For what it’s worth, my personal order, 'from best to worst':
1. Double Shot
2. High Time to Kill
3. The Man with the Red Tattoo
4. Zero Minus Ten
5. Tomorrow Never Dies
6. The Facts of Death
7. The World is Not Enough
8. Die Another Day
9. Never Dream of Dying
Chrisno1, I really enjoy all of these Fleming and continuation novel reviews you've done. I've never read a Benson, not sure if I ever will, but I do have a hardcover omnibus of his, titled "The Union Trilogy," which contains High Time To Kill, Doubleshot, Never Dream of Dying, and most importantly (at least so far as the reason behind my post goes) the uncut version of his short story "Blast From The Past," which was published in truncated form in Playboy.
I got the book solely for this story but have not read it yet. I don't see it reviewed above, so I'm wondering if you've read it? It's a sequel to YOLT, and I got it on that merit, only to discover that, rather than being a period piece a la the modern continuation novels, it's actually set in the same timeframe as Benson's other books. And humorously enough, Bond's son from YOLT is a grown man in it! So already one must have a healthy suspension of disbelief; Bond himself is ageless, it appears. On the plus side, apparently Irma Bundt appears as the villainess, complete with a disfigured face or somesuch.
This was the first piece of fiction Benson wrote (he completed it before starting on his first Bond novel), and he stated somewhere that he had no idea how long a short story was supposed to be, hence Playboy chopped up his manuscript for publication.
Edit: Wanted to clarify I've done a search in this thread and found a few mentions of this short story, but nothing much -- just wanted to ask you, Chrisno1, if you've read it and intend to include a writeup about it.
Thanks for taking the time to look in. Thanks for enjoying.
I don't visit here much these days, but to explain (badly!) I haven't read the Benson short stories for one simple reason - sheer laziness.
I spent a long time accumulating second hand copies of the Gardner - Benson continuations and, having obtained them, I really didn't fancy purchasing the two omnibus editions simply for a trilogy of short stories. I have always rather regretted the decision but it feels a little late to correct it. Maybe one of these days, when I'm in a slump, I might purchase Choice of Weapons and The Union Trilogy, but to be honest, I didn't care for Benson and I'm not really missing the stories.
I do accept it leaves my reviews a little short, but then I haven't partaken of Steve Cole, Samantha Weinberg or R.D. Mascott. If I'm honest I also felt I should have reviewed The Diamond Smugglers and Thrilling Cities as well as the movie The Poppy is Also a Flower as these non-Bond experiments would have given interesting comparisons to Fleming's Bond work.
p.s. Joshua, apologies accepted.
I liked the audio adaptations and really ought to review these - I particularly enjoyed Goldfinger.
However, it's all a case of time...
Just to let you know, I will get around to Forever and a Day, but I'm still tied up with Jon Drago...
Comments
Thanks for taking the time to look in. Thanks for enjoying.
I don't visit here much these days, but to explain (badly!) I haven't read the Benson short stories for one simple reason - sheer laziness.
I spent a long time accumulating second hand copies of the Gardner - Benson continuations and, having obtained them, I really didn't fancy purchasing the two omnibus editions simply for a trilogy of short stories. I have always rather regretted the decision but it feels a little late to correct it. Maybe one of these days, when I'm in a slump, I might purchase Choice of Weapons and The Union Trilogy, but to be honest, I didn't care for Benson and I'm not really missing the stories.
I do accept it leaves my reviews a little short, but then I haven't partaken of Steve Cole, Samantha Weinberg or R.D. Mascott. If I'm honest I also felt I should have reviewed The Diamond Smugglers and Thrilling Cities as well as the movie The Poppy is Also a Flower as these non-Bond experiments would have given interesting comparisons to Fleming's Bond work.
p.s. Joshua, apologies accepted.
I liked the audio adaptations and really ought to review these - I particularly enjoyed Goldfinger.
However, it's all a case of time...
Just to let you know, I will get around to Forever and a Day, but I'm still tied up with Jon Drago...
https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/crime-and-thrillers/steel-wolf/
https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/crime-and-thrillers/gilgamesh/