200 000 page views for The secret agent blog.

I am so happy that I can almost explode.

My little blog about the literary James Bond that I created in October 2015 has now surpassed 200 000 page views. And it is the readers that keep coming back that makes it all worth wile.

The blog exists on many platforms:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Pinterest
Reddit

Companies have started to contact me for a collaboration instead of me having to hunt them down on my spare time (with no answer) since as you can imagine this blog is only a hobby.

I actually received a very interesting email from The Folio Society regarding next week saying that I should be ready for some news coming from them. A dream would be to be first out in presenting what ever they have in store but maybe they or Ian Fleming Publications wish to be first out. Whatever happens you can be sure that something very interesting will be relived next week.

So keep coming back to the blog and do follow it on Facebook to make sure you do not miss out on any news regarding the literary James Bond.

PS. A big warm thank you to my friend, the journalist Morten Steingrimsen from Norway who said to believe that I could start a blog on my own. And also to all the readers who have helped me when having questions down the road. 

Lets keep Bonding!

New blog header by artist Rapha Lobosco

The very talented Rapha Lobosco who is the artist behind the current James Bond comic series by Dynamite Entertainment titled BLACK BOX has kindly donated one of his cover drawings to this blog. 

Rapha Lobosco is collaborating with writer Benjamin Percy in creating the new story called BLACK BOX and issue one has already been released and issue two will be out later this month (read April 2017). 

I have been in contact with Rapha Lobosco begging him to follow in the footsteps of other artists who has drawn a header for my blog. Rapha is off course very busy working on Black Box but did not want to disappoint the fans so he sent the cover he did for the first issue of their Bond story. 

I then had to modify the drawing a bit to fit the header space for the blog to make it look more appropriate. As you can see I have moved Bond somewhat in the drawing. 

It is really nice that many of the famous James Bond artists have participated in my wish to make them come up with their own ideas for a blog header. 

Let's wait and see who will be the next artist to put their golden touch on this blog. 

Below is the blog header and the cover for the first Black Box issue it originated from. 

You can buy Black Box issue one on Amazon US here

I am amazed by you kind support!

The James Bond - The secret agent blog has now past the mile stone of 100 000 pageviews.

This is so amazing and nothing that I would have dare to dream of when I started the blog.

This blog is not an ordinary James Bond blog since I concentrate on the novels and books about the films. This blog's purpose is only to write about what can be read about the world of James Bond.

I therefore wish to say thank you so much for your kind support. It took the blog 14 months and about 110 blog posts to reach this far.

I would like to take this opportunity to mention how you can make sure not to miss any blog posts using Facebook.

First of all you need to follow the blog on Facebook just like 767 other people. The link can be found here.

Then you just have to visit the Facebook page and choose FOLLOW and ALWAYS ON TOP.
By doing so our Facebook content will always start on top when we have posted anything. But dont be alarmed it will only happen once for each post and the blog only promotes new content on the blog or occasional great opportunities on Ebay that we promote when we see them (at no economical benefit for me).

I do the above to follow my friend John Cox over at The Book Bond and it works great so try it you to and make sure not to miss out.

You can also follow the blog on Instagram were you can see photos of my book collection. 

The sly pornographic British magazine MAXIM copies blog news

Yet another British magazine has copied the blogs news about the upcoming James Bond book by author Anthony Horowitz coming in October 2018.

Last week I wrote about the fact that British tabloid Daily Express wrote about the blog's scoop in an on line article.

Now the sly pornographic magazine MAXIM does the same without mentioning either the Daily Express or my blog. But they do have a screen dump with my face on there site taken from my twitter account.

As before there is no link to this blog what so ever. The article has been shared 2 400 times according to their website. That is a sad miss on spreading this blog.

MAXIM uses the head line "THE NEXT JAMES BOND SAGA IS COMING IN 2018" as click bait for their article making all fans assume the article is about the next James Bond film. Especially since they use a picture of Daniel Craig for there article.

You can read there article here!

If I were to contact Maxim about the matter I am sure they would say that they only took the news from Twitter and never thought I had a reason for asking my question to Horowitz.

I did contact DAILY EXPRESS on the phone about it and when I asked them to at least ad a link to the blog they replied "Are you for real?"

So far the scoop has showed up at:

Daily Express
Maxim
Digital SpySensacine (spain)

Lets see if the news pops up elsewhere... Please let me know if you see it somewhere!

Exclusive: Ian Fleming drawing by Jeffrey Marshall given to the blog

I have always been a fan of artist Jeffrey Marshall's James Bond drawings.
I am sure you have seen them on the internet or maybe even on the James Bond toys sold by Spy Guise many years ago.

Jeffrey has a great ability to make his drawings look glossy and three dimensional.

I therefore contacted him a few days back, suggesting that he would draw the new header for this blog. I was very happy when I received a prompt reply that Jeffrey sometimes visits the blog and that he would be happy to make such a drawing. And boy was he fast.

I suggested that he should use the below photo as inspiration for his drawing. I myself like that photo of Ian Fleming a lot. He looks a lot just like he writes, both indifferent and troubled at the same time.

I asked Jeffrey how he makes his drawings and his answer was:

I work in traditional pencil work and digital renderings combining both at some point. With all of the digital advancements, I have been  utilizing digital platforms more and more.

Feeling so happy about this collaboration James Bond - The Secret Agent and artist Jeffrey Marshall can now offer this drawing for sale as a print made by Jeffrey. All profits from this sale will then be donated to Wounded Warriors (a charity of Jeffreys suggestion). If you wish to order a print you can contact either the blog or Jeffrey on these links.

Drawing by Jeffrey Marshall

Photo of Ian Fleming 

Another James Bond connected drawing by Jeffrey Marshall

Happy Birthday James Bond, The secret agent

This very blog has just turned one year a few days back.
The blog was born on Friday October 9, 2015 with this little blog post. The title of the blog THE SECRET AGENT comes from the first chapter of the first book with the same title. 

Since that day, thanks to the support of most of you, the blog has been getting bigger and better each month and has now reached an amazing 78 000 page views during the first year with a current monthly average of  7 168 viewers a month.

The blogs focus has not only been on news but also on old books and material. Also on the development of making my own James Bond literature collection grow. I believe I have bought over one hundred books since this blog adventure started but not had the time to write about them all yet.

Even if this blog focus on the books (both film and novels) about James Bond I sometimes step outside that formula and write about something else. And the funny thing is that when I did just that, it became the most read blog post of the entire year. The post I am talking about is this one about Blanche Ravalec

In the early start of the first year I got into trouble with one of the authors of massive James Bond book about the films called Some Kind of Hero after writing this blog post but I was later honest about it in this post trying to show you the treats I received.

I have received some criticism for some of the posts most of them being "like I did not already know this". That will continue to happen because we all know different stuff and one of my main goals with this blog is to get none hardcore Bond fans to get curious into the books and feel the need to read especially if you are a teenager and not reading books at all.
But I have received a lot of support as well and I am really thankful for it. Some say that I am personal in the way that I write and that I write it as I see it and that is 100% true. I am a bad liar and have great faith in the truth. If I write that I enjoy something it is because I do. Not because it was sent to me for free. 

One of the true enjoyments when writing this blog is that I have connected to other collectors of Bond novelty. We are not many but a few who collect most of the books. I have learned a lot from others during this year and I am truly grateful for it. Bond knowledge is so fun to share.

So as I see it my task is to make you guys and girls want to read the books. And if you have not done this yet I hope to soon be able to persuade you into doing so and to start with Casino Royale.

I have many ideas for writing upcoming posts. Actually so many so that only half of them gets done. We need to contact the winners of the Trigger Mortis paperback, I need to publish my interview with George Lazenby, we need to read more about the James Bond comics coming up and and we have a new Bond novel from Anthony Horowitz and much much more to come.

The dream for my blog during the upcoming year is to make publishers more interested in working together with the blog when wanting to promote new books that we all will be interested in and start answering my emails instead of ignoring them. 

Hope you are visiting the blog soon again. I am hoping to deliver at least two posts a week. 

Ps. Please remember that English is not my native tongue. I live in Sweden and therefore the will be type errors and poor sentences within my text. Bare with me on this. Also. I have not yet earned a single $ or £ on this blog so please do not believe this is the purpose for the blog. As of today I feel it is more hassle then benefit of having third party advertising on the blog.

Here is to another great book year for James Bond, The Secret Agent.

Stephan Bäckman

Blog post number 100 in less then 10 months with over 35 000 pageviews

Who would have thought that today the blog celebrates its one hundred blog post.

Ten month ago I decided to start a blog about the literary James Bond that so often feels to be forgotten. The blog was an attempt to get James Bond fans to explore the books written by Ian Fleming. You would be amazed at how many fans out there have never ever actually read the books.

I myself read them a log time ago in Swedish and am now re-reading them in English for the first time. and it is a blast.

During these ten months the blog has been a great success according to me with over 35 000 page views. I have received much praise but also critic for my spelling and grammar and that's fine. I have always had a difficulty in spelling and English in not my main language so please bare that in mind when reading a blog post.

The blog is also on Instagram showing pictures of books with great artworks or pictures of things associated with the literary world of James Bond. The Instagram account can be found here.

I myself is also on Twitter were I try to spread links to articles I read about James Bond. So if you have a link or wish to read others work about James Bond come join me here!

The same goes with Pinterest where I collect pictures from the blog and also pictures of books and others that are connected to the literary world of James Bond. See the pictures here!

The Blog also have a small You tube channel with more to come. You can follow it here!

And last but not least the blogs Facebook page have now past over 500 followers which is amazing in my world. Make sure not to miss any post by joining the page here.

Just for the fun of it I created the below picture to mess with the fans who have yet to read an Ian Fleming novel. All fans should try him out. Please share the picture if you wish to.

Thanks for your kind support to this blog. I am enjoying every minute of running it and read your comments on it.

Here is a world exclusive for you!

I am very proud to share whit you the blogs first world exclusive.

To celebrate that this blog JAMES BOND - THE SECRET AGENT has passed 20 000 page views in just six months and that our Facebook page very soon will pass 400 followers (just two to go). I have been in contact with the very talented Jason Masters to draw an exclusive painting of James Bond to be used as a header for this blog.

I have been waiting for his drawing for a few days when it showed up in my inbox today. And boy was I satisfied.

JASON MASTERS began his career in commercial advertising and went on to work as a professional comic book artist for DC, Marvel, and Dynamite Comics.
Masters got his big break in comics when he met Ethan van Sciver, a prominent artist for DC Comics, at a book signing in Johannesburg a few years ago. Van Sciver passed on his portfolio to his editor at DC, who a few months later, contacted him about working for DC Comics as an artist.
Masters' early work includes Human Target and Red, a comic series penned by Warren Ellis, for Wildstorm Studios, an imprint of DC. He went on to work on various Batman titles, including Legends of the Dark Knight, Batman Incorporated, Batwoman, and Nightwing. For Marvel he worked on Guardians of the Galaxy, Wolverine, and X-Men. His biggest gig arrived in 2015, when he was handpicked by comics legend, Warrren Ellis, to handle the artwork as ongoing series artist on Dynamite's high-profile relaunch of the James Bond comic book, the first all new 007 comic series in over 20 years.
The series, under the helm of Ellis and Masters, has received popular and critical acclaim and is currently one of Dynamite Comics bestselling new series. Jason Masters lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

See the full drawing he painted fort the blog below.

And if you are a fan of Jason Masters work like I am you can follow him on Twitter here