'On His Majesty's Secret Service' by Charlie Higson (2023)

1568101115

Comments

  • Posts: 9,847
    Curious to see if we get any details about the new james bond his age etc
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,413
    I think Higson has said in interviews that he was born around 1988.
  • Posts: 9,847
    I AM OLDER THEN JAMES BOND sigh :(

    Well it happens to the best of us who is ready to start drinking on cinco de mayo
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Risico007 wrote: »
    I AM OLDER THEN JAMES BOND sigh :(

    Well it happens to the best of us who is ready to start drinking on cinco de mayo

    Yes, the literary Bond is now younger than me too. It's official. I suppose it had to happen at some point with a contemporary set Bond continuation novel...
  • Posts: 9,847
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Risico007 wrote: »
    I AM OLDER THEN JAMES BOND sigh :(

    Well it happens to the best of us who is ready to start drinking on cinco de mayo

    Yes, the literary Bond is now younger than me too. It's official. I suppose it had to happen at some point with a contemporary set Bond continuation novel...

    Closing time Dragonpol buy me another pint :)

    Wait how is that not the next use a bond line… cause i need a good bond line for how i feel now being 2 years older then 007
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Risico007 wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Risico007 wrote: »
    I AM OLDER THEN JAMES BOND sigh :(

    Well it happens to the best of us who is ready to start drinking on cinco de mayo

    Yes, the literary Bond is now younger than me too. It's official. I suppose it had to happen at some point with a contemporary set Bond continuation novel...

    Closing time Dragonpol buy me another pint :)

    Wait how is that not the next use a bond line… cause i need a good bond line for how i feel now being 2 years older then 007

    Try being four years older! Oh, well. Time waits for no man, as they say. I wouldn't want to be a youngster nowadays anyway.
  • Posts: 9,847
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Risico007 wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Risico007 wrote: »
    I AM OLDER THEN JAMES BOND sigh :(

    Well it happens to the best of us who is ready to start drinking on cinco de mayo

    Yes, the literary Bond is now younger than me too. It's official. I suppose it had to happen at some point with a contemporary set Bond continuation novel...

    Closing time Dragonpol buy me another pint :)

    Wait how is that not the next use a bond line… cause i need a good bond line for how i feel now being 2 years older then 007

    Try being four years older! Oh, well. Time waits for no man, as they say. I wouldn't want to be a youngster nowadays anyway.

    So your Bond quote would i presume be

    “Well you cant win them all”

    Or
    “Nick Nack Tabasco”
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Risico007 wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Risico007 wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Risico007 wrote: »
    I AM OLDER THEN JAMES BOND sigh :(

    Well it happens to the best of us who is ready to start drinking on cinco de mayo

    Yes, the literary Bond is now younger than me too. It's official. I suppose it had to happen at some point with a contemporary set Bond continuation novel...

    Closing time Dragonpol buy me another pint :)

    Wait how is that not the next use a bond line… cause i need a good bond line for how i feel now being 2 years older then 007

    Try being four years older! Oh, well. Time waits for no man, as they say. I wouldn't want to be a youngster nowadays anyway.

    So your Bond quote would i presume be

    “Well you cant win them all”

    Or
    “Nick Nack Tabasco”

    You can't win them all, definitely.
  • edited May 2023 Posts: 1,078
    I'm a bit in and enjoying it, though after the past few years reading Fleming and Horowitz Bonds based in the fifties and sixties, it's a bit jarring having M talk about blogging and not being allowed to smoke in his office, and Bond's on-line presence, (or lack of it).
    There's a typo at the bottom of page six. That's quite unusual for a mass-market novel.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Sadly my copies have still not arrived. I bought one through eBay and it has been dispatched. I think I managed to buy a signed edition too afterwards direct from IFP.
  • timdalton007timdalton007 North Alabama
    edited May 2023 Posts: 155
    There's a typo at the bottom of page six. That's quite unusual for a mass-market novel.

    Per the interview Higson did with David Zaritsky on YouTube, the book came together at great speed. He got asked in February, it was written in March, and edited in April. And Higson owned up in the interview to spotting a couple of mistakes when he was reading the audiobook but it was too late to correct the print edition. As an author myself, I sympathize as typos do happen, even with multiple passes over a manuscript by different people.

  • edited May 2023 Posts: 5,994
    Speaking of the book, could I have the diemnsions, preferably in metric ? So as to know on which shelf of my Bond-dedicated bookcase I can put it ?
  • JustJamesJustJames London
    Posts: 216
    That was amusing.
    I think/hope there will be a follow up.
    And I will be curious to see if some of the things I think are being set up are true.
  • Posts: 9,847
    JustJames wrote: »
    That was amusing.
    I think/hope there will be a follow up.
    And I will be curious to see if some of the things I think are being set up are true.

    Care to pm me your thoughts i would love to know what to be on the look out for
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,634
    Risico007 wrote: »
    JustJames wrote: »
    That was amusing.
    I think/hope there will be a follow up.
    And I will be curious to see if some of the things I think are being set up are true.

    Care to pm me your thoughts i would love to know what to be on the look out for

    Same here!
  • JustJamesJustJames London
    Posts: 216
    No idea how the pm system works… is there not a spoilers discussion for the book?
  • brinkeguthriebrinkeguthrie Piz Gloria
    Posts: 1,400
    yeah I found a typo early on. surprised.
  • Posts: 9,847
    I skimmed through the sample i am tempted to buy this book twice once digital and once physical because i dont want to wait to read it lol

    Overall from what i have read its better then the Horowitz novels and actually i enjoy it better almost as much a Benson and its only one chapter in…

    Praying Higson is announced as the next continuation author with a modern set series of 6 novels not including this one (bringing his total to 7)
  • Posts: 1,078
    Risico007 wrote: »
    Praying Higson is announced as the next continuation author with a modern set series of 6 novels not including this one (bringing his total to 7)

    Will his downbeat comments about NTTD have any influence on him being chosen to do more? I don't know how much EON and the Fleming family have to do with each other.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited May 2023 Posts: 18,281
    Risico007 wrote: »
    Praying Higson is announced as the next continuation author with a modern set series of 6 novels not including this one (bringing his total to 7)

    Will his downbeat comments about NTTD have any influence on him being chosen to do more? I don't know how much EON and the Fleming family have to do with each other.

    I doubt it'll make much difference. It seems to be a trend with most Bond continuation authors including Amis, Gardner, Faulks, Boyd, Horowitz and now Higson to criticise the Bond films. Gardner famously didn't watch the Bond films during his long run as Bond continuation author so as not be to influenced by them in any way. The novels and the films are different beasts and although Eon is much bigger financially than IFP I don't think much will change. There's always been a healthy rivalry between the novels and the films and authors have written further Bond novels in the past after being critical of the contemporary Bond films.
  • Posts: 1,078
    That's good to hear, thanks. I hope Higson does more. Not necessarily because I think he's great, (I'm only a few chapters in), but because I'd like Bond novels on a more regular basis.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited May 2023 Posts: 16,413
    I’m actually finding it quite easy to imagine Craig’s Bond in this: 007 has a nicely dry, sarcastic sense of humour as Craig’s Bond did. That’s not a criticism at all: I think it works well.
    I also like that the main girl
    has a bit of the flavour of the heroine from Girl With the Dragon
    Tattoo
    Also the ‘tell me something I don’t know’ joke made me genuinely laugh :)
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    My copy of OHM2S arrived from eBay this afternoon. So the story is two days out of date. It's a good job it's not milk on this very hot day here!

    I'm looking forward to reading it. It's the most exciting literary Bond news I've heard for a good few years, being a lover of the traditional Fleming-Amis-Gardner-Benson contemporary set continuity in particular.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,634
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    My copy of OHM2S arrived from eBay this afternoon. So the story is two days out of date. It's a good job it's not milk on this very hot day here!

    I'm looking forward to reading it. It's the most exciting literary Bond news I've heard for a good few years, being a lover of the traditional Fleming-Amis-Gardner-Benson contemporary set continuity in particular.

    Don’t forget the birthday boy today, Jeffery Deaver! He wrote Bond in modern day as well!
  • edited May 2023 Posts: 9,847
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    My copy of OHM2S arrived from eBay this afternoon. So the story is two days out of date. It's a good job it's not milk on this very hot day here!

    I'm looking forward to reading it. It's the most exciting literary Bond news I've heard for a good few years, being a lover of the traditional Fleming-Amis-Gardner-Benson contemporary set continuity in particular.

    Agreed from what i read so far its better then really every book since Carte Blanche… very happy
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    My copy of OHM2S arrived from eBay this afternoon. So the story is two days out of date. It's a good job it's not milk on this very hot day here!

    I'm looking forward to reading it. It's the most exciting literary Bond news I've heard for a good few years, being a lover of the traditional Fleming-Amis-Gardner-Benson contemporary set continuity in particular.

    Don’t forget the birthday boy today, Jeffery Deaver! He wrote Bond in modern day as well!

    Yes, I should have included him too as part of the contemporary set literary Bond school. Happy Birthday to him!
  • edited May 2023 Posts: 1,078
    Risico007 wrote: »
    Agreed from what i read so far its better then really every book since Carte Blanche… very happy

    I'll do a write-up after I've read it, but it's absolutely nowhere near Horowitz's Bonds. That's not to say I'm not enjoying it, or that I don't think it's an essential purchase for Bond book fans.
    It's great fun.
  • mybudgetbondmybudgetbond The World
    Posts: 189
    It was…..ok.

    Basically read like fanfiction. Too many modern references to people and events. Fleming peppered them in…here they are sprinkled like Hundreds & Thousands.

    Plot was ok, but who was this Bond? I couldn’t get a feel for him or who he was.


    Nowhere near the level of Horowitz. I prefer my Literary Bond in the Fleming era personally. However I don’t think we will be getting that again for a while, if ever. Oh well.


  • edited May 2023 Posts: 9,847
    I almost want to suffer through the Horowitz trilogy what is everyone seeing that i am clearly not

    The first chapter of OHisMSS is better then all three Horowitz novels
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Risico007 wrote: »
    I almost want to suffer through the Horowitz trilogy what is everyone seeing that i am clearly not

    The first chapter of OHisMSS is better then all three Horowitz novels

    I think, like me, you just prefer the contemporary set Bond novels that were the norm up until 2008 and the publication of Sebastian Faulks's Devil May Care, set in 1967. It's good to hear you're enjoying this new Bond novella from Charlie Higson.
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