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Raymond Benson |
| 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 last 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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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.
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.
Benson 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. It was announced in December 2007 that an anthology of three of Benson's novels (High Time to Kill, Doubleshot, and Never Dream of Dying) and one short story (Blast from the Past) will be published in October 2008.
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.
Since authoring Bond novels, Benson has had a number of books published, including original suspense novels Face Blind (2003), Evil Hours (2004), Sweetie's Diamonds (2006), A Hard Day's Death (2008), as well as the non-fiction work The Pocket Essential Guide to Jethro Tull (Jethro Tull biography) (2002).
Benson is also known for writing the first two books based on the acclaimed computer and video game series, Splinter Cell, although both are credited to the pseudonym, David Michaels.
Though this pseudonym was used for future titles in the Splinter Cell series, Raymond Benson is not their author.
In December 2007, it was announced that Benson is writing novels based on the Metal Gear Solid videogame franchise under his own name.The Metal Gear Solid (novel) published on the 27th of May, 2008 in America.1
Raymond Benson continues to write a series of classic film reviews for the publication "Cinema Retro".
| Preceded by John Gardner 1981-1996 |
James Bond writer 1997-2002 |
Succeeded by Charlie Higson 2005 - present |
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