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Comments
remember reading the other two.
Isn't it about his son James Suzuki being killed by Irma Bunt or something?
When I read the line (bearing in mind this is from memory from about 20 years ago) 'Bond had flown over to Japan to visit him several times and James had visited London' I decided this is horseshit.
Kissy Suzuki's baby is nothing that should ever be addressed in Bond books or films. Even less so in films. If P&W were writing they would make him Blofeld.
Yes, that's the one. Gardner was not allowed to use this plot device that was a hangover from the end of Fleming's penultimate Bond novel You Only Live Twice (1964). Clearly Glidrose (as it then was) changed their mind on this and so it followed that this was Raymond Benson's first piece of writing on James Bond where he got the opportunity to introduce Bond's forgotten son.
I really, really didn't like Midsummer's Night Doom. At the end, it's revealed Hugh Hefner knows who Bond is and has been following his career. The finale line recycles the final line from the Goldfinger novel.
For some reason this short story has eluded me for years. I finally came across it the other day after just having read YOLT again. There were so many directions, so many places Benson could have taken this story. Instead of a blast, it was a fizzle.
I gather the irony wasn't intended, but a Bond who had to be pushing 60 and shagging a girl who might not even be 18 felt like an homage to Hugh Hefner.
I'd be interested in hearing other thoughts on this story.
I'll now add the following observation. There is no question children enrich our lives, but in fiction they become problematic. I don't know how many television shows have been wrecked by the introduction of marriage and children. Again, not against kids. I have three of my own and grandchildren. But in fiction children have to be dealt with in some way. Benson thought killing off the son of Bond was appropriate. It was cheesy and lazy. Irma Bunt could have hurt Bond in so many other more interesting ways. Son of Bond should have never have been introduced again.
Changing up Bond is rarely satisfying. Most of us, I gather, don't relate to Bond because he represents reality. He is a work of fiction and fantasy. He needs to stay that way.