Raymond Benson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Raymond Benson | |
|---|---|
 Benson at MI WINE BOND PARTY in Milan, 14 December 2005 |
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| Born | September 6, 1955 Midland, Texas |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | American |
| Genres | Spy fiction, suspense thrillers, stage plays and musicals, computer and video game, film reviews biography |
| Spouse(s) | (-) |
Raymond Benson (born September 6, 1955) is an American author best known for being the official author of the adult James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. Benson was born in Midland, Texas and graduated from Permian High School in Odessa in 1973. In primary school Benson took an interest in the piano which would later in his life develop into an interest in composing music. Benson also took part in drama at school and became the vice president of his high school's drama department an interest that he would later pursue by directing stage productions. Other hobbies include films, writing, and designing computer games.
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[edit] James Bond works
In 1996, John Gardner resigned from writing Bond books. Glidrose Publications promptly chose Benson to replace him. As a James Bond novelist, Raymond Benson was initially controversial for being American, and for ignoring much of the continuity established by Gardner. Benson had previously written The James Bond Bedside Companion, a book dedicated to Ian Fleming, the official novels, and the films. The book was initially released in 1984 and later updated in 1988. It was nominated for an Edgar Award by Mystery Writers of America in the Best Biographical/Critical Work category. Benson also contributed to the creation of a module in the popular James Bond 007 role-playing game in the 1980s. In total, Benson wrote six James Bond novels, three novelizations, and three short stories. He was the first Bond author since Ian Fleming to write short stories, although Benson's stories are uncollected, unlike Fleming who had two anthology books published.
Glidrose changed its name to Ian Fleming Publications commencing with Benson's novel, High Time to Kill. Benson resigned from writing Bond books in 2003.
- "Blast from the Past" (short story, 1997)
- Zero Minus Ten (1997)
- Tomorrow Never Dies (novelization, 1997)
- The Facts of Death (1998)
- "Midsummer Night's Doom" (short story, 1999)
- "Live at Five" (short story, 1999)
- The World Is Not Enough (novelization, 1999)
- High Time to Kill (1999)
- Doubleshot (2000)
- Never Dream of Dying (2001)
- The Man with the Red Tattoo (2002)
- Die Another Day (novelization, 2002)
Benson's novel The Man with the Red Tattoo inspired the government of Japan's Kagawa Prefecture in 2005 to erect a permanent museum (the "007 Man with the Red Tattoo Museum", dedicated to the book) and honor Benson with the title of Goodwill Ambassador.
In 2008 High Time to Kill, Doubleshot, Never Dream of Dying and his 1997 short story "Blast from the Past" were grouped and released as an omnibus called The Union Trilogy.
[edit] Other works
Since authoring Bond novels, Benson has had a number of books published, including original suspense novels Face Blind (2003), Evil Hours (2004), and Sweetie's Diamonds (2006) as well as the non-fiction work The Pocket Essential Guide to Jethro Tull (Jethro Tull biography) (2002).
In 2004, Benson began writing the first of two books based on the acclaimed video game series, Splinter Cell, although both are credited to the pseudonym, David Michaels. Further titles in the Splinter Cell series have also been credited to David Michaels, but were not authored by Benson. The first book, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell was published in 2004 followed by Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda in 2005.
In 2008 Benson wrote A Hard Day's Death about a private investigator who looks into the death of a rock star. The book spawned a series with the second novel due out in 2009 called Dark Side of the Morgue.
Benson also wrote the novelization to the video game Metal Gear Solid in 2008[1] and will follow that up in 2009 with a novelization of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
Raymond Benson continues to write a series of classic film reviews for the publication "Cinema Retro".
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Raymond Benson's official myspace
- Raymond Benson's official website
- Raymond Benson announcing himself as writer of Splinter Cell
- CommanderBond.net Raymond Benson interview
- English website for the 007 Man With the Red Tattoo Museum
- [1] April 2007 interview with Raymond Benson at Paradigm, an art/literary journal published by Rain Farm Press. Located under "Fiction."
| Preceded by John Gardner 1981-1996 |
James Bond writer 1997-2002 |
Succeeded by Charlie Higson 2005 - present |
