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In Praise Of Colonel Sun
Fellow Agents,
Am I the only spy alive that loves this book?
Published in 1968, the first Bond continuation novel rather annoyingly remains a diamond in the rough and one can only wonder why?
Perhaps it didn't come out at the optimum time?
It had been four years since Fleming's death and four years since the last decent Bond book (YOLT). In the interim, we'd only had the very shallow TMWTGG and a collection of short stories (O&TLD) most of which had been published elsewhere.
Furthermore, Connery had resigned his double 0 number and the spy game had moved on.
Peter O'Donnell's "Modesty Blaise" franchise was in full swing, Len Deighton's dour Whitehall warrior had made his mark, John Gardner's Boysie Oakes series was going great guns, Callan's light bulb was swinging and Adam Hall had launched the terrific "Quiller". Furthermore, there had been a number of other very creditable entries into the genre from the likes of James Munro, Adam Diment, John Le Carre etc..
The literary spy scene had developed, had fragmented and had become very competitive and for the first time our hero's crown was slipping and he was in danger of loosing his place as Britain's top secret agent.
Against this back drop, "Colonel Sun" was up against it from the get go and the Fleming estate made a difficult mission even more precarious by taking the ludicrous decision to launch the book under the pseudonym of Robert Markham rather than taking advantage of Kingsley Amis' considerable literary chops.
That said, the book itself is fantastic and is a must read for any Bond aficionado . I won't give a synopsis because it is well described on this fabulous site but suffice to say it is only only bettered by Fleming's own FRWL & OHMSS.
The secret lies in the fact that Amis clearly loved Bond and dedicated himself to giving us a flat out, credible spy thriller, the like of which we had not seen since FRWL. Bond breaks sweat, saves 'M' and wards off a potentially devastating terrorist attack. It is as relevant today as it was then and I certainly hope that William Boyd reads it as part of his research because, if set in '69, his book will chronologically follow this gem of a mission and if he learns from the late, great Amis, this will be no bad thing !
Meanwhile, whilst you are waiting for the next continuation novel, do yourself a favour, read the best and let me know what you think.
Regards,
Bentley
Am I the only spy alive that loves this book?
Published in 1968, the first Bond continuation novel rather annoyingly remains a diamond in the rough and one can only wonder why?
Perhaps it didn't come out at the optimum time?
It had been four years since Fleming's death and four years since the last decent Bond book (YOLT). In the interim, we'd only had the very shallow TMWTGG and a collection of short stories (O&TLD) most of which had been published elsewhere.
Furthermore, Connery had resigned his double 0 number and the spy game had moved on.
Peter O'Donnell's "Modesty Blaise" franchise was in full swing, Len Deighton's dour Whitehall warrior had made his mark, John Gardner's Boysie Oakes series was going great guns, Callan's light bulb was swinging and Adam Hall had launched the terrific "Quiller". Furthermore, there had been a number of other very creditable entries into the genre from the likes of James Munro, Adam Diment, John Le Carre etc..
The literary spy scene had developed, had fragmented and had become very competitive and for the first time our hero's crown was slipping and he was in danger of loosing his place as Britain's top secret agent.
Against this back drop, "Colonel Sun" was up against it from the get go and the Fleming estate made a difficult mission even more precarious by taking the ludicrous decision to launch the book under the pseudonym of Robert Markham rather than taking advantage of Kingsley Amis' considerable literary chops.
That said, the book itself is fantastic and is a must read for any Bond aficionado . I won't give a synopsis because it is well described on this fabulous site but suffice to say it is only only bettered by Fleming's own FRWL & OHMSS.
The secret lies in the fact that Amis clearly loved Bond and dedicated himself to giving us a flat out, credible spy thriller, the like of which we had not seen since FRWL. Bond breaks sweat, saves 'M' and wards off a potentially devastating terrorist attack. It is as relevant today as it was then and I certainly hope that William Boyd reads it as part of his research because, if set in '69, his book will chronologically follow this gem of a mission and if he learns from the late, great Amis, this will be no bad thing !
Meanwhile, whilst you are waiting for the next continuation novel, do yourself a favour, read the best and let me know what you think.
Regards,
Bentley
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Comments
I'll make sure to post my thoughts when i've read it.
Try reading it then Devil May Care one after the other. They are both set around the same time yet worlds apart in terms of quality.
May have something to do with the familiarity of Fleming as in 1968 it would still be relatively fresh in people minds as they were still quite new reads.
Dear dchantry,
How right you are!
When you compare the two, the quality gap is huge.
Amis was a self confessed Bond afficianado and a literary icon who loved Fleming's work (he was also a huge Modesty Blaise fan). He gave CS the TLC it deserved. In fact, the plot is good enough to warrant an update for a Craig film.
Faulks, who enjoys a similar reputation amongst the literary intelligencia simply took the money and ran.
The six million dollar question is what will Boyd, a similarly feted author do? Personally, I have a good feeling. He is no stranger to the genre and having just finished "Ordinary Thunderstorms" and "Waiting For Sunrise", I can confirm that there is a certain Flemingesque tone to his writing and he will definitely be able to capture the era and ambiance. Will he be able to put the to pace it up and thrill us? We will see.
In any event, I'll be at the front of the cyber que on launch day.
Regarding Gardner, who you also mention - I can thoroughly recommend the first five in his continuation series. He was a good author in his own right and did a great '80s reboot. He really captured the zeitgeist and gave us some creditable character development. The best are available in a beautiful hardback set with the original art and I think they are also releasing them one by one in e-book format.
Regards,
Bentley
I recently re-read all of the Flemings and I read CS to boot. To read them all in a fairly short time together gave me even more appreciation for CS. While not a pastiche of Fleming - you can tell by the style that it's a different author - there are enough similarities that it fits in well with "the canon" IMHO. I could almost believe that it was a book that Fleming wrote had he taken some time off and evolved, rather than changed, his style.
I'm curious to read Licence Renewed to see how it fits in with everything preceding it. I read a bit of Gardner when I was a young teen and thought the books just okay. I read a couple of Bensons at the insistence of a friend and thought they were terrible...
Ebay, thats where I got mine for a few ££s
Thanks, I'll have a look see sometime.
Ironically,legend has it that TMWTGG was unfinished when Fleming passed away and Gildrose got Amis to complete it.
Reputedly, he wasn't enamoured with the task because he considered it to be fare from Fleming's best work.
Doubtless that spurred him on to knock one out of the park when he got his chance.
Brilliant it undoubtably is!
Regards,
Bentley
I hope Boyle takes Bentley's advice and takes CS on board - after the bilge we've suffered from Faulkes and Deaver, we need something good.
Too bad they didn't let Charlie Higson take his series on through the war years. That would have been brilliant.
Higson has a plan to do that one day. It just may take longer than we'd like to see happen.
I haven't re-read it for some years now (ever since my prized copy was destroyed by a vengeful ex!) but I will get round to finding another copy and giving it another go after I have made my way through the Flemings - I have just begun again from the top, and am currently part-way through Casino Royale.
Would love to see CS adapted as the next movie - Daniel Craig would have a ball with it.
Here's my copy that I found at a used bookstore back in the T2 days...
Doubtless Higson would like to do it. It's a natural continuum but will IFP let him?
It would mean that he would be transitioning into adult Bond mode and normally, post Gardner, IFP reserves that privilege for the unknown and untalented (Benson),the disinterested (Faulkes) or trashy (Deaver).
It would still be under the title of Young Bond. After the five Eton books, Higson plans a trilogy at Fettes before concluding with the War. That brings things right up to Casino Royale in a way.
It would still be under the title of Young Bond. After the five Eton books, Higson plans a trilogy at Fettes before concluding with the War. That brings things right up to Casino Royale in a way.[/quote]
Bond loosing his virginity, getting kicked out of school and having his wallet stolen in a Paris brothel is going to make the "Young" brand a little redundant. N'est pas?
Great move - most unlike them!
Bond is older, yes, of course but the books would be under the 'Young Bond' brand so Higson tells us. I didn't decide it, so don't blame me!
One of the great things about Higson's terrific novels is that he completely respects Fleming's creation and I don't think a "virgin" Bond would get through another book.
I look forward to your future contribution to this thread and my one on the increased levels of violence in Colonel Sun. As I may have said, I'm currently writing a lengthy article on the Amis Bond novel entitled 'The Strange Death of Colonel Sun' which will appear in time on The Bondologist Blog.