Who should write James Bond continuation novels?

Number24

We are waiting eagerly for William Boyd's "Solo", but that's no reason to stop thinking of good writers to carry on Fleming's legacy. This thread is for suggesting and dicussing writers who may be right for writing James Bond continuation novels.

Here are my favorites today:

Phillip Kerr
British novelist who is probably best known for the Berlin Noir- series featuring the detective Bernie Gunther. This series a Chandleresque crimefighter working in Hitler's shadow is suspensfull and colourfull. All Bernie Gunter-novels are great, but read "Field grey" if you want to know why Kerr should write James Bond. This novel takes Bernie out of Germany and is more of a spy novel than a crime novel. Also tones down Phillip Kerr's dry humor.

http://www.philipkerr.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Kerr



Jo Nesbø
Norwegian crime novelist best known for the Harry Hole books. One of the bestselling crime novelists today. Very good at character, plot and action. While most of his books take place in Norway, the plot set in Autralia, Brazil and Africa may hint of what his James Bond would be like.

http://jonesbo.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Nesb%C3%B8

Charmed & Dangerous

John Connolly gets my vote. His hero, Charlie Parker, is a private investigator based in Maine and the novels have a grisly, vaguely supernatural theme, so are pretty far removed from 007.

However Connolly's prose is excellent, his plots are detailed and arresting, the villains are memorable, larger than life characters in the best tradition of Goldfinger and Blofeld, there are some explosive action sequences and fights, and there's a rich vein of sardonic humour running through them that's pure Fleming.

http://www.johnconnollybooks.com/

Number24

I somehow forgot my third favourite:

John Rob Smith

British author of the crime/suspense novels Child 44, The Secret Speech and Agent 6
These novels centres on the former KGB (tecnically MGB) agent Leo Stepanovich Demidov and takes place mostly in the Soviet Union in the 1950's and 60's, but also takes him to Hungary and the US. John Rob Smith was awarded the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger in 2008 for Child 44, so his chances should be good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Rob_Smith

http://tomrobsmith.com/

When M met Q

John Le Carre? As long as he doesn't put a load of codewords in without any explanation (I had to Google what 'the Circus' was).
Daniel Brownell - if his youth isn't a problem.
Tom Clancy - although I'm pretty certain he's American...

Barbel

There's absolutely no chance of le Carre writing a Bond novel- he's been outspoken with his dislike of 007 for many years.
And Tom Clancy doesn't even write the Jack Ryan books himself any more!

Hardyboy

Indeed, le Carre's works from the very beginning have been anti-Bond, focusing on the sordidness and double-dealing in the world of espionage. I've always thought that Bernard Cornwell might be able to fashion a decent Bond thriller--he knows how to create suspense, and his knowledge of firearms and other kinds of weaponry is very Flemingesque.

Le Samourai

Barry Eisler is by far my top choice. His 'John Rain' novels are very Fleming-esque: travelogue feel, brand name luxury goods, tons of realistic spycraft, believable fight sequences, sexy women, etc. Eisler is a self-professed Bond fan, too. You can read his intro to the recent Amazon reissue of the Fleming novels here:
http://www.kindlepost.com/2012/10/the-impact-of-ian-flemings-james-bond.html

Eisler is also ex-CIA and a Black Belt Judoka.

chrisisall

Le Samourai wrote:

Barry Eisler

I must look into this!

Le Samourai

chrisisall wrote:

Le Samourai wrote:

Barry Eisler

I must look into this!

Well worth looking in to. Eisler's website is also very interesting:
http://www.barryeisler.com/

Be sure to check out the "Cool Stuff" section. It has, among other things, one of the best essays on self-defense and martial arts I have ever read:
http://www.barryeisler.com/coolstuff_martialarts.php

chrisisall

Le Samourai wrote:

Be sure to check out the "Cool Stuff" section. It has, among other things, one of the best essays on self-defense and martial arts I have ever read:
http://www.barryeisler.com/coolstuff_martialarts.php

I agree, written from an very experienced perspective. I especially liked the rape section. Thanks man! B-)

chrisisall

I take it I should avoid the movie "Rain Fall" & just check out the books, eh?

Le Samourai

chrisisall wrote:

I take it I should avoid the movie "Rain Fall" & just check out the books, eh?

Yes. Eisler pretty much disowned the movie.

chrisisall

Le Samourai wrote:

chrisisall wrote:

I take it I should avoid the movie "Rain Fall" & just check out the books, eh?

Yes. Eisler pretty much disowned the movie.

Thanks. -{

James Suzuki

I have thought long and hard about this question and for me I have the perfect person.
Anthony Horowitz.
Anthony is a screenwriter as well as a novelist and is a huge fan of murder mysteries, writing for Midsomer Murders (earlier Seasons) and Poirot. He also writes and created the show Foyle's War starring former Bill Tanner Michael Kitchen. The show has a shift towards the Cold War in the later seasons with great plots around Russian Moles, MI5 etc written by Horowitz.
I can tell Anthony is a Bond fan and he has recently finished the Alex Rider series for teenagers about a teen MI6 agent. There are quite a few Bond references in his novels and you can tell he really enjoys writing about the globe-hopping and gadgets etc plus also creating a lot of humour and character depth/struggles.
(If you've read the series you would notice he has stolen things from the Bond series such as Q's lab assistant's name Smithers and the Lab Ark Angel from Goldeneye).
Also Anthony wrote The house of Silk, for the Sherlock Holmes canon. That is a great novel and he has the skill of writing like Conan Doyle (much like people want authors to write like Fleming).