I really liked Trigger Mortis. Horowitz captured the feeling of the 1950s really well. And he's a solid writer in terms of plotting and scene development. He's the right author for the continuation books at the moment.
IMHO They really lost their way with some of the Benson works and then the so called "good" writers they employed. Horowitz's background in TV really comes through in the way he keeps story moving. It's all solid.
I hope he writes one every two years for quite a while. And that they stay in the 1950s for good. I'll read that all day long.
Literary Bond belongs in the 1950s. ALL the great Fleming books were created/written in the 1950s. That's his literary world, as far as I'm concerned. And it is a world rich in story potential for Bond.
If that makes the book Bond mere retro pleasure, then so be it. After all, us Brits "never had it so good", as the PM of the time told us. 1955 was peak post imperial. Even Fleming thought it was all downhill after the 50's.
I've always felt that the early 60s book material showed quite obviously Fleming's waning interest. OHMSS being a creditable exception.
Colonel Sun is the only one you really should read, all the rest are for completists. There are so many better books out there and life is too short.
I phrased this poorly. My point was Colonel Sun should be given priority, above any and all other continuation efforts. The next thing to read after you've run out of Fleming. But I know it is out-of-print and maybe not easy to find. whereas Trigger Mortis is probably still in all the shops and its prequel will be very soon.
Life's too short is my own issue. I have huge piles of unread books and comics all over my apartment, and keep collecting more. I've found with completing many of the recent Bond continuation novels I've wished I could have spent that time reading something else in the never-ending to-read pile.
But I'm glad they've given Horowitz a second chance. Trigger Mortis I thought was a fun read, and a very clever ret-con exercise. I think even Solo and Devil May Care were positioned safely after the events of ...Golden Gun, they did not dare to mess with Fleming's continuity and, maybe by coincidence or not, were not persuasive Bond adventures (to me).
It shall be very interesting to see how Horowitz manages an origin story. I sure hope it's consistent with all the hints as to background Fleming gave us, no contradictions. Extra-geeky bonus points if he can make it consistent with Pearson's 007 Biography.
My point was Colonel Sun should be given priority, above any and all other continuation efforts. The next thing to read after you've run out of Fleming. But I know it is out-of-print and maybe not easy to find...
Not any more thankfully. The Vintage paperback is still in print in the UK, and in the US a hardcover version was printed this March: https://www.amazon.com/Colonel-Sun-James-Bond-Adventure/dp/1681776499/
In any case, you are still right that Colonel Sun is the essential post-Fleming Bond novel.
I've found with completing many of the recent Bond continuation novels I've wished I could have spent that time reading something else in the never-ending to-read pile.
That's how I feel in retrospect after reading all the Gardner novels!
But I'm glad they've given Horowitz a second chance. Trigger Mortis I thought was a fun read, and a very clever ret-con exercise.
I still haven't read it, but several Fleming fans whose opinions I respect have urged me to give it a try.
Regarding Forever and a Day, the review in the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/may/23/forever-and-a-day-anthony-horowitz-review) was surprisingly more positive than the verdict in the Sunday Times, Fleming's old paper. I will have to buy the book because of the following:
As with his previous Bond effort, Trigger Mortis, Horowitz was given some original material by the Fleming estate: the outline for a TV series that was never made. Helpfully, Horowitz in his acknowledgments points out which chapter uses this stuff, and it turns out to be an excellent little yarn that Bond tells Sixtine about a previous adventure he had had at the same casino.
The book sounds interesting, but I don’t like the idea of anyone doing a Bond prequel post Fleming. It just seems there will be far too many liberties taken and who knows what Fleming would have thought.
I really think the 70’s is a period the next writer should focus on. A wealth of material available for Bond in that era.
It can’t be all bad, we’ve had horrible novels from Benson and Deaver, so I don’t think we’ll hit those lows again!
This is where we leave you Mr. Bond. (Pilot, Apollo Airlines)
I think novels in the future could be about Bond in WWII. The subject has barely been mentioned in the books and it's more interesting to me than what he did in the 70's.
I think novels in the future could be about Bond in WWII. The subject has barely been mentioned in the books and it's more interesting to me than what he did in the 70's.
I would love that too. A very interesting unexplored period.
However I do want some more novels set in the 50’s and 60’s.
The idea of an ageing Bond (as seen in Solo) is also very interesting to me.
Here's the Sunday Times review of Forever and a Day:
How Bond became 007: Anthony Horowitz takes us right back to the origins of Ian Fleming's famous hero (May 20)
by David Mills
After the lacklustre run of Bond sequels by John Gardner and Raymond Benson, 10 years ago the Fleming Estate reinvigorated the franchise by commissioning Sebastian Faulks to write a new 007 adventure. Faulks had the inspired idea to set Devil May Care in 1967.
Ah, I think that Mr Mills has got that sentence the wrong way around in suggesting that Faulks was better than Gardner and Benson. I think that few fans would agree with that in the literary Bond community more generally, but I suppose that there's no accounting for taste!
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
I have deliberately not read the last couple of pages in this thread as I want to avoid too much about this book until I have read it, so apologies if this has been mentioned, but Waterstones are already selling this book despite the fact the release date is 31st May. I bought a copy in the Arndale Centre branch in Manchester earlier today. They are selling them at half-price, which works out as £9.49. There is a sticker on the front that says "Waterstones exclusive-Includes unseen Ian Fleming material", so I don't know if Waterstones have got their own special batch and are selling them before the official date in order to get a jump on competitors. You can see the link here and use the Click & Collect option to see that they are in stock: https://www.waterstones.com/book/forever-and-a-day/anthony-horowitz/9781911214779
Jellyfish, does this Waterstones edition you've picked up include the original Fleming material as bonus content at the end, or do they simply mean Horowitz has incorporated Fleming's ideas into his story?
if you look back to pg3 of this thread, post 57, the same store was selling a special edition of Trigger Mortis that included Fleming's original synopsis for Murder on Wheels as a bonus feature, whereas most editions regularly available, do not.
Jellyfish, does this Waterstones edition you've picked up include the original Fleming material as bonus content at the end, or do they simply mean Horowitz has incorporated Fleming's ideas into his story?
if you look back to pg3 of this thread, post 57, the same store was selling a special edition of Trigger Mortis that included Fleming's original synopsis for Murder on Wheels as a bonus feature, whereas most editions regularly available, do not.
I have very sheepishly flicked towards the back of the book (I'm only on page 66), and some of the pages at the end have typewritten pages which have either been photographed or scanned and then printed in the book, so separate from the main story itself. This is the same as my copy of Trigger Mortis, which is also from Waterstones, and has the black cover rather than the standard silver.
I have deliberately not read the last couple of pages in this thread as I want to avoid too much about this book until I have read it, so apologies if this has been mentioned, but Waterstones are already selling this book despite the fact the release date is 31st May. I bought a copy in the Arndale Centre branch in Manchester earlier today. They are selling them at half-price, which works out as £9.49. There is a sticker on the front that says "Waterstones exclusive-Includes unseen Ian Fleming material", so I don't know if Waterstones have got their own special batch and are selling them before the official date in order to get a jump on competitors. You can see the link here and use the Click & Collect option to see that they are in stock: https://www.waterstones.com/book/forever-and-a-day/anthony-horowitz/9781911214779
Interesting. This also happened with Trigger Mortis as I was able to buy a large paperback edition of it in Easons some days before it was released in hardback. I posted about it at the time in 2015. I'm surmising that bookshops such as these have the books well before the release date and choose to get ahead of the game and hopefully sell a few more copies.
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
It seems to happen in Waterstones occasionally: I think it's actually to do with the publisher not being entirely clear on when the release date is to them and their system gets confused. I guess it doesn't really matter.
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
It seems to happen in Waterstones occasionally: I think it's actually to do with the publisher not being entirely clear on when the release date is to them and their system gets confused. I guess it doesn't really matter.
Yes, that's what I was thinking. It could very well happen through such confusion or simply by mistake.
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
And according to the contents page, the bonus Ian Fleming material is called
Russian Roulette.
ooh, then that would be the edition to get. Damn, Waterstones isn't a thing over here in Canada, I'll just have to settle for the regular edition I suppose.
If anybody out there accidentally scans or transcribes the genuine Fleming bonus content, don't forget to say Hello to your old pal Caractacus!
I spent the bank holiday weekend reading Forever and a Day and finished it on the Monday evening. I won't give any opinions or thoughts here before everyone else reads it but I'm looking forward to hearing what others think!
ALR is also thanked in the acknowledgments section of Forever and a Day!
Regarding the special Waterstones edition, a fellow at the Mi6 forum reports (https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/comment/883284/#Comment_883284) reports that this edition has a lighter blue cover, a sticker saying "exclusive Fleming content," and two pages of Fleming's notes at the back, which have an introduction by Horowitz.
-{ The kindle version came through just after midnight. So
It was one quick chapter then off to bed.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
Anthony Horowitz just donated £5000 to help his friend get a new wheelchair. I've only just donated a little something myself. Please consider donating at his GoFundMe page today:
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
I've bought the paperback edition of Forever and a Day at my local Waterstones. It's just the paperback edition, but better than nothing. Plus, it was half price at £7.00. -{
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
It's the 31st of May and neither of my sisters has asked me what I want for my birthday. I'm only human - I broke down and ordered "Forever and a day" on Amazon.
Comments
IMHO They really lost their way with some of the Benson works and then the so called "good" writers they employed. Horowitz's background in TV really comes through in the way he keeps story moving. It's all solid.
I hope he writes one every two years for quite a while. And that they stay in the 1950s for good. I'll read that all day long.
Literary Bond belongs in the 1950s. ALL the great Fleming books were created/written in the 1950s. That's his literary world, as far as I'm concerned. And it is a world rich in story potential for Bond.
If that makes the book Bond mere retro pleasure, then so be it. After all, us Brits "never had it so good", as the PM of the time told us. 1955 was peak post imperial. Even Fleming thought it was all downhill after the 50's.
I've always felt that the early 60s book material showed quite obviously Fleming's waning interest. OHMSS being a creditable exception.
Life's too short is my own issue. I have huge piles of unread books and comics all over my apartment, and keep collecting more. I've found with completing many of the recent Bond continuation novels I've wished I could have spent that time reading something else in the never-ending to-read pile.
But I'm glad they've given Horowitz a second chance. Trigger Mortis I thought was a fun read, and a very clever ret-con exercise. I think even Solo and Devil May Care were positioned safely after the events of ...Golden Gun, they did not dare to mess with Fleming's continuity and, maybe by coincidence or not, were not persuasive Bond adventures (to me).
It shall be very interesting to see how Horowitz manages an origin story. I sure hope it's consistent with all the hints as to background Fleming gave us, no contradictions. Extra-geeky bonus points if he can make it consistent with Pearson's 007 Biography.
Not any more thankfully. The Vintage paperback is still in print in the UK, and in the US a hardcover version was printed this March:
https://www.amazon.com/Colonel-Sun-James-Bond-Adventure/dp/1681776499/
In any case, you are still right that Colonel Sun is the essential post-Fleming Bond novel.
That's how I feel in retrospect after reading all the Gardner novels!
I still haven't read it, but several Fleming fans whose opinions I respect have urged me to give it a try.
Regarding Forever and a Day, the review in the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/may/23/forever-and-a-day-anthony-horowitz-review) was surprisingly more positive than the verdict in the Sunday Times, Fleming's old paper. I will have to buy the book because of the following:
I really think the 70’s is a period the next writer should focus on. A wealth of material available for Bond in that era.
It can’t be all bad, we’ve had horrible novels from Benson and Deaver, so I don’t think we’ll hit those lows again!
I would love that too. A very interesting unexplored period.
However I do want some more novels set in the 50’s and 60’s.
The idea of an ageing Bond (as seen in Solo) is also very interesting to me.
Twitter: @mybudgetbond1
Ah, I think that Mr Mills has got that sentence the wrong way around in suggesting that Faulks was better than Gardner and Benson. I think that few fans would agree with that in the literary Bond community more generally, but I suppose that there's no accounting for taste!
https://www.waterstones.com/book/forever-and-a-day/anthony-horowitz/9781911214779
if you look back to pg3 of this thread, post 57, the same store was selling a special edition of Trigger Mortis that included Fleming's original synopsis for Murder on Wheels as a bonus feature, whereas most editions regularly available, do not.
I have very sheepishly flicked towards the back of the book (I'm only on page 66), and some of the pages at the end have typewritten pages which have either been photographed or scanned and then printed in the book, so separate from the main story itself. This is the same as my copy of Trigger Mortis, which is also from Waterstones, and has the black cover rather than the standard silver.
Interesting. This also happened with Trigger Mortis as I was able to buy a large paperback edition of it in Easons some days before it was released in hardback. I posted about it at the time in 2015. I'm surmising that bookshops such as these have the books well before the release date and choose to get ahead of the game and hopefully sell a few more copies.
Yes, that's what I was thinking. It could very well happen through such confusion or simply by mistake.
If anybody out there accidentally scans or transcribes the genuine Fleming bonus content, don't forget to say Hello to your old pal Caractacus!
First chapter of FAAD in the express.
It will be tomorrow before I can collect it.
Twitter: @mybudgetbond1
https://literary007.com/2018/05/28/for-bond-lovers-forever-and-a-day-by-anthony-horowitz/
ALR is also thanked in the acknowledgments section of Forever and a Day!
Regarding the special Waterstones edition, a fellow at the Mi6 forum reports (https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/comment/883284/#Comment_883284) reports that this edition has a lighter blue cover, a sticker saying "exclusive Fleming content," and two pages of Fleming's notes at the back, which have an introduction by Horowitz.
Will do!
It was one quick chapter then off to bed.
https://www.gofundme.com/vivekgohil
Sure thing. It'll take a couple weeks for my contact in Britain to get the book shipped.