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Forget about the content, what was the best continuation Bond novel title?

saunderssaunders Living in a world of avarice and deceit
edited May 2011 in Literary 007 Posts: 987
With <I>Carte Blanche</I> just around the corner it got me wondering which is the most most 'Flemingesque' title out of all the continuation novels and short stories, this is purely a discussion about the title merits rather than the quality of the books contents.

<B><I>The continuation novels and short stories</I></B>

<B>Robert Markham/Kingsley Amis </B>- Colonel Sun.

<B>John Gardner </B>- Licence Renewed/For Special Services/Icebreaker/Role Of Honor/Nobody Lives Forever/No Deals Mr Bond/Scorpius/Win, Lose, Or Die/Brokenclaw/The Man From Barbarossa/Death Is Forever/Never Send Flowers/SeaFire/Cold - Cold Fall.

<B>Raymond Benson </B>- Blast From The Past/Zero Minus Ten/ The Facts Of Death/ High Time To Kill/ Midsummer Night's Doom/Live At Five/Doubleshot/Never dream Of Dying/The Man With The Red Tattoo.

<B>Charlie Higson</B> - Silverfin/Blood Fever/Double Or Die/Hurricane Gold/By Royal; Command/A Hard Man To Kill.

<B>Sebastian Faulks </B>- The Devil May Care

<B>Jeffrey Deaver </B>- Carte Blanche


My personal choice would be <B>'Icebreaker'</B>
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Comments

  • Jazz007Jazz007 Minnesota
    Posts: 257
    As far as which title is the most "Flemingesque," "Carte Blanche" rings loudly of Fleming to me - more than "Never Dream Of Dying" & "Dead Is Forever" or films "Tomorrow Never Dies" & "Never Say Never Again," all of which try too hard to sound like Fleming and, in the end, do not - and has to be my favorite post-Fleming title in this point in time.

    I'm also a fan of titles "Devil May Care," "SeaFire," and "Icebreaker" in general.
  • LudsLuds MIA
    Posts: 1,986
    There are a few good ones. In no particular order,
    Licence Renewed, Never Send Flowers, and Nobody Lives Forever seem to stand out to me.
  • Gaz1961Gaz1961
    Posts: 117
    Nobody Lives Forever, I think, is the Flemingesquest of all of them, and I like Double Or Die, Never Dream Of Dying and High Time To Kill too. Worst: Brokenclaw, Scorpius and Blast From The Past.
  • saunderssaunders Living in a world of avarice and deceit
    Posts: 987
    I rather like both 'Brokenclaw' and 'Scorpius' though I agree with you that 'Blast From The Past' is poor, actually I think most of Benson's titles are rather weak with the possible exception of the 'Thunderball' sounding 'Doubleshot'.
  • The_Preacher711The_Preacher711
    Posts: 139
    A tough one there Mr Saunders..... don't think I can manage just one:

    Icebreaker (my favorite Gardner title).

    Win, Lose Or Die.

    Blood Fever.

    Double Or Die.

    Any of Benson's get a huge thumbs down from me..... 'Blast from the past' & 'Live at Five' especially. I know they were only short stories, but they sound like bad episode titles from a rubbish TV show.......

    Always had a particular issue with 'The Man With The Red Tattoo'- Fleming & Gardner had already done 'The Man...' titles, so did Benson simply fell left out? A poor title for a v.poor book.

  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    Colonel Sun sounds perfect to me.

    The first four Gardner titles are good - Licence Renewed/For Special Services/Icebreaker/Role Of Honor. After that they sound like pastiches.

    All of Bensons sound like pastiches with all the words in there 'Live' 'Die' 'Death' 'Kill' 'The Man..'. One or two like 'Midsummer Night's Doom' are almost laughable.

    Maybe 'Live At Five' is ok, sounding a little like a Fleming working title (such as 'Belles Of Hell').

    The Faulkes and Deaver titles are pretty good.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    Blood Fever, By Royal Command, Devil May Care and Carte Blanche are my favourites. The others aren't a patch on Fleming's to be honest.
  • anotherbondgeekanotherbondgeek
    Posts: 423
    Devil May Care or Carte Blanche, though I quite like Silverfin.
  • TolkienTolkien
    Posts: 26
    'Carte Blanche' screams Fleming to me, as does 'Devil May Care', 'Colonel Sun', 'Icebreaker' (though my favorite Gardner Bond novel is undoubtedly 'Role of Honor') and 'SilverFin'.
  • St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
    Posts: 1,699
    Maybe 'Live At Five' is ok, sounding a little like a Fleming working title (such as 'Belles Of Hell').
    Wasn't that a chat/ magazine show on Channel Five back in the day with Esther McVey? Could swear it was. Sort of on a par with Good Morning: Anne And Nick. ;)

    Anyhoo, agree with you, Nackers; Colonel Sun has to be the best continuation novel title. Not necessarily great for a Bond film title, but has a short, sharp, cool sound about it for a Bond novel. Another novel title I've always liked is The Man From Barbarossa. It's not particularly Flemingian or Bondian, but for a general novel title, it ain't bad...
  • ChevronChevron Northern Ireland
    Posts: 370
    I always quite liked the title 'Brokenclaw'.
  • sirrogersirroger
    Posts: 17
    License Renewed is a good one...it actually might have been a good title for Brosnan's first movie after that 6 year hiatus. Facts of Death is a good one too.
  • CoH_GHOST_007CoH_GHOST_007
    Posts: 303
    The ones that sound like a Bond:
    - Silverfin, Blood Fever, Hurricane Gold, By Royal Command (All charlie higson coincidently), Role of Honour : is pretty decent...

    But i don't like the ones that sound too familiar:
    - The man from Barbrossa, Nobody lives forever, Licence Renewed etc.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    Maybe 'Live At Five' is ok, sounding a little like a Fleming working title (such as 'Belles Of Hell').
    Wasn't that a chat/ magazine show on Channel Five back in the day with Esther McVey? Could swear it was. Sort of on a par with Good Morning: Anne And Nick. ;)

    Hmm, unintentially Georgio, you may have stumbled on the ultimate film title there.
    And if we could get the real Anne and Nick involved. Brrrrrr I'm shivvering with anticipation. :-D \:D/
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    edited May 2011 Posts: 9,117
    NIcks a connsumate professional and has plenty of Bond experience with his premiere coverage on ITV in the 80s so would not be overawed in a major role (as a fascinating aside his wife used to dress my wound after I had an abscess on the arse).

    Anne though these days looks more like a henchman - Austin Powers fat bastard anyone?
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    NIcks a connsumate professional and has plenty of Bond experience with his premiere coverage on ITV in the 80s so would not be overawed in a major role (as a fascinating aside his wife used to dress my wound after I had an abscess on the arse).

    Anne though these days looks more like a henchman - Austin Powers fat bastard anyone?
    :-)) ...apart from the unwanted image of someone dressing an abscess on your arse, of course. ;-)
  • QuarterdeckQuarterdeck
    Posts: 136
    'For Special Services'...love that title
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    The problem that I have with most of the titles is it sounds like they're trying to hard to evoke a Flemingesque title. A lot of them sound like titles that I would have come up with when I was 12 - like someone else said they sound like pastiches.

    The two that I do really like - and more importantly, sound Flemingesque - are Carte Blanche and Devil May Care. I particularly like DMC because depending upon your point of view it can sound light-hearted or have a touch of the sinister about it.
  • BounineBounine
    Posts: 2,598
    I like Never Send Flowers. Icebreaker and For Special Services are good ones too. I hate Double or Die. Children voted for that one though. Higson looked disappointed when that title was announced. I think he would have preferred The Deadlock Cyper which is a good title.
  • JWESTBROOKJWESTBROOK
    Posts: 5,745
    I like Never Send Flowers as well. Also Devil May Care, Blood Fever, By Royal Command, and Zero Minus Ten sounds cool, but I have no idea what it could mean.
  • BounineBounine
    Posts: 2,598
    Zero Minus Ten and By Royal Command are good ones too, yes.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,277
    Icebreaker and For Special Services, which sounds like it could be the title of an unusual mission for Bond, a la the novel YOLT.
  • BounineBounine
    edited January 2012 Posts: 2,598
    No they aren't unusual or especially unusual (I say "especially" because a good few of Bond's assignments are unusual) missions for Bond but For Special Services is a very good Bond book and Icebreaker isn't bad either.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Doubleshot
    Never Dream of Dying
    Devil May Care
    Win, Lose or Die
  • BrutusBrutus
    edited January 2012 Posts: 32
    I always thought Icebreaker was the best title, and could make a convincing film title. However, it isn't the case in some of the foreign translations... the Finnish name for the book was 'James Bond in Finland'!

    'No Deals, Mr Bond' is a pretty cool name, although I heard that John Gardner was against the title, he didn't want to do anything with 'James Bond' in the title.

    The most unusual title is Cold, (or is it C.O.L.D.?). Most people I speak to can't believe there was a James Bond novel simply called Cold.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,277
    Bounine wrote:
    No they aren't unusual or especially unusual (I say "especially" because a good few of Bond's assignments are unusual) missions for Bond but For Special Services is a very good Bond book and Icebreaker isn't bad either.

    YOLT is unusual.
  • JamesStockJamesStock
    Posts: 572
    Carte Blanche is my personal favorite.

    Never Send Flowers, The Devil May Care, Colonel Sun, and Icebreaker are good as well.
  • BounineBounine
    Posts: 2,598
    echo wrote:
    Bounine wrote:
    No they aren't unusual or especially unusual (I say "especially" because a good few of Bond's assignments are unusual) missions for Bond but For Special Services is a very good Bond book and Icebreaker isn't bad either.

    YOLT is unusual.

    Yes, YOLT is unusual. I was talking about the two Gardner books.

  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,277
    Bounine wrote:
    echo wrote:
    Bounine wrote:
    No they aren't unusual or especially unusual (I say "especially" because a good few of Bond's assignments are unusual) missions for Bond but For Special Services is a very good Bond book and Icebreaker isn't bad either.

    YOLT is unusual.

    Yes, YOLT is unusual. I was talking about the two Gardner books.

    This thread is about the continuation titles, not their content.

  • BounineBounine
    Posts: 2,598
    You brought it up. :)
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