More Spy-Fi

Okay, so I'm clearly in one of my spy-fi moods. I just purchased Into The Volcano, by Forrest DeVoe, Jr. (a pen name of Hard Case Crime co-founder Max Phillips), a Sixties spy adventure patterned after the escapist espionage flicks of the era. The book's been out for a couple of years, but I hadn't gotten around to picking it up until I saw it offered by an Amazon marketplace dealer for one cent (plus postage). I've only just started reading it, but so far, it's pretty good.

I also recently picked up 20th century fox's Ultimate Flint Collection, which re-packages the two Derek Flint movies – Our Man Flint and In Like Flint – which had been previously released as bare-bones discs, with a third disc loaded with new bonus features, including the 1975 TV movie, Our Man Flint: Dead on Target, with Ray Danton.

Oh, it's just awful.

Still, the completist in me is glad to have it, and the two features now have new commentary tracks by the editors of Cinema Retro, so the set's a pretty decent deal and worth the double-dip.

Finally, I only just got a look at the cover for the forthcoming U.S. edition of the new Young Bond novel by Charlie Higson, Double or Die. It's friggin' gorgeous. I can't wait to read the book.

Yep it's going to be a big year for Bond books, between this, the Sebastian Faulks novel, and the domestic release – finally – of the first volume of The Moneypenny Diaries... never mind all the stuff that will be released to tie-in the Fleming Centenary and with Quantum of Solace in the fall...

Hell, it's looking to be the biggest Bond year since Octopussy and Never Say Never Again both hit theaters in '83.