Jeffery Deaver, the author commissioned to pen the next James Bond adventure, has plans to make his superspy a 30-year-old Afghanistan veteran. Deaver's untitled new James Bond novel is due for release in May (11) and he told the USA Today newspaper there are some big changes in store for 007.

"The novel is set in the present day, in 2011. Bond is a young agent for the secret service. He's 29 or 30 years old, and he's an Afghan war vet," the Daily Express quoted the writer as saying.

Current Bond Craig is 42 and the literary 007, created by Ian Fleming in the 1950s, would be close to 90.

Deaver is not the first renowned writer to tackle Bond - Kingsley Amis, John Gardner and Sebastian Faulks have each taken the baton from Fleming, who died in 1964 - but Deaver insists his 007 will be a very different superspy.

"I want to stay true to the original James Bond, who many people don't know much about.

"People know Daniel Craig, they know Pierce Brosnan, they know Roger Moore and Sean Connery, all of whom brought a great deal to the stories of 007. But the original Bond was a very dark, edgy character," the writer added.