I stumbled across this purely by chance.
I’ve got all the James Bond books (including the movie novelizations by Garrdner, Bentson, and even the hack, Christopher Wood), along with Fleming’s originals and Kingsley Amis’, and Gardner’s and Bentson’s, and a few oddities. But this is contracted by the Fleming estate, and is sort of a “reboot” (like the last Bond film), acting as if none of the other apocryphal Bind books (startimng with Amis’) hadn’t occurred. Sebastian Faulk is writing it, and it’s called Devil May Care. It’s set in 1967, and the book is set to come out on the 28th, commemorating the centennial of Fleming’s birth:
I regard all the Bond books by other than IF as I do the movies without Sean Connery - the further along they go, the less they bother trying to recreate the original Bond and the more they venture into parody.
I’ve read Colonel Sun and some of the Gardner (sic?) pastiches, and they not only aren’t close, it doesn’t seem like they are trying to be close.
It would be great if Devil May Care could do better. Setting the book in 1967 might be a good sign, as is the whole notion of a reboot to get rid of the other nonsense. But not to change the baseline of the originals - don’t make the same mistake as Batman Begins.
Might be interesting. Thanks for mentioning it, Cal - I will have to check it out.
I’m a huge Bond film fan (seen all of them sans Octopussy) but the only Bond book I’ve read is You Only Live Twice. I thought I was bored with the book itself (although I did finish it) but I evidently liked it enough because when I later saw the movie I complained for most of it that the movie was nothing like the book. :dubious:
What are some of the better Bond books? I need some new reading material and I’m already a big fan of the MI-6 agent to begin with.
Casino Royale and From Russia with Love are some of the better ones. The Spy Who Loved Me is laughably bad. Diamonds are Forever and Moonraker are somewhat better, but only somewhat.
Doctor No was good when I read it, but Austin Powers parodied it so brilliantly that it is now hard to take seriously. Thunderball came after the movie, and it shows. Live and Let Die is awfully hard to take in spots, because of the taken-for-granted racism, but the rest of it is fun.
The Man with the Golden Gun is good. For Your Eyes Only is a collection of short stories, some of which are better than others - overall, good but not great.
Fleming wrote a travelogue called Thrilling Cities that I have never seen. Anyone read it? Is it any good?
I kinda liked Colonel Sun, actually. It was Icebreaker that put me off non-Fleming Bond. Literary Bond should remain forever a cold-war icon and if this book is set in that time-frame, I might just have to check it out. 1967 is kind of on the edge of Bond’s field career, though, if he served in Naval intelligence at the end of World War II, and was only 20 at the time, he’d be 42 in 1967, and getting close to the mandatory 45 cut-off for field agents, as described in various Fleming novels.
I think you’ve nailed the problem. It’s ridiculous when you stop to think that James Bond fought both the Nazis and Al Qaeda. His agelessness has moved him out of the territory of spy thriller into superhero comic.
It’s good but dated, and not terrifically memorable. Don’t trust Fleming on odd local facts – he either trusted his guides too much, or made stuff up, or something. But there’s a good chance that something out-of-the-ordinary in a Fleming book just isn’t true.
It has a brief section called “James Bond i n New York” that you have to read if you’re a completist. I understand some UK editions of Octopussy include it.
Do you have a copy of the November 13, 1999 issue of TV Guide? It contains the rarest “official” James Bond story: “Live at Five” by Raymond Benson. It’s never been reprinted anywhere else.
The original announcement generated a lot of attention in the UK media. The choice of Faulks was a canny one by the estate: his combination of literary cachet and success in the bestseller lists means that this is likely to be a bigger event here than any other choice would have delivered. In terms of media coverage thus far, it’s probably the most anticipated fiction launch in UK publishing this year.
Local names: Blue Dove; Blue Partridge; Mountain Witch; Smokey DeMonde.
Description: 12". A gaudily colored dove, with a short but distinct crest. Forehead black; rest of pileum and most of underparts greyish. Favors Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum. A master of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, yet vulnerable to the kansetu-waza hold. Carries a cyanide capsule to avoid being taken alive.
Yes, in fact.
I bought my copy at the bookstore at the American Museum of Natural History, where it was still on sale a few years ago. I also got a copy to give my Bondophile friend.
I’ve also got Kingsley Amis’ OTHER Bond Book, The Book of Bond: Or Every Man His Own 007, with the original UK reversible dustcover.