The names Faulks, Sebastian Faulks

The rumours have been confirmed. Sebastian Faulks has written a James Bond novel - Devil May Care - to be published on 28 May next year to mark the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth.

Quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald:

Faulks said he was surprised but flattered to have been chosen.

Rereading Fleming's novels, he said: "I was surprised by how well the books stood up.

"I put this down to three things: the sense of jeopardy Fleming creates about his solitary hero; a certain playfulness in the narrative details; and a crisp, journalistic style that hasn't dated.

Faulks said his book's style was "about 80 per cent Fleming".

"I didn't go the final distance for fear of straying into pastiche, but I strictly observed his rules of chapter and sentence construction. My novel is meant to stand in the line of Fleming's own books, where the story is everything.

"I hope people will enjoy reading it and that Ian Fleming would consider it to be in the cavalier spirit of his own novels and therefore an acceptable addition to the line," he added.