Raymond Benson

• 1. Introduction

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  In January 1997, Playboy magazine published a James Bond short story by Raymond Benson, an American writer. It was the first original 007 short fiction since Ian Fleming had last written the character. That gap was decades long, and it signals the particular place Benson occupied in the franchise's history. How he came to hold that position, and what kind of career he built before and after, are the questions this documentary follows.

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• 2. Roots in Odessa

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  Permian High School in Odessa, Texas graduated Benson in 1973, and he left as vice president of the school's drama department. His interest in the piano had begun even earlier, in primary school. That musical inclination grew over time into composing original scores for theatrical productions. Benson earned his degree in Drama Production and Directing from the University of Texas at Austin. He then moved to New York City to direct stage productions professionally.

  His composing credits for theatre begin in 1972, with a production of On Borrowed Time. He scored plays by Bertolt Brecht and August Strindberg. In 1981 he composed for a production of Tennessee Williams's I Can't Imagine Tomorrow. In 1984 he set a stage adaptation of Charlotte's Web to music. In 1977, Benson produced a work called Clue, contributing both the book and the score. That project was an early sign of his feel for mystery material.

  By the mid-1980s, his parallel interest in James Bond was pulling him toward a very different kind of project.

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• 3. Bond Scholar

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  The James Bond Bedside Companion appeared in 1984, dedicated to Ian Fleming, to the official novels, and to the Bond films. Mystery Writers of America nominated it for an Edgar Award in the Best Biographical/Critical Work category. Benson updated the book in 1988. It has since been re-released in digital form.

  His game design work ran alongside the scholarship. In 1985, Benson served as designer and writer on James Bond 007: A View to a Kill for Mindscape. In 1986 he designed and wrote a Goldfinger game, also for Mindscape. That same year, he co-authored the You Only Live Twice II module for the James Bond 007 role-playing game.

  By 1992, Origin Systems was crediting Benson as story director, head writer, and composer of the "Love Theme" for Ultima VII: The Black Gate. He co-wrote Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle in 1993. Ultima: Runes of Virtue, also from 1993, lists him as co-composer of the score.

  When John Gardner resigned from the Bond books in 1996, Benson had spent more than a decade building credentials across Bond scholarship, game design, and major game franchises.

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• 4. The Bond Novelist

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  John Gardner's resignation from the Bond franchise in 1996 prompted Glidrose Publications to select Benson as his successor. The appointment was not warmly received in every quarter. Benson was American, making him the first non-British author in the role. He did not preserve the continuity Gardner had established. Some readers objected on both counts.

  Benson's response was practical. He undertook regular promotional tours in the UK and made occasional trips to mainland Europe. Signing sessions were held at the offices of his UK publisher Hodder & Stoughton, at the London bookseller Murder One, and at Bond specialist Adrian Harrington Ltd.

  His short story "Blast from the Past," a direct sequel to Fleming's You Only Live Twice, appeared in 1997. "Midsummer Night's Doom" was published in Playboy's January 1999 issue. "Live at Five" ran in the 13th of November 1999 issue of TV Guide. All three were later collected in anthologies published in 2008 and 2010.

  In total, Benson wrote six original Bond novels, three novelizations of Bond films, and those three short stories. He resigned from the role in 2003. During his tenure, Glidrose changed its name to Ian Fleming Publications, beginning with Benson's novel High Time to Kill. Before that decade ended, Benson would be named Goodwill Ambassador by the government of Japan's Kagawa Prefecture.

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• 5. A Museum in Kagawa

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  In 2005, the government of Japan's Kagawa Prefecture erected a museum dedicated to Benson's 2002 Bond novel The Man with the Red Tattoo. The museum's official name is the "007 Man with the Red Tattoo Museum." Kagawa officials also awarded him the title of Goodwill Ambassador.

  Benson had resigned from the Bond franchise in 2003, before the museum's 2005 opening. The Kagawa tribute came after his official run as Bond author had already ended.

  In 2004, his next major fiction project appeared under the name David Michaels rather than his own.

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• 6. Beyond Bond

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  In 2004, Benson began writing Splinter Cell fiction based on the Ubisoft game series, crediting both novels to the pseudonym David Michaels. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell appeared in 2004 and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda in 2005. Benson wrote only those two. Later David Michaels titles in the series were written by others.

  Face Blind appeared in 2003 and Evil Hours in 2004. Dark Side of the Morgue, published in 2009, earned a Shamus Award nomination for Best Paperback Original PI Novel from the Private Eye Writers of America. The Mad, Mad Murders of Marigold Way, from 2022, won an IPPY Gold Medal, first place tied, in the Mystery Category from the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

  Benson novelized Konami's Metal Gear Solid in 2008 and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty in 2009. Homefront: The Voice of Freedom, co-written with John Milius in 2011, served as a prequel to a THQ videogame. His 2012 novel Hitman: Damnation was a prequel to the Square Enix game Hitman: Absolution.

  The Black Stiletto, published in September 2011, launched a series of women's action and adventure novels. The second installment, The Black Stiletto: Black & White, appeared on the 30th of May 2012. Three more followed: Stars & Stripes in 2013, Secrets & Lies in early 2014, and Endings & Beginnings in November 2014. On the 14th of October 2015, it was announced that Mila Kunis would executive produce a television adaptation for ABC Studios.

  By 2025, Ian Fleming Publications would call on Benson again for a first-ever novel about a character who had stood alongside Bond for decades.

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• 7. Returning to Bond

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  In April 2014, Benson and former Bond author Jeffery Deaver co-edited Ice Cold: Tales of Intrigue from the Cold War. Mystery Writers of America sponsored the anthology. It was the first collaboration between two former Bond continuation authors acting as co-editors.

  On the 12th of August 2023, Ian Fleming Publications announced that Zero Minus Ten, Benson's 1997 debut Bond novel, would be reprinted in the UK alongside works by other continuation authors. On the 29th of January 2024, the publisher announced James Bond: The Raymond Benson Years, an e-book omnibus of all six of his original 007 novels.

  On the 26th of March 2025, Ian Fleming Publications announced The Hook and the Eye, written by Benson. It is the first novel ever devoted to Felix Leiter. Ian Fleming Publications describes Leiter as James Bond's American friend and ally. The book is set in Fleming's 1950s timeline. It is scheduled to appear first as a serial e-book, followed by a print edition in 2025.

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