Bond novels, in which SMERSH is mentioned to have been put out of operation; however, it is explained within the novel as being Colonel-General Nikitin's doing. Members of SMERSH from the novelization include the Bond girl Anya Amasova and her lover Sergei Borzov, as well as Colonel-General Nikitin, a character from Fleming's novel From Russia, with Love who has since become head of the KGB. Other differences include the villain, Karl Stromberg, instead being named as Sigmund Stromberg. The change of Stromberg's given name, as well as the existence of SMERSH, may be in some way due to the controversy over Thunderball, in which Kevin McClory was made aware of certain plot points of the film The Spy Who Loved Me. At one point the villain of the film was to be Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his organisation SPECTRE; however, this was changed to avoid a possible lawsuit over the rights to this character, which originated from the novel Thunderball. Publication history UK first hardback edition: July 1977 Jonathan Cape UK first paperback edition: July 1977 Triad Panther U.S. first paperback edition: 1977 Warner Books The Spy Who Loved Me French trade paperback edition: 1977 Julliard L'Espion qui m'aimait trans: France-Marie Watkins French mass market paperback: 1978 Presses pocket L'Espion qui m'aimait trans: France-Marie Watkins Dutch first edition: 1977 Bruna The Spy Who Loved Me trans: Ernest Benéder German first edition: 1977 or 1978 Goldmann James Bond und sein grösster Fall Norse first edition: 1978 Dreyer James Bond, spionen som elsket meg, trans: Axel S. Seeberg Spanish first edition: 1979 Plaza & Janes La espia que me amo trans: R. M. Bassols Italian first edition: 1995 Mondadori Agente 007, la spia che mi amava trans: Stefano Di Marino Japanese first edition: unknown year, Hayakawa, trans: Kazuo Inoue Reception The paperback edition became an instant bestseller in the UK, staying on the British bestsellers list for several months. Critical reception of the novel were mixed, though most praised Wood's skill as a writer. Marghanita Laski, writing in The Listener, called Wood "an apparently promising thriller writer struggling to emerge from obligatory bits of set-piece nastiness." Former Bond author Kingsley Amis wrote in The New Statesman that, despite several reservations, "Mr Wood has bravely tackled his formidable task, that of turning a typical late Bond film, which must be basically facetious, into a novel after Ian Fleming, which must be basically serious.