The book publicity stuff is starting early…

Six months of work, and suddenly it’s all over.

Six months of reading every James Bond story Ian Fleming wrote, watching every Bond screen appearance, reading well over a hundred Bond comics stories, tracking down and interviewing creators, and collecting art from the USA, UK, Sweden, Denmark, Chile, India, Turkey and a few other places.

Six months of constant research and writing.

And tonight it all came to a stop.

Less than an hour ago I mailed off a package of six CDs to the team at Hermes Press. On those CDs are the text manuscript (about 185 pages in total) and 160 art files, plus accompanying spreadsheet matching image file names to captions. – Phew!!

2 days before deadline too.

JAMES BOND: A history of the illustrated 007, is now out of my hands and will soon be passed into the care of the book designers.

I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

Before heading off to work this morning I finished off MAD, Cracked and Silly Bonds, the last section to be written for JAMES BOND: A History of the Illustrated 007.

So the first "Rough Draft" of the book is now complete and came in at 69,898 words – not too far off my initial "gut feel" estimate to the publisher of 70,000.

This evening I’m taking some time off to hit the gym, and take my ever patient, and supportive, wife out to dinner.

Tomorrow I start the real work of starting at Page One and working my way through revising and rewriting as I go. The aim is to spend the next two weeks revising and have it ready by May 31st for editorial review.

Eating breakfast at my hotel in Vancouver this morning when I see tucked away at the bottom of page 6 of this morning’s Globe & Mail (which is, according to it’s masthead, Canada’s National Newspaper) a piece headlined

DND mulls over Iron Man-like uniform for troops.

It then goes on to talk in detail about exoskeleton suits and possible future use by the Canadian Defence Department.

"Alpha Flight" anyone…?!!

According to an email from our editor at Tokyopop it seems that the artist we had lined for GOD SHOP, has, to quote the editor, "gone MIA."

But he already has a potential replacement lined up and sent me some sample art last night to take a look at. Man I was impressed. The prospective new artist is one of the recent "Rising Stars of Manga" finalists, and from the samples I looked at has a strong grasp of story telling as well as the ability to mix real world and fantasy settings.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we can get him signed up.

I’ve been merrily plodding along researching and writing my upcoming book on James Bond’s various comics book adventures, when this week the publisher decides to announce it to the world. Solicitation copy, front cover design and a listing on Amazon.

Oh, and he pulled the publication date forward two months — that deadline that seemed comfortably off in the future – it’s now looming very large and seems to be approaching fast!

Anyway here’s some of the official blurb…

JAMES BOND: The History of the Illustrated 007

From the Publishers PR –

Now for the first time, the complete history of the illustrated James Bond is chronicled by pop culture historian Alan J. Porter in James Bond: The History Of The Illustrated 007. Porter’s new book examines James Bond’s adventures in newspaper strips and comic books. Before Bond became world famous with his movie series, the character was the subject of successful English newspaper strips and later in comic books. With the explosion of Bond on the screen the character and his exploits become even more popular in comic strip and comic book versions all over the world. James Bond: The History Of The Illustrated 007 examines it all, and covers Bond’s newspaper strip and comic book appearances from the 1950s to the present. The release of this all-new history is timed to coincide with James Bond’s newest movie appearance and is sure to be a must for all Bond fans. The cover of the book presents a never-before-seen painting by noted artist Bob Peak who made a significant contribution to the Bond canon’s movie poster art.

JAMES BOND: The History of the Illustrated 007 will be published by Hermes Press and be available on September 15th, 2008.

It is already available for pre-order on Amazon.com

You can keep up with my on going research on my LiveJournal blog.

Although I’ve already seen copies on the shelves at a couple of local Barnes & Noble stores, today is the official on-sale date for BATMAN UNAUTHORIZED: Vigilantes, Jokers, and Heroes in Gotham City which contains my essay on The Dubious Origins of Batman: Who Did What, and Does It Matter?.

I’ll be celebrating by hopefully signing a few copies at STAPLE! today where I’ll be manning the Austin Comics Creators Group table.

Nothing quite beats arriving home and finding a box of freshly printed books waiting for you on the doorstep. Especially when said book contains some of your own work between its pristine covers.

The latest arrival was a shipment from the good folks at BenBella Books containing several advance copies of Batman Unauthorized, which includes my essay "The Dubious Origins of Batman – Who Did What, and Does it Really Matter?"

The book looks great and will be available in bookstores on March 1st.

BACK ISSUE magazine #26, (the "Spies and Tough Guys" issue) from the fine folks at Twomorrows includes my 3,000 word article on the history of James Bond in Comics.

Priced at a reasonable $6.95 for 100 pages of informative articles and great art, it’s well worth checking out.

If you can’t find a copy in your local store you can order it online here, or even order the PDF version at the reduced price of just $2.95

At the Dark Forces Group get together the other night Rick Klaw casually mentions that in his role as Rare Books maven for Half-Price Books he has obtained a first US edition of Thunderball in excellent condition. Oh that man knows how to tease….

So at lunch time yesterday I casually stroll in to Rick’s sanctum at the back of the store and decide to purchase said tome as scribed by the late Mr. Ian Fleming. Of course I can’t go in that store without looking around, a few minutes later I have paperback editions of For Your Eyes Only and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in my hand, featuring covers that are not yet part of my Fleming collection. (Yes I’m that sad – I collect multiple copies of the same Bond books just to get different cover art.)

As I drift over to the music section the strangest thing happens. An ethereal voice floats around the store requesting that "If Alan Porter is still in the store can he return to the Rare Books room." – Now that was a first – I’ve never been paged in a book store before.

In the stack of books he was sorting Rick has uncovered Gilt Edged Bonds, a 1961 hardback collection of three Bond novels with an introduction by Paul Gallico. An edition I wasn’t even aware existed until that moment.

And of course I couldn’t miss the chance to stock up on research material for my novel set in Elizabethan England.
Added to the stack of Bond books were: Food & Feast in Tudor England, Francis Bacon – The Temper of A Man, All The Queen’s Men, and Elizabethan London.

That devilish Klaw lured me into his book store knowing that they are evil places designed to part me from my money and give me back strain..