold reinvented the Bond sound for the 1990s and beyond. The book brims with behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Burlingame examines the decades-long controversy over authorship of the Bond theme; how Frank Sinatra almost sang the title song for Moonraker; and how top artists like Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, Carly Simon, Duran Duran, Gladys Knight, Tina Turner, and Madonna turned Bond songs into chart-topping hits. The author shares the untold stories of how Eric Clapton played guitar for Licence to Kill but saw his work shelved, and how Amy Winehouse very nearly co-wrote and sang the theme for Quantum of Solace. New interviews with many Bond songwriters and composers, coupled with extensive research as well as fascinating and previously undiscovered details--temperamental artists, unexpected hits, and the convergence of great music and unforgettable imagery--make The Music of James Bond a must read for 007 buffs and all popular music fans. This paperback edition is brought up-to-date with a new chapter on Skyfall.
Everything on Treasuries, munis,bond funds, and more! The bond buyer’s answer book—updated for the new economy “As in the first two editions, this third edition of The Bond Book continues to be the idealreference for the individual investor. It has all the necessary details, well explained andillustrated without excessive mathematics. In addition to providing this essential content, itis extremely well written.” —James B. Cloonan, Chairman, American Association of Individual Investors “Annette Thau makes the bond market interesting, approachable, and clear. As much asinvestors will continue to depend on fixed-income securities during their retirement years,they’ll need an insightful guide that ensures they’re appropriately educated and served.The Bond Book does just that.” —Jeff Tjornejoh, Research Director, U.S. and Canada, Lipper, Thomson Reuters “Not only a practical and easy-to-understand guide for the novice, but also a comprehensivereference for professionals. Annette Thau provides the steps to climb to the top of the bondinvestment ladder. The Bond Book should be a permanent fixture in any investment library!” —Thomas J. Herzfeld, President, Thomas Herzfeld Advisors, Inc. “If the financial crisis of recent years has taught us anything, it’s buyer beware. Fact is, bondscan be just as risky as stocks. That’s why Annette Thau’s new edition of The Bond Book isessential reading for investors who want to know exactly what’s in their portfolios. It alsoserves as an excellent guide for those of us who are getting older and need to diversify intofixed income.” —Jean Gruss, Southwest Florida Editor, Gulf Coast Business Review, andformer Managing Editor, Kiplinger’s Retirement Report About the Book The financial crisis of 2008 causedmajor disruptions to every sector ofthe bond market and left even the savviestinvestors confused about the safety oftheir investments. To serve these investors andanyone looking to explore opportunities infixed-income investing, former bond analystAnnette Thau builds on the features and authoritythat made the first two editions bestsellersin the thoroughly revised, updated, andexpanded third edition of The Bond Book. This is a one-stop resource for both seasonedbond investors looking for the latest informationon the fixed-income market and equitiesinvestors planning to diversify their holdings.Writing in plain English, Thau presentscutting-edge strategies for making the bestbond-investing decisions, while explaininghow to assess risks and opportunities. She alsoincludes up-to-date listings of online resourceswith bond prices and other information.Look to this all-in-one guide for information onsuch critical topics as: Buying individual bonds or bond funds The ins and outs of open-end funds,closed-end funds, and exchangetradedfunds (ETFs) The new landscape for municipal bonds:the changed rating scales, the neardemise of bond insurance, andBuild America Bonds (BABs) The safest bond funds Junk bonds (and emerging market bonds) Buying Treasuries without payinga commission From how bonds work to how to buy and sellthem to what to expect from them, The BondBook, third edition, is a must-read for individualinvestors and financial advisers who wantto enhance the fixed-income allocation of theirportfolios.
An electrifying new study that investigates the challenges of the Bard’s inconsistencies and flaws, and focuses on revealing—not resolving—the ambiguities of the plays and their changing topicality A genius and prophet whose timeless works encapsulate the human condition like no other. A writer who surpassed his contemporaries in vision, originality, and literary mastery. A man who wrote like an angel, putting it all so much better than anyone else. Is this Shakespeare? Well, sort of. But it doesn’t tell us the whole truth. So much of what we say about Shakespeare is either not true, or just not relevant. In This Is Shakespeare, Emma Smith—an intellectually, theatrically, and ethically exciting writer—takes us into a world of politicking and copycatting, as we watch Shakespeare emulating the blockbusters of Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd (the Spielberg and Tarantino of their day), flirting with and skirting around the cutthroat issues of succession politics, religious upheaval, and technological change. Smith writes in strikingly modern ways about individual agency, privacy, politics, celebrity, and sex. Instead of offering the answers, the Shakespeare she reveals poses awkward questions, always inviting the reader to ponder ambiguities.
These were unique, complex, personal and professional relationships between master director John Ford and his two favorite actors, John Wayne and Ward Bond. The book provides a biography of each and a detailed exploration of Ford's work as it was intertwined with the lives and work of both Wayne and Bond (whose biography here is the first ever published). The book reveals fascinating accounts of ingenuity, creativity, toil, perseverance, bravery, debauchery, futility, abuse, masochism, mayhem, violence, warfare, open- and closed-mindedness, control and chaos, brilliance and stupidity, rationality and insanity, friendship and a testing of its limits, love and hate--all committed by a "half-genius, half-Irish" cinematic visionary and his two surrogate sons: Three Bad Men.