15 replies to this topic

[Tanger]

When James Bond stepped off the 747 at Logan International Airport, Felix Leiter was there to meet him with a cheerful smirk and a wave of his plastic right hand.

"Hullo, James. How's the Import-Export biz?"

Bond shook his head at his old friend. Since retiring from the CIA, Felix had had great fun lampooning what he liked to call "the spy game." He was as willing as ever, of course, to jump in and help out -- but always with an arch sense of mockery. "Silly enough game," he'd told Bond more than once, "for grown men to be playing."

As our last piece was the long, but excellent, From Death's Door, I decided to go for a shorter piece this week (but there's another biggy next time!).
Thanks to clinkeroo for the heads up on this piece. Written by a friend of his I believe, Jonathan Andrew Sheen. This story has some very interesting accompanying art and can be read online, downloaded as an Acrobat or e-Book file at this link:

http://www.double-oh.net/

Enjoy!

Ps. As always, any questions don't hesitate to ask and if you've read a fanfic that's a bit obscure and you think it's worth a look then PM me.

[Qwerty]

Well, certainly the oddest one I've read yet, but I did enjoy it because of that!

Two things stuck out for me in this longer short story, as I call it.

One: The descriptions. I thought they were rather excellent in this piece, and to compliment the plot, which I thought was refreshing an exciting. If I may quote one passage, to just show some of the wriitng of the author:

The hole Bond had expected in the fence was there, toward the southern end, no doubt pried there by children unable to resist the allure of heavy machinery. He and Leiter crept through and approached the building proper. Two of the doors facing the construction were gone, covered instead by thick clear plastic sheets. Bond lifted one, and gestured Leiter through it.

Once inside they found themselves in a darkened corridor. Bond pointed at Felix, and then to the left; to himself and to the right. Leiter nodded.

The plans for the new building they'd reviewed at Perlin's office had showed two possible target sites, two "control rooms," on opposite sides of the original structure. The original, still in operational use, was on one end. The new one, to which the operations were moving, was on the second floor of other.

Bond, his Walther PPK held comfortably in his right hand, stepped quietly down the hallway, listening at silent doors, and moving on to the stairwell at the end of the corridor. He started up the stairs, his rubber-soled shoes making no sound. This was greatly assisted by the building itself. Bond quite preferred commercial buildings when stealthy movement was required: steel and concrete stairs and floors didn't creak and squeal an alarm at one's approach.

He eased open the door from the second-floor landing, and made his silent way down the corridor. The flickering blue light of television or computer monitors spilled out of an open door. Bond smiled. After a day of fruitless searching, it had become easy to think of Novotny, with his mocking eyes and quirky, humorous mouth, as something of a mastermind. But the man wasn't a secret agent, he was a scientist, and the opening door with its flickering light reassured Bond. The man was an amateur.
----

Quite good, and I thought they benefitted the locations, such as Berlin.

Two: The dialogue, I thought could have been slightly better for Felix Leiter. I know his dialect, but I thought some of his lines were fair.

Overall, I commend the author, I enjoyed this one quite a bit. A plot that was slightly simple, but laced with some good description! worked well!

8/10

[Leviathan]

First, thanks very much for the kind words. I'm very glad to see that you enjoyed the story.

You also say:

The dialogue, I thought could have been slightly better for Felix Leiter. I know his dialect, but I thought some of his lines were fair.

I'd really be interested in your thoughts on the dialogue. What needs improving? How can I make it better?

--
Jonathan Andrew Sheen

Edited by Leviathan, 16 April 2004 - 10:17 PM.

[Qwerty]

I really don't think it's you personally at all, as I'm guessing you're the author. I think it's just the literary Felix Leiter himself, that I feel sometimes isn't taken as seriously as other characters.

Perhaps I should have made that more clear, it's not your diaolgue, it's just what sometimes comes accustomed to Felix Leiter.

I hope that made sense.

[Xenobia]

Wow!

This was quite delicious! I loved the narrative structure, and how, for us, the ending was completely happy. Not necessarily a Fleming ending, but a good one none the less.

I like how Bond erases the info. Stuff can happen, even in the spy game, and that is certainly real enough. Ditto too, M's reaction. Higher ups do not have a sense of humor.

My one critique I seem to share with other folks -- Felix's accent and speech pattern could be a little more Texan, but otherwise, I thought the conversation was dead-on for the two of them. It was more Fleming the novel, then Bond the movie.

Nice work Mr. Sheen!

-- Xenobia

[Tanger]

I finally got some spare time today and managed to finish reading this one.

First off, thanks to clinkeroo for bringing this to my attention as I'm sure I'd never have found it myself.

Right, back to the story. Based on the title, I had no idea what I was in for or what relevance it had to the story. I must say though that having read it, the title fits perfectly. The art also interested me and it's something which we haven't seen in a fan fic before. The cover art is also top notch, it's only a shame that in the pdf. the bottom line is on the top for some reason.

On the story proper - it was a nice idea of having Bond and Leiter looking back at a previous mission and it was interesting to see the reasoning of this and have things come clear at the end. Nice to see Leiter again portrayed as a capable man of experience and he's definitely the one that Fleming created. Bond on the other hand; I had problems picturing him. Sometimes I imagined Fleming's Bond and others I imagined Connery. I guess he was a sort of mixture of the two and based on the accompanying art/cover this is what the writer was aiming for.

The side characters were well developed and we got to know the main players quite well. I liked the characterisation of M here too. He seems a little tougher than normal but it was definitely Miles Messervy.

The story was pretty interesting and I enjoyed the switches between the mission and present day.
The action was exceptionally written and very exciting. I particularly liked the fight on the crane at the end. The use of the magnet was inspired and it was a nice trick played on the readers having them think everything is worked out. This is where a problem comes in though as anyone with a basic knowledge of computers will have had this thought "Wouldn

[Leviathan]

Thanks very much for the kind words.

--
Jonathan Andrew Sheen

Edited by Leviathan, 16 April 2004 - 10:33 AM.

[Leviathan]

[quote]I finally got some spare time today and managed to finish reading this one.

First off, thanks to clinkeroo for bringing this to my attention as I'm sure I'd never have found it myself.

Right, back to the story. Based on the title, I had no idea what I was in for or what relevance it had to the story. I must say though that having read it, the title fits perfectly. The art also interested me and it's something which we haven't seen in a fan fic before. The cover art is also top notch, it's only a shame that in the pdf. the bottom line is on the top for some reason.[/quote]

First, thanks very much for the compliments. I'm very glad you enjoyed the piece.

As far as the PDF, I could not, for the life of me, figure out why it kept doing that to the cover art -- I re-did the fool thing a half-dozen times before giving up.

[quote]Nice to see Leiter again portrayed as a capable man of experience and he's definitely the one that Fleming created. [/quote]

That's certainly the one I was shooting for.

[quote]Bond on the other hand; I had problems picturing him. Sometimes I imagined Fleming's Bond and others I imagined Connery. I guess he was a sort of mixture of the two and based on the accompanying art/cover this is what the writer was aiming for.[/quote]

I was aiming for Fleming's Bond, but -- like Fleming himself, after "Doctor No" came out -- I can't help but picture Bond as Sean Connery.

[quote]I liked the characterisation of M here too. He seems a little tougher than normal but it was definitely Miles Messervy. [/quote]

I'm a big believer in the Kingsley Amis school of M. He's an irascible old monster... And I wouldn't have him any other way.

[quote]The story was pretty interesting and I enjoyed the switches between the mission and present day.[/quote]

It's gratifying that this aspect is getting good coments, as I was very concerned that it could prove confusing.

[quote]The use of the magnet was inspired and it was a nice trick played on the readers having them think everything is worked out. This is where a problem comes in though as anyone with a basic knowledge of computers will have had this thought "Wouldn?t that wipe the hard drive?? Only to be told a few sentences later that this is indeed what would happen. It takes away a bit of the impact imo.[/quote]

This is interesting to me, as I never saw it as playing a trick on the readers -- just on poor old 007. (And, in fact, I got a comment from an engineer at IOmega -- the company that makes "Zip Drives" -- that being grabbed by an electromagnetic crane probably wouldn't wipe the drive! There goes my punch line!) In any case, it's fun that this is working for some readers as a "surprise twist," as it wasn't what I intended.

[quote]Another problem I had was when Novotny flung the briefcase at Bond. I saw that coming a mile off and if I was in that situation that would have been the first thing I expected. I?m sure Bond, an experienced agent would have expected it too. It just seems a little forced and is only there as an easy way for the villain to escape.[/quote]

My thinking here is that Bond, having just reminded himself that Novotny is an amatuer, is not taking him seriously enough to expect him to try anything... But yours is a fair criticism.

[quote]The time setting of the flashback -

Edited by Leviathan, 16 April 2004 - 10:16 PM.

[Tanger]

Well your piece is definitely one of the best I've ever read and it deserves all the praise it gets. You are an exceptional writer; are you planning on writing or have you written any other Bond fan fics?

Also who did the cover and accompanying art? It's very interesting.

[Leviathan]

Well your piece is definitely one of the best I've ever read and it deserves all the praise it gets.

Thanks very much. I'm very glad you enjoyed it. I'd rank it far below "From Death's Door," though, and below "Mightier Than The Sword" as well.

You are an exceptional writer; are you planning on writing or have you written any other Bond fan fics?

I've started what I hope will be a full-length novel called "Fool's Wisdom." It's full-out modern Bond, with Benson's Barbara Mawdsley M.

Also who did the cover and accompanying art? It's very interesting.

Thanks. That was done by me as well. All the "art" is actually photographs of my 12" action figures of James Bond* and Felix Leiter** run through various photoshop filters to make it look like drawings or paintings. The other stuff on the cover is phorographs of Checkpoint Charlie, also filtered. With the cover, I was trying to reproduce the feeling of a Signet Bond paperback. Evan Willnow kicked my butt with the covers for the three-part MTTS -- including thinking of what I was too dim to: That it's better to replace Ian Fleming's name on the cover with "James Bond" and put the author's name down the side.

* The James Bond Figure:
http://www.leviathan...bond_in_london/

** The Felix Leiter Figure:
http://www.leviathan.../figures/felix/

[Tanger]

Wow. Those figures are amazing and I love the Bond in London pictures.

I look forward to reading more of your work and hope you'll stick around for more of our discussions.

[Leviathan]

Wow. Those figures are amazing and I love the Bond in London pictures.

Thanks. I'll confess to being very pleased with them myself. I'm always trying to improve the figures. Felix is on a much more appropriate body now, and Bond has hands with individually poseable bendable fingers, for instance.

I look forward to reading more of your work and hope you'll stick around for more of our discussions.

I intend to be here a good long while.

--
Jonathan Andrew Sheen

[Qwerty]

You really add the 'something else' to this fan fiction club, Leviathan.

Very, very cool stuff!

[clinkeroo]

The devil is in the details, and the details here are mighty fine.

Someone recently mentioned to me that so much of Bond fan fiction seems to be based upon video game scenarios where the entire story is basically a prolonged first person shooter (Bond shot him, then Bond shot him, then Bond blew this up) and that there are precious few that are actually literary writers (and to those that suggest all writers are literary by definition, I in your general direction ).

How refreshing it is, then, to read something like Finders, Keepers. Bond is not superman, Bond makes mistakes, Bond is not omniscient, Bond is not preaching down to all the other characters, he is actually interacting and communicating with them as equals, and, gasp, actually learning something along the way that he already didn't know.

Then you can take it a little further; there are actually external circumstances that affect characters and events. A straight drop goes wrong by accident, not because it's foiled by a machine gun toting Bond, or the hard drive buying the farm in an unfortunate fall of events. The latter reminds me a bit of the end of the film version of For Your Eyes Only, except Bond would have stumbled and dropped the decoder off the cliff instead of thrown it. Funny and ironic stuff.

Characters are dead on. Bond is Bond, maybe a little softer and relaxed than usual, but he usually is in Felix's company. Felix is Felix, and fun as ever. M is still a bastard, and the new characters are all well-defined and add to the story. Which leads me to my first and favorite point; details.

How about the personality detail and great foreshadowing displayed in Lansing picking up the wrapper in the lot when we are first introduced to him? How about Felix's souped-up beater of a car (how refreshing to find him not driving a sports car or a Hummer)? How about a million dollars stuffed into something as pedestrian as a McDonald's bag (although that must have been a pretty big bag unless they were thousand dollar bills)? The observations on construction site security, the hole cut in the fence by curious kids, the foreshadowing of Bond's quip about the German National Bird being the Crane; this is the type of attention to detail that Fleming incorporated into his stories with such great success. So many faux-Flemings attempt to duplicate the style by throwing in a sea of facts that read with about as much natural flow as a Trivial Pursuit question card, but Jonathan pulls it off here seamlessly.

You also get the best of both worlds with the double ending. You have the ironic downer of an ending with the failure of the mission, but then you have the juxtaposed, upbeat ending of the framing device. Skillful and well done writing.

I've read your posts for years, Jonathan, but never realized you were this good of a fiction writer. I've worked with people who were brilliant writers, but when it came to fiction, they fell apart, victims of the evil "tin ear," but this story demonstrates a true gift for the language and creativity, and I hope to read more in the near future.

One thing that I thought could use a little more attention was the intro scene with Gus. Maybe I'm just thick (ya think?) but it took me a couple of readovers to figure that Felix had struck up a conversation with Gus earlier, and this is how he knew that he was on "the job." The way I first read it was that Felix was so skilled at reading agents that he not only could tell he was a cop, but knew his full name, and that he was with the DEA, and knew that a major bust was coming, just by looking at the guy as he and Bond passed through.

Very few typos and grammatical errors; someone did an excellent job of editing. If our buddy Charlie (aka, Matt Helm) ever gets his short story review section going at his site, this is the type of tale he would love, and deservedly so.

Kudos, five out of five stars, and my favorite so far.

[Leviathan]

You really add the 'something else' to this fan fiction club, Leviathan.

Very, very cool stuff!

Thank you very much for the kind words. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

--
Jonathan Andrew Sheen

[Leviathan]

One thing that I thought could use a little more attention was the intro scene with Gus.  Maybe I'm just thick (ya think?) but it took me a couple of readovers to figure that Felix had struck up a conversation with Gus earlier, and this is how he knew that he was on "the job."  The way I first read it was that Felix was so skilled at reading agents that he not only could tell he was a cop, but knew his full name, and that he was with the DEA, and knew that a major bust was coming, just by looking at the guy as he and Bond passed through.

Oh, man. That got right past me, but as soon as you mentioned it, I see what you mean. I'll look at that, and see if I can clarify it.

Just by the way, the major bust mentioned there really did happen at Logan Airport in late 2001, and did make big news. When I saw the story, I just folded it right into what I was writing.

Very few typos and grammatical errors; someone did an excellent job of editing.  If our buddy Charlie (aka, Matt Helm) ever gets his short story review section going at his site, this is the type of tale he would love, and deservedly so.

Kudos, five out of five stars, and my favorite so far.

Boy, coming from the author of "From Death's Door" -- the worthiest successor to Fleming I have ever read, including anything from Amis, Gardner, or Benson -- this is just overwhelming praise. Thank you very, very much.

--
Jonathan Andrew Sheen