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Ok calm down. Then it's just Ian Fleming building suspense.
It's the sort of scheme an insane supervillain would devise to keep busy during retirement. You can't keep blackmailing countries and waging germ warfare forever, you know. Someday a mad genius has to settle down with his beautiful interesting-looking girlfriend and think of more modest ways to cause pain and suffering.
Exactly. Just an occasional dead body to throw into the piranha pond. What could be a more comforting refuge in your declining years?
It is. That bit always stands out to me and makes me think of the DAD sword fight.
Another reason to think of Gustav Graves as Hugo Drax Lite...
It could happen.
It's my favourite, but if you dislike it from the heart, no amount of persuasion is going to talk you round. (For me, it's the setting and descriptions that put this one above the rest, especially the beach scene and the moonlit car chase from London.)
Give Bond a break, though: it's very easy for the reader to spot what's going on before he does. We're already expecting a big villain, and it's clear to us that it will be Drax, while for Bond he's an established national hero.
Thanks for this... I've enjoyed watching his videos. His reactions mirrored my own when I first reread the series as an adult...CR good, LALD a step down. MR glorious. DAF a real misfire. Then the glorious one, two punch o'f FRWL and DN. He also ranks DN slightly above FRWL and just under MR. They're my top three books and if I had to rank, I would probably agree and go MR>DN>FRWL.
If you could have your pick of a Bond author, who'd you pick?
I know that this question was addressed to @Birdleson but I'd like to chime in with my thoughts too, if I may?
I'm sure that Frederick Forsyth could have written a crackingly good James Bond novel if he'd have wanted to. Forsyth was actually asked over lunch by Peter Janson-Smith's son Patrick in 2001 if he'd be interested in writing a Bond continuation novel but he declined. I remember reading that on the sadly now defunct 007 Forever site that has been a great inspiration for my own blog.
From what I've heard in interviews Mr Forsyth wasn't the biggest fan of Fleming or Bond though that didn't stop the Press hailing him as the true successor to Ian Fleming after the publication of his debut novel The Day of the Jackal in 1971.
As for authors now, I don't know why Ken Follett was never asked to try his hand at a Bond novel. He is a Fleming and Bond fan and would most likely do an excellent job. Of course it could be that he was asked and we just don't know about it!
I suppose that out of current authors Mick Herron might be a good fit for a contemporary-set Bond Continuation novel, although that would go against the grain of the current period-set Bond novels by Anthony Horowitz. One for the future, though, perhaps.
You would think, but I always surmise some death was a big possibility and they figure the death of a few hundred (still quite the tragedy, though) is better than the loss of millions and millions. However, doesn't Bond mention something about the radiation during the post mission briefing to M and he says it's not a big concern for some reason? Think it might've been something to do with how the rocket landed or detonated or what have you.
And yes, I'm still not even halfway through DAF, been slacking this past week because I've been prioritizing films over this.
I shall! I'd hate to duck out at nearly the same time as I did last time, I want to see it through to the end.
Those are the highlights for me, along with Bond and Leiter getting to spend some time together and the sulphur/mud baths sequence.
I'm not sure why, either - I'd say it came a lot closer in the earlier films, and particularly NSNA, than Craig's era has, but I really do want to see a proper, wholehearted friendship between the two in the films someday.
Agreed, 100%. If Skyfall could work well with M, maybe something along the storyline of Dynamite Comic's Felix Leiter arc. Maybe throw in Tiger Tanaka for fun.
DAF
DN
FRWL
MR
GF
I only have CR.
Also, how's DAF coming along (for those who haven't finished), and for those who are up to FRWL, how's it going for you? I'm always intrigued by the length it takes to get to James Bond himself, and that we spend several chapters going over Grant, his backstory, the higher-ups in SMERSH, what their next plan is, etc. It's refreshing.
@Some_Kind_Of_Hero and I watched it last week and can report it was a worthwhile though slightly jumpy affair. The program features interviews with Fleming's stepdaughter Fionn, his nieces (the daughters of his brother Peter), Nicholas Rankin (author of Ian Fleming's Commandos), and Simon Winder (The Man Who Saved Britain). Moonraker fans will be happy to see a visit to the book's Dover locations.
The program was actually made for German TV in 2015, and originally had German narration. The English version only appeared last year. The German origins of program are also evident in the footage of Bond-themed parties in Kitzbühel ("really tacky" was Hero's reaction) and an interview with the German translators of the Bond books. Overall, the program is a nice supplement to Ian Fleming - 007’s Creator, the documentary included on The Living Daylights special edition.
That's some heavy reading there. I should be on DN by then, at least.