It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
I quite enjoyed Japan, highly recommended!
Steven Jay Rubin
The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia
Ray Rombout
James bond handboek
Making of No Time To Die
Official
Bond Cars: The Definitive History
Edward Gross
Nobody Does it Better
Deborah Lipp
Ultimate James Bond fan book (2020)
Gareth Owen
Raising an Eyebrow: My Life with Sir Roger Moore
The Goldfinger Files
Waelty, Appel
Thank you!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1735461628/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Among the essential essays within:
"Gold Dust," an examination of the lost Bond continuation novel Per Fine Ounce.
"Uncut Gem," about the lost screenplay of Fleming's The Diamond Smugglers.
"SMERSH VS SMERSH," a look at the real organization and Fleming's version.
Rogue Royale: The Lost Bond film by the ‘Shakespeare of Hollywood’ -- an essential monograph on the unused screenplay of Casino Royale by Ben Hecht, Hollywood's greatest screenwriter.
"Catch-007," an article on the unused screenplay of Casino Royale by Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22.
"Enemy Action: The Literary Assassination of Ian Fleming," an examination of the critical backlash against the Bond books.
A Spy Is Born: Dennis Wheatley and the Secret Roots of Ian Fleming’s James Bond -- a monograph that reveals the biggest unknown influence on Bond.
"Licence To Hoax," a debunking of Donald McCormick's influential Fleming biography.
Have just finished this Lost Adventures book. Focuses on the more obscure corners of Bond - including scripts and treatments for films that never were, the comic books and James Bond Jr(!).
I really enjoyed it, especially the interview sections. But then I'm a sucker for the obscure stuff.
As for whether it offers new information that isn't currently in other books, I couldn't rightly say as I'm afraid I haven't read loads. But there's a lot of original interviews in that the author did himself, so I'm guessing so.
PS. The James Bond Jr section was the least interesting part to me. But that's mainly because I think the programme itself is terrible.
Thanks for the input. I read a negative Amazon review that found the James Bond Jr. section too long and much less interesting than the rest. I guess it sounds appropriate for such a project, but it's something I've never bothered to watch nor really care about, though I guess I'd read it over once. I recall a 007 Magazine article back in the early '90s when the show came out and can't recall a thing about it.
I've seen 2 versions of the book for 2 prices on Amazon. In weighing what I really wanted to read for the price, I opted for the 2020 season bundle of Mi6 Confidential as it offers more of a variety of what I'd like to read that is Bond-related, although I am interested in Lost Adventures at some point if the price is right.
I wish! His books (particularly OHMSS) are enjoyable for everyone!
I've said in other posts in this thread the prices of other recent Bond books are a factor in my not purchasing them, but I've paid more for Helfenstein books as they are so thorough in the research, writing and art that I know I'll read them over and over again they justify that price as they are part of a definitive part of a Bond library.
The prize wasn't an issue for me after reading several very positive reviews and I can't imagine a bondfan who wouldn't love them.
I have both of them and I concur!
Excellent Bond books!
Casino Royale
Written by: Ian Fleming
Edited by: Jason Haslam; Julia M. Wright
Publication Date: June 1, 2020
ISBN: 9781554814091 / 155481409X
330 pages; 5½" x 8½"
As far as I know, this is the first annotated edition of Fleming ever published! More details from the website:
Casino Royale (1953), Ian Fleming’s first novel, introduced James Bond and other recurring characters of the Bond series of novels and short stories. Complex, even conflicted, this Bond belongs to the post-war world of rationing, trauma, and a growing sense of uncertainty due to social and technological change and the rising tensions of the Cold War. This is the first edition of Casino Royale to include footnotes that provide a larger context for the novel as well as translate its French passages.
The edition also includes appendices that provide a number of other works by Fleming and other literary and historical materials that help to situate the spy thriller.
Comments
“Love him or hate him, James Bond remains relevant to some of the biggest debates of the times. This fine edition takes us to the source: the first Bond novel. Jason Haslam and Julia Wright provide the critical and historical tools to understand how Ian Fleming created what they call ‘rich registers’ of culture. From parsing his attention to grated boiled egg for what it suggests about post-war rationing to tracing his conversion of global politics and real-world documents of espionage into sensate narrative to placing his novel within a wider range of his own writings and several literary genres, the editors tease out layers and point to connections with depth, precision, and wit.” — Christine Bold, University of Guelph
“Some seven decades on, the figure of James Bond is as firmly embedded in popular culture as Sherlock Holmes or Dracula. This critical edition gives us the material we need to think through the many iterations of Bond, and the complexly nuanced world in which he moves in the novels. Immaculately researched and full of the kind of contextual detail needed for both those new to Bond and old friends to make sense of the nodes of masculinity, empire and sexuality that swirl around the ultimate spy, this is the edition for which we have been waiting.” — Stacy Gillis, Newcastle University
***
Here's the table of contents:
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Ian Fleming: His Life and Times
A Note on the Text
Casino Royale
Appendix A: Other Works by Ian Fleming
1. From “Foreign News,” The Kemsley Manual of Journalism (1950)
2. “Mudscape with Figures,” Spectator (5 August 1955)
3. From The Diamond Smugglers (1957)
4. “If I Were Prime Minister,” Spectator (9 October 1959)
5. “For Your Eyes Only” (1960)
6. “Quantum of Solace” (1960)
7. “Gary Powers and the Big Lie,” Sunday Times (11 March 1962)
8. “How to Write a Thriller,” Show (August 1962)
Appendix B: Tales of International Intrigue before Bond
1. From Erskine Childers, The Riddle of the Sands (1903, c. 1913)
2. Baroness Orczy, “The Fate of the ‘Artemis,’” Royal Magazine (November 1904)
3. From W. Somerset Maugham, Ashenden, or the British Agent (1928)
4. From Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon (1930, 1931)
Appendix C: Secret Intelligence: Some Historical Documents
1. D.C. Stapleton to Orme Sargent, Top Secret Letter (23 December 1947)
2. Orme Sargent, Top Secret Memo (19 October 1948)
3. House of Commons, “Foreign Service (Missing Officials),” Hansard (11 June 1951)
4. From Stanley Moss, “Christine the Brave: Bullets and Bluff with the Maquis,” Picture Post (27 September 1952)
Works Cited and Select Bibliography
***
I'm not familiar with the editors, but the Appendices suggest they know their Fleming, even if the blurb from Christine Bold (who definitely hates Bond) is a bit worrying. I'm going to try and purchase this edition of Casino Royale, but will face some difficult because...it's only sold in Canada!
As I suspected, this edition takes advantage of the fact that in Canada Fleming's novels are in the public domain. So this edition is entirely legal there but unauthorized for sale in the UK, US or anywhere else Fleming remains copyrighted.
Now, it has long been my opinion that we should have annotated editions of the novels, since all of them are half a century old and have plenty of now-obscure references. Furthermore, they deserve sustained critical commentary from scholars. So I encourage Ian Fleming Publications to creating its own annotated editions.
Could you ask them to toss in a few copies of Licence Expired: The Unauthorized James Bond while they're at it? Still curious about that one.
A nice chap at the Absolutely James Bond forum posted a detailed, multi-part review/summary of the book. There are spoilers, but by the time any of us get our hands on the book we'll have forgotten them.
Stories 01-06
Story 07
Stories 08-11
Stories 12-15
Stories 16-18
A friend picked this up for me at a sci-fi convention. It's pretty good! Quickie review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2980402490?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Thanks for posting these! I suspect it will be a very long time before I get my hands on a copy. If ever.
Nice review! I actually would be interested in reading Bond with a horror slant so these stories are probably right up my alley (and "illegal everywhere except Canada" would lend an extra allure to just about anything).
As for libraries, Worldcat reports copies held by the University of Calgary Library, Edmonton Public Library, the University of Alberta, Western Kentucky University, the University of Toronto's Robarts Library, Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, the University of New Brunswick, and Auckland Libraries in New Zealand.
That's actually pretty good for a rare Bond book! Worldcat still lists nothing for Talk of the Devil.