John Gardner and Raymond Benson signing books together in 1984.
August 3, 2007
A new thriller will be published by Leisure Books in mass market paperback in the spring of 2008. A HARD DAY'S DEATH is the first "Spike Berenger Rock 'n' Roll Hit". It takes place in the nasty, dangerous world of rock 'n' roll and involves a private investigator who must solve the murder of a famous rock star. Told with tongue firmly in cheek, this humorous romp will especially appeal to readers who know their music. Real-life rock stars make cameo appearances throughout the story, and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull has already said this about the book: "Raymond Benson cuts a frantic dash through the world of Rock and Roll. Thrills-a-plenty and backstage passes to the magical mystery musical twilight zone..." Watch this space in the future for more information about A HARD DAY'S DEATH!
Attention Movie Fans! Beginning September 6 and continuing on the first Thursday of every month will be--live and in person--DANN & RAYMOND'S MOVIE CLUB! Dann Gire (film critic of Chicago suburban newspaper THE DAILY HERALD) and Raymond will present evenings of cinema history, trivia, and mayhem. The two will discuss varying topics throughout the year and provide film clips for illustration. DANN & RAYMOND'S MOVIE CLUB will take place at the Schaumburg Township District Library (Central Branch). The first "episode" is entitled: IN THE LIBRARY, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM--Part One "It's Alive!"--The Horror Genre Begins (The Silent Era and 1930s). See the Appearances page for more info.
In other news, Raymond will be playing piano at the bar in Palm Court Restaurant on most Monday and Tuesday nights, from 6pm to 10pm. See the Appearances page for more details and dates when he will not be playing.
July 6, 2007
Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, has named Raymond as the 2007 JOSEPH G. ASTMAN DISTINGUISHED CONFERENCE SCHOLAR for their Conference on "Bond, James Bond--the World of 007" to be held November 7 and 8, 2007 at the university. The award was established in 1985 in recognition of the outstanding role of the late founder of the Hofstra Cultural Center. Previous recipients of the award include such luminaries as E. L. Doctorow, Joyce Carol Oates, John Cage, Marilyn French, Lucine Amara, Tovah Feldshuh, Peter A. Quinn, Donald Spoto, Walter Isaacson, Peter Riddell, and many other scholars, historians, and artists. For more information on the Conference, watch this space as details emerge.
The first printing of the paperback edition of SWEETIE'S DIAMONDS sold out within a week of publication! So if your local bookseller is out and you're looking for a copy, Dorchester Publishing assures us that a second printing will be in the stores in the near future.
June 7, 2007
The mass market paperback edition of SWEETIE'S DIAMONDS (published by Leisure Books/Dorchester Publishing) is in the stores! Check out the Appearances page for book signings in the Chicagoland area.
Raymond talks about the book in an exclusive article appearing on the Dorchester Publishing Website.
April 10, 2007
There's another interview online at PARADIGM from Rain Farm Press. Raymond talks about Bond and his CASINO ROYALE stage play, Splinter Cell, and his other works. Go to Paradigm, click on FICTION and follow the link to Raymond Benson's interview.
March 2, 2007
Raymond gives a fairly detailed interview/webcast about his suspense novels, James Bond, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, the computer game industry, and his work regimen at Writers' Webcast. Go to the middle of the page, find the section called "Writers Webcast with Chris Angelos" and download the link dated February 28, which is the interview with Raymond and Robert Goldsborough. Bob is first, so his interview takes up about half the file. Then Raymond comes on. Enjoy!
February 22, 2007
The latest online edition of Kirkus Reviews features an article about the Top Ten Brands in Mystery and Thriller. Number One is JAMES BOND. Number Two is TOM CLANCY. It just so happens that Raymond is the only person in the world who has written for both top two brands! (Okay, so the list is presented alphabetically, but still...) See the article at Kirkus Reviews. (It's a PDF file so you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
February 10, 2007
SWEETIE'S DIAMONDS won the "Lovey" (Readers' Choice Award) for Best Thriller of 2006 at the Love is Murder Conference, held February 2-4, 2007, in Rosemont, Illinois!
Raymond's manager, Peter Miller of PMA Literary and Film Management Inc., has produced a motivational and educational film for authors and screenwriters around the world. Raymond is interviewed as one of PMA's successful clients. In it, Peter addresses the challenges of writing for non-fiction, fiction, and film, with supporting commentaries and tips from a number of authors. For more information and to view the film's trailer, visit the PMA website. You can also view the trailer at You Tube.
January 4, 2007
Raymond has posted a tribute to his beloved dog Spike. Please take a look here.
November 11, 2006
Raymond has been interviewed by Elaine Flinn for "ON THE BUBBLE," a regular feature on the terrific author blog site MURDERATI! The interview will be on the front page from November 11 through November 17 (scroll down the page to "ON THE BUBBLE"), and afterwards can be accessed through the Archives links.
October 15, 2006
Check out the trailer that Italian publishers Alacran Edizioni created for their new edition of EVIL HOURS (titled LE ORE DEL MALE in Italian): Italian Evil Hours Trailer.
There are new "Raymond Benson USERBARS" available on the Shop page, free to download!
September 22, 2006
Raymond has contributed to two new publications concerning his old friend 007.
From Wiley Books is THE SCIENCE OF JAMES BOND by Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg, an often-humorous exploration of what is possible and what is improbable in the technology in the James Bond films. Raymond penned the Introduction to the book.
JAMES BOND IN THE 21st CENTURY--WHY WE STILL NEED 007 (edited by Glenn Yeffeth with Leah Wilson) has been published by Benbella Books. This is a collection of essays by various authors that examine all aspects of the Bond character from a pop culture point of view. Raymond wrote the opening essay, "Can the Cinematic Bond Ever Be the Literary Bond?" Other authors include John Cox, J. A. Konrath, Andrea Carlo Cappi, Lee Pfeiffer, Ray Dempsey, Raelynn Hillhouse, and more.
You can order BOTH books here on raymondbenson.com... just go to the Shop for details.
Available the first week of October is THESE GUNS FOR HIRE, an anthology of "hit men" short stories, edited by J. A. Konrath, and published by Bleak House Books. Raymond wrote the story "Another Rock 'n' Roll Hit," which blends murder and... rock 'n' roll. Other authors appearing in the book are David Morrell, Lawrence Block, Max Allan Collins, J. A. Konrath, Robert W. Walker, Jay Bonansinga, Libby Fischer Hellmann, M. J. Rose, Michael A. Black, Julie A. Hyzy, David Ellis, Marcus Sakey, Jeff Abbott, William Kent Krueger, and more! See the Shop to order. And check out the official These Guns For Hire Website for some laughs!
July 13, 2006
SWEETIE'S DIAMONDS will appear in mass market paperback from Leisure Books in June 2007. Over in Italy, EVIL HOURS will be re-published (in Italian) by Alacran Edizioni in September, with SWEETIE'S DIAMONDS appearing there a year later.
May 19, 2006
Amazon Shorts strikes again! This new Amazon.com feature has published one of Raymond's long forgotten short stories... this time something completely different. "Time" is the key word, too, because it's a time travel story.
THE PLAGIARIST is about a writer in the future who travels back in time so that he can write the big best-sellers before the real writers do. It's certainly for fans of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, as it was originally conceived to be a half-hour teleplay for the 1980s edition of that television series. Amazon Shorts offers digital short stories for only 49 cents! Yep, only 49 cents. What a steal! Check out the Shop for details.
Raymond has been appointed to be an official Ambassador to Kagawa Prefecture in Japan! Locations in Kagawa Prefecture (namely Naoshima Island) figured in Raymond's final James Bond novel THE MAN WITH THE RED TATTOO and the Kagawa Prefectural government recently erected the permanent 007 MAN WITH THE RED TATTOO MUSEUM on the island (see News entry dated June 14, 2005 below). Raymond urges you to check out the various links regarding Kagawa Prefecture on the Links page for more information about this beautiful and wonderful area of Japan!
The fifth issue of CINEMA RETRO is out now! In this, the best issue yet, Raymond interviews Hugh Hefner about Playboy's film productions of the 1970s (i.e., MACBETH, MONTY PYTHON'S AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, and more), and also brings you his regular "Top Ten of the Year" article. See subscription details at the Cinema Retro Website!
March 25, 2006
Raymond's thriller short story THUMBS DOWN is now available as an Amazon Short! This is a new program from Amazon.com in which short stories can be purchased and downloaded to your computer for only 49 CENTS! Yes, that's right, only 49 cents. This story was originally written in 1986 while Raymond was still working in the off-off and off-Broadway theatre scene. Find out what happens when a disgruntled playwright decides to seek revenge against the theatre critic who panned his play.
Check out the Shop for details.
February 6, 2006
Raymond's brand new suspense thriller SWEETIE'S DIAMONDS is now available from Five Star/Thomson Gale publishers! Check out the Shop for details. (There's also a nice review for the book, linked from the Reviews page.)
In other news, Raymond's book TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL--OPERATION BARRACUDA (writing as "David Michaels") reached number nine on the NY TIMES mass market paperback best-seller list. NOTE: Raymond is now finished with SPLINTER CELL--the next book in the series will be written by a DIFFERENT "David Michaels"! Having written the first two books in the series, Raymond is now concentrating on other exciting projects, so watch this space for future news.
December 23, 2005
Raymond
spent nearly three weeks in Italy promoting the
re-issue of his first 007 novel, ZERO MINUS TEN
(called CONTO ALLA ROVESCIA in Italian), and first
time publication of his original suspense novel
FACE BLIND (called PRIMA DEL BUIO in Italian). His
new Italian publishers, Alacran Edizioni, plan to
re-issue all of Raymond's James Bond novels over
the next three years in deluxe trade paperback editions,
as well as publish the author's stand-alone suspense
thrillers. Alacran sponsored Raymond's visits to
Naples, Rome, Florence, Bologne, and Milan, where
he signed books for both Bond fans and noir thriller
fans. One of the highlights was the signing at Mondedori
bookshop in Milan, where he was interviewed on stage
by "Elio," the so-called "Frank Zappa
of Italy," a popular rock star, front man,
and vocalist from the band Elio e le Storie Tese.
Raymond also spent a week serving on the jury of
the Courmayeur Noir in Festival, an international
film festival specializing in noir, suspense, thriller,
and crime pictures. Other members of the jury included
American actor Val Kilmer, American thriller writer
Jeffery Deaver, Czech/Italian actress Barbora Bobulova,
and Swiss film producer Tiziana Soudani. The jury
picked the Danish picture ADAM'S APPLES as Best
Film. While at the festival, Raymond and his publishers
presented the Alacran books at a special press conference
held for journalists from all over the globe.
"I feel like Jerry Lewis and the France thing,"
Raymond says. "Italy really made me feel welcome."
Click
here
for photos.
September 30,
2005
Finally! Music downloads are
here! Go to the Music
Composer Page and follow the link to the new page. Or
you can go directly to the page from here!
Every month a new set of songs will be
available.
July 27,
2005
THE
"007 THE MAN WITH THE RED TATTOO MUSEUM" opened in Japan on
July 24! Raymond and his wife attended the opening. For an
account written by Raymond, accompanied by photos, click here
(CommanderBond.net)!
June 14,
2005
Japan
has erected a museum honoring Raymond's Bond novel THE MAN
WITH THE RED TATTOO! It will open July 24, 2005. Here's the
official press release--
JAPAN
HONORS AMERICAN “007” AUTHOR WITH MUSEUM
The
government of Kagawa Prefecture in Japan has honored author
Raymond Benson with a museum dedicated to one of his James
Bond 007 novels. Between 1996 and 2002, Benson, a resident
of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, was the third writer officially
commissioned by the Estate of Ian Fleming, the original
creator of James Bond, to pen 007 continuation novels.
During his tenure, Benson wrote and published six original
007 novels, three film “novelization tie-ins,” and three
short stories. His sixth original novel, The Man With the
Red Tattoo (published in 2002 in the U.S. by Penguin/Putnam
and in the U.K. by Hodder & Stoughton), was set in
Japan. A major part of the story takes place on Naoshima
Island in Kagawa Prefecture.
Since
the novel’s publication, Kagawa Prefecture, Naoshima Town,
and a number of other organizations have been working
together to promote the cinematic adaptation and filming of
the novel in a move to revitalize Naoshima and the wider
Seto Inland Sea region. Their efforts have been receiving a
great deal of attention in the Japanese media, leading to
the construction of a facility which could be used to
introduce the locations on the island.
The
“007 The Man With the Red Tattoo Museum” aims to present
Naoshima as a Bond location on a national scale, introduce
visitors to the story of The Man With the Red Tattoo and
other James Bond 007 novels, feature information on Benson
and the other successive authors who have contributed to the
legacy of 007, and exhibit material and memorabilia related
to the novels and films.
Designed by
Hidemi Inoue of Inoue Commercial Space Planning, The 007 The
Man With the Red Tattoo Museum will open on July 24, 2005.
It is located at 2310 Miyanoura, Naoshima (one minute from
Myanoura Bay). For more information, contact the
International Affairs Division, Kagawa Prefectural
Government, Tel: 087-832-3026, Fax 087-837-4289.
Watch
this space for further news about Raymond's activities, and
thanks for your interest!
