Raymond Benson

Raymond Benson (born 1955) is an American writer known for his James Bond novels published between 1997 and 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, mostly for theatrical productions.

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 in New York City after attending and receiving a degree in Drama Production—Directing from the University of Texas at Austin.

In 1984, Benson wrote The James Bond Bedside Companion, a book dedicated to Ian Fleming, the official novels, and the films.

In 1985, he worked as a designer and writer on the computer game James Bond 007: A View to a Kill.

He followed this in 1986 with work on a computer game version of Goldfinger and co-authoring the You Only Live Twice II module of the popular role-playing game James Bond 007.

The book was updated in 1988 and has since been re-released digitally without further updating.

It was nominated for an Edgar Award by Mystery Writers of America in the Best Biographical/Critical Work category.

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.

The author did much to placate these concerns, however, and promptly embarked on regular tours to promote his novels in the UK, as well as occasional trips to mainland Europe.

Several signing sessions were held at the offices of his UK publisher Hodder & Stoughton, and at London booksellers Murder One and James Bond specialists Adrian Harrington Ltd. In total, Benson wrote six James Bond novels, three novelizations, and three short stories.

Benson resigned from writing Bond books in 2003.

Since authoring Bond novels, Benson has had a number of books published, including original suspense novels Face Blind (2003), Evil Hours (2004), the Shamus Award-nominated Dark Side of the Morgue (2009), The Secrets on Chicory Lane (2017), and The Mad, Mad Murders of Marigold Way (2022), as well as the non-fiction work The Pocket Essential Guide to Jethro Tull (Jethro Tull biography) (2002).

Benson was awarded the IPPY Gold (1st Place, tied) Medal in the Mystery Category from the Independent Publisher Book Awards for The Mad, Mad Murders of Marigold Way.

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.

Benson's novel The Man with the Red Tattoo inspired the government of Japan's Kagawa Prefecture in 2005 to erect a museum (the "007 Man with the Red Tattoo Museum", dedicated to the book) and honor Benson with the title of Goodwill Ambassador.

He was the first Bond author since Ian Fleming to write short stories (published in Playboy and TV Guide magazines and collected in anthologies published in 2008 and 2010).

Glidrose changed its name to Ian Fleming Publications commencing with Benson's novel, High Time to Kill.

In 2008 High Time to Kill, Doubleshot, Never Dream of Dying and an extended version of his 1997 short story "Blast from the Past" (a sequel to Fleming's novel, You Only Live Twice) were grouped and released as an omnibus called The Union Trilogy: Three 007 Novels.

In 2008, Benson wrote A Hard Day's Death about a private investigator who looks into the death of a rock star.

Benson also wrote the novelization of the video game Metal Gear Solid in 2008 and followed it in 2009 with a novelization of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

The book spawned a second novel in 2009 called Dark Side of the Morgue, which was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best Paperback Original PI Novel by the Private Eye Writers of America.

A second anthology entitled Choice of Weapons was published in 2010 and contained Zero Minus Ten, The Facts of Death, The Man with the Red Tattoo, and the short stories "Midsummer Night's Doom" and "Live at Five".

His entry in the Gabriel Hunt pulp adventure series, Hunt Through Napoleon's Web, appeared as an e-book in 2010 and was published in print in 2011.

The two novels plus a short story, "On the Threshold of a Death", were collected in 2011 as an e-book anthology, The Rock 'n' Roll Detective's Greatest Hits.

Further video game novelizations continued in 2011, when Benson co-authored Homefront--the Voice of Freedom with John Milius, as a prequel to the THQ videogame Homefront.

Benson's first novel in a series of "women's action/adventure thrillers," The Black Stiletto, was published in September 2011.

In anticipation of the book's publication, Benson released a free downloadable e-book short story, "The Black Stiletto's Autograph".

2012 saw the announcement that Benson would also write Hitman: Damnation, a prequel to the Square Enix videogame Hitman: Absolution.

The second book in the series, The Black Stiletto: Black & White, was published on May 30, 2012.

The Black Stiletto: Stars & Stripes, was published in 2013, and The Black Stiletto: Secrets & Lies was published in early 2014.

In April 2014, Benson and former Bond author Jeffery Deaver collaborated—the first such collaboration between former Bond continuation authors—as co-editors of Ice Cold--Tales of Intrigue from the Cold War, an anthology sponsored by Mystery Writers of America containing short stories about the Cold War.

On August 12, 2023, Ian Fleming Publications announced that Benson's first novel, Zero Minus Ten, would be reprinted in the U.K. along with other continuation authors' works.

Subsequently, on January 29, 2024, Ian Fleming Publications announced the publication of an e-book omnibus, James Bond: The Raymond Benson Years, containing his six original 007 novels.

The fifth and final book of the saga, The Black Stiletto: Endings & Beginnings, was published in November 2014.