Lucky fans who attended Charlie Higson‘s preview of By Royal Command at the 2008 Edinburgh Book Festival yesterday were able to buy copies of the new Young Bond adventure eleven days in advance of the release date! Three hundred copies of the hardcover were made available, limited to two books per ticket holder.

What makes this extra special is the By Royal Command cover art is officially embargoed until 3rd September, so these fans were the first to lay their hands and eyes on the book. Very lucky indeed!

Charlie’s sold out festival appearance was sponsored by The Big Issue and started promptly at 1:30 in the RBS Main Theater. Charlie read an extract from By Royal Command -- a scene in which Bond and a schoolmate get separated from their Alpine skiing party in bad weather and end up going off a cliff. With this literal cliffhanger, Charlie stopped reading and announced that the book would be available for sale to attendees, which elicited an excited reaction.

Charlie then launched the new Young Bond online alternate reality game, The Shadow War, by putting up screenshots of mission briefings and the game logo. He revealed that 20 copies of By Royal Command would contain a hidden code that unlocks a higher level of the game. Charlie admitted that he frequently plays video games online (notably Medal of Honor 4) when he should be writing.

Charlie also showed the audience several full color samples of SilverFin: The Graphic Novel, due for release on 2nd October. He said the book was supposed to come out last year, but Kev Walker wanted everything to be perfect.

A Q&A followed, then Charlie moved onto the signing tent where fans queued up with their brand new copies of By Royal Command.

A very big thank you to Billal Hussain (aka “Vegito”) of The Young Bond Forum for the photos and details of Charlie’s appearance. Also thanks to Brian Smith of Bond and Beyond.