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Comments
@JCRendle,
I love your design - it is much better than the actual!
The tag line "Espionage, Fast Cars & Pussy Galore" is worthy of 'Mad Men' and I just hope we get lots of Pussy in the book.
Great choice - Oyelowo is a fabulous actor and has a great voice. I loved him in Spooks and I thought he was of the richter scale in Selma. A class act all round and a great dresser to boot!
It looks like IFP are getting a few things right with Trigger Mortis. There may be light at the end of the tunnel.
I also think Oyelowo would make a great movie Bond!
I actually thought Oyelowo being the voice of Bond would "upset" you but to read that you'd find him to be a suitable cinematic Bond is even more astonishing considering you get touchy and overly worked up about Bond's tailoring. Oyelowo is a great actor and he'll do a spectacular job voicing Bond.
These literary events are nice. I don't like movie premieres. I think they're pretentious but book events are a splendid thing. To anyone who goes, have a good time! Waterstones in Piccadilly? I think this is the same place I went to for the Devil May Care launch and Lucy Fleming talk.
Is this treatment for 'Murder on Wheels' only available in the limited edition Trigger Mortis hardback that one can buy through Waterstones? Does anyone know if the treatment can be downloaded with Kindle? I suppose not.
I don't think a black man should ever play the cinematic Bond, but for audio, of course it's fine. It's about being faithful to one of the biggest, most iconic fictional characters of all time.
And your point is?
To be completely honest, in 2015 an actor of any colour can play Bond. He just has to talk in an British accent, be suave, smart and work for MI6. Even the whole argument about Bonds parents being Scottish and Swiss doesn't even mean they had to have been white. Let's get over this once and for all.
If the producers of the movies, video games and audiobook versions of the novels hire a damn good actor to play the role, I couldn't give two s*its what colour he is.
It's alright having a black Felix and Moneypenny (although I don't like Harris's acting) but Bond is the protagonist. To me, having a black man play him in the films would be strange and too far removed from Fleming's conception. Would you mind if an Asian, maybe a Chinese, Korean or Japanese man, with a British accent played him? Maybe you wouldn't. I'm just curious.
Doubtless Horowitz will be asked if he is going to continue - at least by the audience.
Wether IFP will want to move away from their 'Star' author strategy is another question.
In terms of content - anything specific to a Waterstones special edition won't appear in an e-book. That would be self defeating. But, the 'Murder on Wheels' element is integrated into the story - if I understand correctly so, of course, that would bein an e-book.
That said, Orion's marketing of this epic opportunity continues to puzzle me:
For instance, can anybody explain the relevance of having a Goldsboro special first edition that is numbered and signed but shipped one month after launch whilst simultaneously having a Waterstones special edition that will, by definition, be a first that you can have signed at an event and which is available on the day of publication?
I would have much prefered that they did something truly special and limited with Bentley (eon permitting) and to have a more accessible special edition via Waterstones.
This would have made sense. With Bentley offering true luxury for the aficionado (the Bentley 'Casino Royale' edition is amazing and is much better than the Queen Ann Press edition) and Waterstones offering something for the fans.
I sometimes wonder if these publishers just let these launches happen without any sort of pro-active involvement. Book publishing really is the backwater of marketing. Little wonder they lost their shirts to Amazon.
It's alright having a black Felix and Moneypenny (although I don't like Harris's acting) but Bond is the protagonist. To me, having a black man play him in the films would be strange and too far removed from Fleming's conception. Would you mind if an Asian, maybe a Chinese, Korean or Japanese man, with a British accent played him? Maybe you wouldn't. I'm just curious.
[/quote]
I wouldn't mind in the slightest, no.
When did I say anything negative about it? I didn't, so there's no need to attack and go on the defensive. The only thing I was complaining about was that we had an actor hired to do the audiobook for 'Trigger Mortis,' and some sites are running with it as he is playing the new James Bond, which isn't true. It had nothing to do with his race, but the fact that it's a misinformed article headline that people will eat up and share along like it's fact.
I don't think anybody is 'misinformed'.
Mr. Oyelowo is simply saying that he is the only man on the planet who can claim to be the new James Bond because he is reading the voice of Bond in the Trigger Mortis audio book.
Nothing too confusing about that n'est-ce-pas?
As it happens, I think he has the charm and sophistication - not to mention the acting chops to succeed Danny as eon's screen Bond when he hangs up his PPK.
The 1950's upper class white English, Empire waving gentleman snob that Fleming created (and in reality was Fleming) is still the Bond I imagine in my mind when I think of Bond.
The various actors to have portrayed Bond have all managed in their own ways to bring some of this to the screen, even though the world has changed, and some of Bond's traits himself have been modernised and changed, to adapt with the times.
I understand that in this day and age, any person of any colour could play Bond now, as the times we live in, and the period the Bond films are now set, don't constraint this need for an upper class white Etonian 1950's snob anymore.
But for all the cries from the PC brigade of potential racism, and upsetting anyone who thinks I'm set in my ways, I still think Bond should be white, dark haired, cruel looking, slim and blue grey eyes, because this is how Fleming wrote him, and how I imagined Bond should be from the novels.
Once we go down the route of a black, Indian, Chinese, Korean or Russian actor playing Bond, then this won't be Bond any more for me - not the `Fleming Bond' anyway....
Visitors will be transported back to the 1950s. The whole thing looks quite fantastic and details are given over on thebookbond.com
Yet again, what I find to be quite incredible is the incompetent nature of the marketing effort.
I bought my ticket to the launch evening 3 days ago when there was absolutely no mention of this event.
The event is not detailed on either the IFP or TM sites. What exactly is going on?
Fire, steady, aim isn't in it. What a mess!
You didn't say anything negative. I was using that part of your comment to make my own point. Don't worry, I know you didn't mean anything negative. No harm intended, honest.
Once we go down the route of a black, Indian, Chinese, Korean or Russian actor playing Bond, then this won't be Bond any more for me - not the `Fleming Bond' anyway...."
@jetsetwilly I'm with you on this, all the way.
"The event is not detailed on either the IFP or TM sites. What exactly is going on?
Fire, steady, aim isn't in it. What a mess!"
@TriggerMortis Yeah, it is pretty damn strange. Even when Lucy Fleming spoke about this book briefly, and maybe I'm reading into this too much, but it seemed to me that she wasn't as enthusiastic about the book as she was in regard to the other lacklustre celebrity written Bond books.
I am a big fan of Horowitz because of 'Foyle's War' and 'House Of Silk' and I'm as sure as I can be that this book will be what we've all been looking for.
Furthermore, I want literary Bond to flourish - I owe my life long reading habit principally to Fleming. This is why I find this lacklustre and very amateur marketing campaign so annoying.
OK, I have to acknowledge that I come from an industry that employs some of the best and most expensive marketeers in the world and the book trade isn't in that league but, that is no excuse for not getting the basics right.
What's
Un animated web sites, two competing 'special editions', no teaser campaign, unadvertised events, no 'PR' effort. These are things that a junior can address.
In addition, the sites that try to stay on top of this stuff (BookBond & Artistic Licence Renewed) clearly get what information they have in dribs and drabs and mostly from other fans. Even this great site has precious little on the launch.
Doubtless the book will sell but whatever the number is, it could have been 50% higher!
I too want the literary Bond to flourish. I care much more about the books than the films.
I wonder if IFP are waiting to see what the initial reaction will be and if it's favourable, then they'll launch some sort of marketing campaign. I'm no expert when it comes to marketing.
Here's what Lucy Fleming said: (Okay, what she said sounds pretty enthusiastic. Must have been reading into this too much after all)
" Lucy Fleming, the niece of Ian Fleming, said: “What a brilliant birthday present for Ian - Anthony has written a James Bond book with a nail-biting adventure that could have come from Ian’s own typewriter. Anthony has cleverly incorporated Ian’s original ideas in to his own plot to produce a Bond book to remember.” "
Unfortunately, if you wait for a favourable reaction and then launch a marketing campaign, it's a little like putting the cart after the horse. They would have known months ago if they had a good book or not.
As for Ms.Fleming's comments, I'm sure she means well but as Mandy Rice-Davies used to say; "well, they would say that wouldn't they." Frankly, she says that every time and the last three have been outright stinkers!
I think the responsibility for marketing and the associated investment probably rests with Orion, Horowitz's publishers, and because they don't know if they'll be any more after this one, they are probably not motivated to do the maximum. This is why IFP should stick with one publisher.
With 'SOLO' IFP made a song and dance about going back to Fleming's original publisher as they had just done a deal with Random House on Fleming's back catalogue. This at least brought uniformity to the cover art and resulted in some level of brand building.
All of that seems to have gone by the wayside.
These things matter because if you don't look after a brand it will ultimately wilt and die.
That said, I have a huge confidence that TM will be the break through we've all been waiting for. I lobbied like crazy for Horowitz to get the job and if the result is as good as I hope, maybe IFP will have the wisdom to sign him up for a series. Then the publisher will have the incentive to invest.
@TriggerMortis
Oh certainly, she'd always say something positive. It's just that it initially occurred to me that she sounded less enthusiastic than she had in previous comments about the celebrity continuation books. I was either in a hurry when I read it or half asleep and not really concentrating.
Presuming the general consensus is that this is a good book, how do you think sales will go, taking into account the last 3 disappointments coupled with the lack of promotion for this novel.
How well did Carte Blanche do, sales wise?