In 1957, as the Cold War raged, Ian Fleming took a respite from writing James Bond to craft a work of nonfiction every bit as tense as a Bond adventure. Aided by an ex-MI5 agent and International Diamond Security Organization operative going by the alias “John Blaize,” Fleming chronicled the IDSO’s infiltration of the “million-carat network”―the world’s most notorious diamond smuggling ring.

In the Australian desert, a nuclear bomb explodes. There are no survivors and no clues about who has made it or detonated it. In England, two police officers are shot dead when they apprehend a cargo vessel in Portsmouth dock. Vast quantities of heroin are later found on board.

Shadows of the Empire illuminates the shadowy outlines of a criminal conspiracy that exists in the background of the events in the movies, ruled by a character new to us. Prince Xizor is a mastermind of evil who dares to oppose one of the best-known fictional villains of all time: Darth Vader. The story involves all the featured Star Wars movie characters, plus Emperor Palpatine and, of course, Lord Vader himself.

Ian Fleming’s world travels and interests, as well as his journalism and wartime experiences, lent authority to everything he wrote. In 1959, the Sunday Times commissioned Fleming to write a series of dispatches from the world’s most beguiling locales. The result was Thrilling Cities, a masterpiece of well-observed travelogue that stands ably alongside the author’s Bond canon. From Hong Kong to Honolulu, New York to Naples, he left the bright main streets for the back alleys, abandoning tourist sites in favor of underground haunts, and mingling with celebrities, gangsters and geishas.

It was a strong face, certainly—the eyes pale grey and very cold, the mouth was hard, the dark hair-grey-streaked now—still fell in the authentic comma over the forehead. This is how John Pearson reacted to his first encounter with the real James Bond, an encounter probably unique in the annals of thriller writing. He went on to write the bestselling authorized biography of Ian Fleming. At the time, like most of the world he assumed that James Bond was nothing more than a character in Fleming's highly charged imagination.

Creado en 1953 por Ian Fleming, James Bond es uno de los personajes más famosos de la iconografía popular en todos sus medios, especialmente en literatura y en cine. Máximo exponente de un género más vital que nunca, el agente 007 es el espía por antonomasia, aunque sus novelas, inexplicablemente, han resultado durante mucho tiempo imposibles de encontrar en el mercado español.

The Original James Bond Collection, Vol 1 has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

Fire top-spaendende fortaellinger om agent 007 i Hendes Majestaets hemmelige tjeneste - James Bond. Fra Jamaica til Berlin, fra London til New York. Behovet for James Bonds assistance er verdensomspaendende. Bond tager endnu en gang kampen op med alt fra kriminelle gangstere til russiske agenter - og kampen står ofte mellem liv og død.

The Original James Bond Collection, Vol 2 has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

It was a strong face, certainly—the eyes pale grey and very cold, the mouth was hard, the dark hair-grey-streaked now—still fell in the authentic comma over the forehead. This is how John Pearson reacted to his first encounter with the real James Bond, an encounter probably unique in the annals of thriller writing. He went on to write the bestselling authorized biography of Ian Fleming. At the time, like most of the world he assumed that James Bond was nothing more than a character in Fleming's highly charged imagination.