Colonel Sun was the first James Bond novel published after the death, in 1964, of the character's creator, Ian Fleming. Published in 1968 by Glidrose Productions, it was written by "Robert Markham", a pseudonym created by Glidrose for British novelist Kingsley Amis. Glidrose had intended publishing a continuation series of James Bond novels written by different authors under the Robert Markham name, but Colonel Sun was the only novel published.

Discounting the screenplay novelizations, and James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 (1973), by John Pearson, Colonel Sun was the last, new James Bond novel published until Licence Renewed, by John Gardner, in 1981.

Plot summary

After his superior officer in MI6, M, is violently kidnapped from his house, Quarterdeck, James Bond follows the clues to Vrakonisi, an Aegean island of Greece, where he teams with Ariadne Alexandrou, a Greek Communist agent working for the Soviet Union. Together, they plan to rescue M while thwarting the complex military-political plans of People's Liberation Army Colonel Sun, the Chinese agent sent to sabotage a Middle East détente conference, of which the Soviets are hosts, and implicate Great Britain.

Although Amis, reportedly, requested Colonel Sun not be filmed, the novel may have inspired elements of several James Bond films, i.e. the Greek setting of For Your Eyes Only (1981), the kidnapping of M in The World Is Not Enough (1999), and the name of the North Korean villain of Die Another Day (2002), Colonel Tan-Sun Moon.

Comic strip adaptation

Colonel Sun has the distinction of being the only non-Fleming James Bond novel adapted as a comic strip by the British newspaper, the Evening Standard, and also syndicated worldwide. The strip ran from December 1, 1969 to August 20, 1970; adapted by Jim Lawrence with artwork by Yaroslav Horak .