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I doubt I'll ever make it!
Thank you. Hopefully I'll manage it.
As you may know(!) it is one of my favourite James Bond continuation novels. I like the experimental nature of the novel - Bond more in the role of a policeman investigating high-profile assassinations around the world with the eventual target being identified Princess Diana and her two sons on a trip to the newly opened Euro Disney resort in Paris. I picked the username @Dragonpol as a reference to David Dragonpol, the villain of the piece, a serial killer ex-actor who is a master of disguise. Dragonpol one of my favourite villains from the Bond continuation novels and as a small tribute to his creator, the late great thriller writer John Gardner (1926-2007). I chose Dragonpol as my username as it's a Bond reference that is rather subtle and doesn't immediately scream "James Bond" unless you are familiar with the later Gardner Bond continuation novels. So without Mr Gardner penning Never Send Flowers over 30 years ago there would have been no David Dragonpol and hence no @Dragonpol here and I'm sure you'll agree that would have been a pity. ;)
Yes, she was great and also features in SeaFire (1994) and Cold (1996).
I have been meaning to go back and look, but is the buffoon of an MI5 Chief in NSF the same character who briefs Bond about Franco and Murik in the beginning of License Renewed?
One thing I think that Gardner could have dropped from NSF was the backstory on Laura March's creepo serial killer brother, David. He could have simply been mental and committed to a hospital and it would have satisfied the reason for her and Dragonpol's breakup. I felt that Laura being so closely associated with two different serial killers to be a stretch and it also made it seem ridiculous that MI5 could be so incompetent with their vetting and background checks. Unless Gardner was trying to discredit them lol.
An interesting bit of trivia - Gardner stated in an interview that Peter Janson-Smith (I believe) suggested "Never Send Flowers" for the title. You probably know who it was, Dragon.
I agree, it is a great title.
Yes, that's correct, and Gardner also mentions that he wasn't all that keen on it if I remember correctly. I think only about four of the titles they went with in the end were actually Gardner's own. I suppose that is the power of the committee approach taken to Bond continuation novels. Everybody wants their fleck of DNA to be on the finished product, as it were.
I've long said that a good alternative title for Never Send Flowers would have been Slay It With Flowers, after the chapter title in Fleming's You Only Live Twice. In many ways Never Send Flowers is Gardner's version of a You Only Live Twice type of Bond story.
Do you know what he originally wanted to call ND, MB? And which novels were eventually published with the titles he preferred?
Yes, as Gardner wrote on his website, titles always seemed to be a bone of contention. It felt like every man and his dog wanted their Bond novel title suggestion to be accepted. Titles were somewhat decided by committee when it would probably have been much better letting Gardner (a spy thriller author of some vintage) come up with the titles himself. I think Gardner said that only four of the titles that adorned his fourteen original Bond novels were actually ones he had chosen himself. Licence Renewed was originally titled Meltdown. Icebreaker was Gardner's choice though he said they rejected turkey after turkey such as Oh No, Mr Bond! before finally returning to it as the title. I'm glad as it's a good Bondian sounding title. Gardner mentioned in an interview in 1985 that Nobody Lives Forever was going to be called Tomorrow Always Comes which was Gardner's suggestion for the title. Of course, as we know, that title ultimately wasn't adopted.
I'm not sure it was ever revealed what the original title for No Deals, Mr Bond was going to be. We do know that it wasn't Gardner's choice of a title (though sadly he was blamed for it at the time by Bond fans) and that he was rightly opposed to it. It seems to have been an example of hard salesmanship on the part of Glidrose or the publishers who wanted "Bond" in the title even though his character name was usually plastered all over the first editions and paperback editions. I have read one poster on another Bond forum suggest Blackfriar as an alternative title for No Deals, Mr Bond and I think that works quite well. I believe Death is Forever came from dialogue in a Stephen King novel and was suggested by Peter Janson-Smith. Of course it's also mentioned at the end of Ian Fleming's Diamonds Are Forever. Gardner said it wasn't a very sophisticated title. Gardner also said in his interview with Raymond Benson for 007 Magazine that Never Send Flowers wasn't his title either and that he wasn't crazy about it as a title. I myself always thought that Slay it with Flowers would been a great alternative title for that one and as a bonus it's a chapter title from Fleming's You Only Live Twice too. I think that's pretty much it on the Gardner titles front.