 |
Brief #3 – THE BOOKS 1 – The latest James Bond novel Author Raymond Benson penned the novelization to Die Another Day, released concurrent with the film in late 2002. As of March 2003, Glidrose has ceased releasing new novels and began reissuing Fleming's novels. There is no word on whether new Bond books will arise. Ian Lancaster Fleming created James Bond. He was born May 28, 1908, (a date he gave to Ernst Stavro Blofeld as well) in London. Quitting his schooling at the prestigious Eaton, he held a job as a reporter with Reuters. Fleming eventually joined the R.N.V.R. and later worked in Naval Intelligence field, earning the rank of Commander. On his two month sabbatical from a newspaper job in January 1952 Fleming was feeling pressure due to his impending marriage. To relieve some stress he began writing a short novel. Fleming held a meticulous schedule and spent two periods a day writing. Before leaving in March he had completed what would be the first Bond book, Casino Royale. It opened Fleming's eyes to a muse inside him. While not the rogue secret agent, Fleming did have a hand in helping the Ultra Network score a coup over Germany in World War II by decoding the Enigma, a machine similar to the fictitious Spektor decoder Fleming used as a plot piece in From Russia with Love. Fleming often dropped names of his friends and acquaintances into characters in his book. (There was a Jamaican boater named Red Grant, a friend named John Fox-Strangways, etc.) It should be noted that as a reporter Fleming wrote on a multitude of subjects. He is also the author of the children's work Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Ian Fleming wrote fourteen complete books about Bond, and only stopped when he died on August 12, 1964. He left behind wife, Anne, and son Caspar, who tragically committed suicide in 1975. Anne died in 1981. A – List of Ian Fleming novels This is a complete list of Ian Fleming's Bond novels.
(1) Based on a treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham & Ian Fleming
(See Brief #2, Section #10, F Thunderball/Never Say Never Again)
B – Stories to read in order The books follow a chronological sequence, and later books occasionally refer to other earlier books, but you can read most of them in any order you like. However, it is highly recommended that you at least read From Russia, With Love before Doctor No and please be aware that Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Thunderball, and The Man with The Golden Gun form a 'quadrilogy' that should be read in order. It is worth mentioning that Fleming last worked on The Man With The Golden Gun. Octopussy was released posthumously as well, but "Gun", which picks up directly from Thunderball, is the true swan song of Fleming's character. C – Who wrote The Spy Who Loved Me? Ian Fleming did. The story is the most left-field Bond adventure, with the first two-thirds about the tough life of Vivienne Michel and Bond not appearing until the final chapters. Fleming wrote in the foreword that he had "found the manuscript" sitting on his desk at the Goldeneye retreat he owned in Jamaica. It was only a joke. The novel was the worst received of Fleming's canon and he was so disenchanted with it that he only allowed the title rights sold, specifically preventing the storyline to be used. D – The Kennedy myth One of the things that helped Fleming's books get noticed in the United States was a plug by President John F. Kennedy. But the episode may not be factual. Leading longtime Bond memorabilia collector and fan Alan Stephenson disputes this claim with the following revelation:
E – SMERSH SMERSH is a conjunction of two Russian words: Smiert Spionam ("Death to Spies"). They were the Soviet Secret Service's murder organization that Bond faces in most of the early novels. SMERSH was a real organization for a time but they had been swept into the KGB by the time Fleming featured them in From Russia, With Love. While no Bond film featured them as a main villain (the "Russia" movie used SPECTRE instead) The Living Daylights used the idea of a reformed SMERSH as a red herring proliferated by Georgi Koskov. F – SPECTRE Fleming had a real affection for this word. He created a Spectreville in Diamonds Are Forever, made the decoding machine in From Russia, With Love a Spektor, and finally, beginning with Thunderball, created the SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion, SPECTRE. The leader of SPECTRE was Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Fleming's most famous villainous creation. SPECTRE is normally spelled as one word. The original British Cape edition of Fleming's Thunderball made it S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (though the dots were dropped in Fleming's later books), and that spelling continues to crop up in various books about the Bond series. The spelling S.P.E.C.T.R.E. also appeared in the trailer for the film From Russia with Love. It seems odd since the "P" does not stand for a word. G – Does Bond die in From Russia, With Love? No, but readers were meant to think so upon its initial release. At the end of the book, Bond falls to the ground having been stabbed with Rosa Klebb's shoe knife. It was often reported that Fleming intended to kill off James Bond, and his contemporary, author Raymond Chandler, talked him out of it. While the book had an intentional cliffhanger, the idea it was the end of Bond is an oft-reported myth. Some sources suggest Fleming never gave a moment's thought to ending the series, and other merely that he was bored and left his options open. As far as the Chandler story, the truth was that Chandler was asked to review the previous book, Diamonds Are Forever, and suggested that Fleming could, and should, do better. Fleming was inspired by the criticism and completed "Russia". He originally had Bond and Tatiana end up together but near the end of completing it he changed the final scene to the published version. But that seems to be more to stimulate interest than to kill James Bond. That May, according to Andrew Lycett's thorough biography, Fleming received a letter from Geoffrey Boothroyd (see Brief 4 Section 2 for details) and by August Fleming had promised to include Boothroyd's ideas in the "next" adventure he would write, which became Doctor No. At the time he was completing the final cover design for the unreleased "Russia", among other projects. While he was concerned personal matters would interfere with his writing schedule the following year, Fleming knew he would be writing a new Bond novel to continue his series. A – Kingsley Amis' novel Well-known British author Kingsley Amis, was offered a chance to continue the series after Fleming's death. He was originally credited under the pseudonym Robert Markham, as part of a plan to have multiple authors use that alias over time, but the immediate response was lackluster and he produced only one book. It has been opined that he 'completed' The Man with the Golden Gun following Fleming's death by some sources. Others claim Glidrose had it finished and merely had him critique it. Hopefully the truth can be verified.
B – List of the John Gardner novels It was not until 1981 that the Bond series was revived once again. Anne Fleming, following Amis' novel, had wanted the books to cease. Upon her death the publishing company, Glidrose, hired British author John Gardner who published a new novel almost every year until the spring of 1996. He retired after equaling Fleming's total of fourteen original novels, Gardner feeling the novelizations of the movies did not count. Gardner was already an established writer, best known for the series of "Boysie Oakes" novels, such as The Liquidator. When assuming the mantle, Gardner's only direction was that he was not to
make any mention of the offspring of Bond alluded to in You Only Live
Twice and that Bond would be set in present time.
(4, 5) A novelization of the film
(6) U.S.A. copies titled 1 – Stories to read in order To fully appreciate Gardner's works, read his last three original books in order, Never Send Flowers, Seafire and Cold, as a story arc links them. He also had his own SPECTRE trilogy with For Special Services, Role Of Honour and Nobody Lives Forever, with a separate story separating them a la The Spy Who Loved Me for Fleming. Gardner had to write the GoldenEye novelization prior to writing Sir Miles out of the M position, shown in Cold, so reading them in reverse order of release is actually preferable. C – List of the Raymond Benson novels American Raymond Benson assumed the mantle of Ian Fleming with his first James Bond book in 1997 and released a new novel annually, as well as short stories and novelizations of the Bond films released during his run. He borrowed Fleming's tradition of using names of friends and acquaintances into his novels. Some of those names are frequent posters to the newsgroup. Benson authored the fantastic The James Bond Bedside Companion reference book before being given the helm of Bond author. He is a Texan who resides near Chicago. He stopped writing the novels annually in 2003. Glidrose told Benson that he could pick and choose what came before him in Gardner's works in forming continuity. He also agreed upon taking the job to keep Bond in the present day and use the new M, Barbara Mawdsley, as the films were using at the time.
(8) A novelization of the film (9) Published in the January 1999 issue of Playboy magazine(10) Published in a November 1999 issue of TV Guide magazine1 – Stories to read in order Benson used a criminal organization called the Union that spread through three of his novels. You should read High Time To Kill, Doubleshot and Never Dream Of Dying in order. E – Other Glidrose novels featuring Bond Glidrose, the publishing company with rights to James Bond material, have allowed a few books that were not strictly a part of the "James Bond novels" canon proper to be issued.
(12) A novelization of the film The Adventures of James Bond Junior-0031/2 is a children's book featuring a title character who is the son of Bond's brother David, (not a creation of Fleming) who intercedes against a heist of gold bullion. Glidrose licensed it. The author's true identity was kept secret for 34 years, but was confirmed by his executors to be British literary author Arthur Calder-Marshall (1908-1992). Pearson's book is a work of fiction portraying the life of a "real" James Bond in correlation to Fleming's adventures. Wood co-wrote the screenplay for The Spy Who Loved Me with Richard Maibaum and got full credit for Moonraker, and then novelized those scripts. F – Reference books There are also many reference books about James Bond on screen and in print. While many are good, I recommend two in particular. Steven Jay Rubin's "The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia, updated in 1995, provides a wealth of information of the celluloid Bond up to GoldenEye. The current Bond novel author, Raymond Benson, wrote the splendid The James Bond Bedside Companion in 1983 (revised in 1987) that gives a wonderful overview of Fleming's canon, as well as everything else Bond to date. It has just been returned to print. Go to PublishingOnline.com for details. Bond is a copyrighted product and Glidrose, the company who owns Bond's literary rights, does look out to protect their product. Using Bond in a published story (and using the internet as a forum IS publishing it) breaks the copyright law unless Glidrose grants the right to do so. Perhaps no action would be taken, but it could be. And Glidrose is rightly concerned that if a fan would use their property with the capability to produce a professional looking presentation, the line would blur. Others may see the fan fiction, and because of it be less inclined to view their legitimate property. There is merit to the idea that fans do the series no harm in showing their enjoyment of the character and that it should not be misconstrued for the real product. But the fact is it can be. If you feel creative create your own original character. You will garner legitimate praise and possible notice not to be had with being an imitator. |
