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Oh yes they have - read SOLO and weep!
Youve obviously never read DMC then?
I don't think that many of us are ever "surprised" by the antics of the literary Tomahori.*
We are just dreadfully disappointed and worried about their next move. Having sabotaged the adult Bond franchise with that Boyd stinker, SOLO, they seem hell bent on torpedoing the excellent work of friend Higson. Just when we wanted to see him (Charlie) promoted to adult 007 duty so he could take us through Bond's war.
Nothing unrealistic about this - just good common sense!
(*copywright@TheWizardOflce)
These four new books will be about Bond's times at Fettes before he begins fighting in the war I suppose. I can't remember, if Higson had Bond born in 1924 or 1920 as Pearson stated. He told me that he never read Pearson's excellent biography of Bond though. Bond would be 13 in 1937 if we go by Fleming's 1924 timeline. This means that Bond will be 15 when the war begins in 1939. He'll be 21 in 1945 when it ends. How old did one have to be to enlist? 18? If this is the case then Bond might enter the war in 1942.
Weren't all of Higson's books set around the time of 1937 and 1938 when Bond was 13 and 14? I can't remember but I will read By Royal Command again in preparation for Cole's 4 books. I'll probably read Silverfin too for a second time. The first and the last entries are my favourite Yound Bond books. Bloodfever is my second favourite. Hurricane Gold, while enjoyable, has too much action in it. The 3rd one, Double of Die (rank title but then the kiddies voted for that one) is a good read but not up there with the first, second and last.
Maybe Higson will return to write about Bond's war years. Let's see how Cole performs first though. Or maybe Cole will have him enter the war in the 2nd to last or last book.
Is it really that bad.... sigh
In Young Bond, Bond is born in 1920 and the first series takes place in 1933/1934 when he is 13/14 years old. He will be 14 - 18 in this second series I would assume and aged between 19 and 25 during the War series. From there that ties into adult Bond going into the Service.
“Part of getting the job was to work out a pitch for a story arch to cover four books,” he said."
Sounds like IFP have a decent screening process. With the adult Bond books, if a bad book has been written, it is easier to quietly write it off and forget about it, not including it in the Fleming timeline as it only covers one assignment but in terms of the young Bond books, it's a different story. These cover a significant part of Bond's life and lead up to how he became a secret agent so if the books are poor ones, then unless IFP decide to have this section of Bond's life written all over again which I doubt would happen, then it's really important as a literary Bond fan that the author gets this right. I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed!
I wonder if they have someone else taking care of the young Bond series :-?
Thanks for making that available, @Bounine.
Yes, I remember O.F. Snelling saying how he'd love to have Fleming elaborate on this mnentionj in the FAVTAK short story to equal short story length as a fascinating one-off. We've still not seen it, fifty years on.
Higson's five novels echoed Fleming's first five, I wonder if Cole will do the same?
I guess only time will tell, but I certainly hope so!
Maybe it's more IFP's doing. I can't help thinking that Cole would have been pleased to have included Bond's latter teenage years (or maybe I should say mid teen years) too. As you said, IFP most likely want to "milk the young Bond cow". Still, it means we get more books. I just hope that they're good ones!
Have you read John Pearson's excellent Bond biography? He expanded on this very event and did a wonderful job. This is my favourite continuation Bond book even though it's not a traditional Bond story focusing on just one assignment. Many parts of it read like Fleming short stories.
Your welcome.
Yes, sorry, I'd completely forgotten about that! I still need to read that one, though!
I definitely recommend that you check this one out. It really is a wonderful read. Pearson should be writing these adult continuation novels! Even though he's in his 80's now, it looks like he may still be writing. He wrote a biography of Ian Fleming back in the day.
Yes, it's something of a mystery why he was never asked to write more Bond continuation novels.
He encompassed Fleming's code but he was quite prepared to re-write aspects of the legend were it either didn't work or was irrelevant to modern audiences. A classic example being the hoary old issue of smoking. In Silverfin, Higson had Bond's beloved uncle die of lung cancer. A sure deterrent to a young Bond and a salient message for young people. Handling it this way, he didn't ignore the issue of smoking, something prevalent at that time . He just played it in a way that was relevant for his audience.
Beyond those details, he gave us rip roaring violent adventures that even managed to incorporate the beginnings of the sexual awakening of Bond.
If only the numb skulls commissioned by IFP for adult Bond had shown the same skill and defecation to the task. I loved all of Higson's books and for me, he never dropped the ball once.
I doubt that Cole has remotely the same ability.
Sadly it's how people operate these days, though.
I wish Mr.Cole well with his venture.
That said, IFP's track record gives me little confidence and I don't see anything in his 'CV' that remotely puts him into Higson's league.
Charlie was a successful author in his own right before he picked up the Bond gig - amongst other things he had four stand alone adult thrillers to his credit as well as huge TV credentials.
Furthermore he did say that he would have relished continuing his relationship and had ideas on how to develop the scenario.
Could 'The Literary Tamohari' wait - oh no, the cow needs milking so we get a Dr.Who novelisation writer and that is that. Well sorry folks it just doesn't work for me. I'm afraid fatigue has set in!