The first of the James Bond novels and short stories was published in April 1953. The central character, James Bond, is a British Secret Service agent; he was created by journalist and author Ian Fleming and first appeared in the novel Casino Royale. The books are set in a contemporary period, between May 1951 and February 1964. Fleming went on to write a total of twelve novels and two collections of short stories. Since Fleming's death in 1964, a number of other authors have written continuation works. The first of these was Kingsley Amis, writing under the pseudonym of "Robert Markham", who produced one novel. John Pearson then wrote a fictional biography of Bond in 1973 before Christopher Wood wrote two novelizations later that decade. John Gardner wrote fourteen novels and two novelizations between 1981 and 1996. After he retired, Raymond Benson wrote six Bond novels, three novelizations and three short stories between 1996 and 2002. After a hiatus of six years, Sebastian Faulks wrote a further novel, which was released on the 100th anniversary of Fleming's birth. This was followed in 2011 by a novel by Jeffery Deaver. (Full list...)