79 replies to this topic

[The Admiral]

At last, Raymond Benson has come up with the title for what was known as "The Japan Book" - The Man With The Red Tattoo.

TMWTRT will be released in the UK in May 2002 (Hodder & Stoughton) and in June 2002 in the US (Putnam).

Now we need to see what the cover art is going to be like for the book. Will they go back to the popular UK cover or will it be completely different like NDOD?

[mccartney007]

zencat (22 Nov, 2001 06:41 p.m.):
FYI: The above info came via the mighty mccartney007 as was published here without his permission. (Hope that was okay.)

Of course it was okay!

[Blue Eyes]

Well I just looked up a Yakuza Tattoo. And this is what I got:



ouch!

[Blue Eyes]

I'm reading about these Yakuza people. Scary scary!

[quote]It's usual within yakuza circuits to tattoo themselves, usually is it their clan's badge that they tattoos in all over their body.

The origin to why the yakuza tattooed himself comes from Bakuto. They usually tattooed in a black ring around the arm for each crime they committed.
Finally it became an evidence of strength, when it could take over 100 hours to do a backtattoo.The tattoo was to illustrate you were unwilling to accommodate yourself to societies rules and norms.[/quote]

Or perhaps...

[quote]Yubitsume is when you cut of one of your fingers and send it to the Kumicho. This is done as an apology for disobedience. It can be done to expiate a wrongdoing but can also be done to spare one of your "children".

When you have done something that your Kumicho dislikes you take a sharp item, cut of a fingertip,wrap it in paper and send it to the Kumicho and begs for his forgiveness.

If it's the first time you cut of the little- fingertip there after it becomes the next little-finger and so on.

Because of that you see yakuza- members that are without several of his fingers.

This helps often at wrongdoings, but if you done something all to seriously, as e.g betray the entire clan, there

[The Admiral]

I have no idea what the process of tattoos are - does it hurt? What sort of pain? Stinging? (Of course I mean when the tattoo is being tattoo'd on!)

Can they be removed?

[Blue Eyes]

Very painful. Apparently it feels like a bee sting. So can you imagine how much all that hurt? It's a little needle that pierces the skin and leaves a deposit of ink. It can be removed partially through laser these days. Old Goldfinger found a good business.

[The Admiral]

So, loads of little dots of ink - it must takes ages! and hurt like hell!

[007luvchild]

I'm not too fond of it, I always associated it with "The Man with One Red Shoe" that Tom hanks movie.

[Mister Asterix]

Blue Eyes (22 Nov, 2001 09:02 p.m.):
I'm reading about these Yakuza people. Scary scary!

One of my favourite non-Bond Bond-ish movies was the 1975 Robert Mitchum Classic The Yakuza. Great movie with lots of stuff about the Yakuza (obviously) and a cast that could have been perfect in You Only Live Twice. I would recommend this movie to all Bond fans even if it were not the subject of Benson's forth-coming novel.

[White Persian]

Dang Mr*, I was just about to put a plug for "The Yakuza" on the board and you beat me to it. Fabulous movie!

[Mister Asterix]

Hmmm, going to have to let that one sink in a little bit. As far as 'The Man' titles are concerned I'd initially rate above 'From Barbarossa' and way below 'With The Golden Gun'. Maybe, it would be a better title if it were a description of the tattoo like 'The Man With The Crimson Dragon'. Still, I'll swirl this one around the brandy sniffer and see how the aroma settles.

Good job, Dave, on the breaking news.

[zencat]

I'm also going to have to let it sink in, but I'm pretty sure I like it. It's in the tradition of "The Man" titles...and I do like that we have a title that doesn't use "die" or "death" or "kill." It's a sophisticated title much like "No Tears For Hong Kong" which I always liked better than Zero Minus Ten. It evokes mystery instead of action...and if this is a reference to Yoshida it tells us this is a book where the villain is center stage. Yes, yes, I like it!

Now, my real problem is how the heck am I going to type "The Man With The Red Tattoo" everyday? Should we make it TMWTRT, or maybe just MAN, or maybe just RED TATOO?

Congrats Raymond!

[The Admiral]

I used TMWTRT but that still is very long. How about Tattoo. Nice and easy to remember? MAN could resemble TMWTGG, whereas TATTOO has nothing alike.

[scaramanga]

A title at last! Its an interesting title, I'll have to think about it for a bit. Sounds a bit like the Tong tattoo that Count Lippe had in Thunderball. Lets hope the cover art is much improved over NDOD!

[MDSmith]

I agree with zencat, it's good to get away from the death titles. As for the title itself, I like it.

[Mister Asterix]

Does anyone know if this title was Benson's or Glidrose's idea?

Just curious.

[Blue Eyes]

Finally a title!!

Evokes TMWTGG doesn't it? I like it. It will take a while to settle in till I'm completely comfortable with it. But all things do that. Heck, I don't mind 'Attack Of The Clones' anymore!!

And I'm going with Scaramanga. Could it be a Tong tattoo? Oooh speculation can be rife now. Who has the tattoo?

I say we should either call this:

TMWTRT
or
TRT

Cause it's the TRT that's the most important part.

[Jim]

I have a red tattoo and it's nice of Raymond to have thought of me.

[freemo]

I like it, when I went to bed last night I was thinking that Benson 6s title should be named (or be a desription) after the villian, since Fleming had DN, GF and TMWTGG and Gardner had BC, SP, TMFB. A title that has real relevance to the story, rather than just a cute little phrase, imagine that.

[zencat]

So I've been thinking about the title today and it strikes me as very Hitchcockian. Perhaps this is a clue to the tone of the book. James Bond in a Hitchcockian spy adventure set in Japan. That's a pretty good pitch. And the red tattoo of the title might be a literal red tattoo, or it might be something else entirely...

Think I'm gonna use TMWTRT. It's long, but you know what it is at a glance.

[Evil Doctor Cheese]

Jim (24 Oct, 2001 11:11 p.m.):
I have a red tattoo and it's nice of Raymond to have thought of me.

I don't usually venture into the literature section but I have made a special exception just to ask Jim what his tatoo is of!

[RossMan]

I like the title, kinda catchy.

As for cover art, I'm thinking that it might contain an image of whatever the "red tattoo" is, if it is indeed a tattoo the villain has.

[Blofeld's Cat]

I notice that Dave said that "...Raymond Benson has come up with the title..."

Is that his choice that Gildrose has approved of?

Based on zencat's list he has not being very successful in getting his titles approved.

And the shape of the 'red tattoo'. Maybe it's that of a ruby!

[Blue Eyes]

RossMan (25 Oct, 2001 02:24 a.m.):
As for cover art, I'm thinking that it might contain an image of whatever the "red tattoo" is, if it is indeed a tattoo the villain has.

Let's hope it's something like DoubleShot cause I love that. Perhaps the right arm of a person (presuming the tattoo is on an arm) and we see the sleeve of a t-shirt...

No, better idea.

Arm coming across in a pose like on the TWINE poster. And just near the write a tiny red tattoo (about 3 cm's wide) that's a tong symbol of sorts. And some gun in the hand.

How's that?

[Jim]

Evil Doctor Cheese (25 Oct, 2001 01:17 a.m.):

Jim (24 Oct, 2001 11:11 p.m.):
I have a red tattoo and it's nice of Raymond to have thought of me.

I don't usually venture into the literature section but I have made a special exception just to ask Jim what his tatoo is of!

A little red dragon. Don't worry; I'm not Francis Dolarhyde

Wouldn't be too surprised if the red tattoo on the eponymous "man" is something like that. Alternatively some sort of yakuza vibe thingie.

Alternatively, it's a red military tattoo.

But that would be very silly.

[level007]

Hi

great title from Benson.

Personnaly i think that the tattoo will be very big. Not just a small tattoo on the arm. But a giant tatto all over his chest.
Because i don't think Benson will call his book the man with the red tatto, if the tatto is not special. So in my view, the tatto will be big or have a special things

level007

[Jim]

There's already been a couple o' "men" so far, what with Golden Gun and Barbarossa 'n' everyfink.

It's a reasonable enough title, but "The Woman with the Red Tattoo" sounds a bit more mysterious, cherchez la femme and all that sort of rubbish. If a bit long.

Knowing as we do that Raymond loves his injokes, what are we meant to read into the title. The Man with the Golden Gun. Herve Villechaize. De 'plane, boss, de 'plane, screams his character in the otherwise pointless Fantasy Island, and his character's name was


tattoo



Sorry if this doesn't make much sense, but the little ones are on their half term holiday this week and my head hurts.

[Jacques Nexus]

zencat (24 Oct, 2001 05:49 p.m.):
I'm also going to have to let it sink in, but I'm pretty sure I like it. It's in the tradition of "The Man" titles...and I do like that we have a title that doesn't use "die" or "death" or "kill." It's a sophisticated title much like "No Tears For Hong Kong" which I always liked better than Zero Minus Ten. It evokes mystery instead of action...and if this is a reference to Yoshida it tells us this is a book where the villain is center stage. Yes, yes, I like it!

Well zencat, you were right about the villain's name should be the title for Benson #6. I'm still not sure what to make of the title...at first I have to admit I was disappointed because it sounded rather mundane, but at least it's a bit mysterious. It may suit a novel but perhaps NOT for a film ?. Can you imagime this:
"EON productions present Pierce Brosnan as James Bond 007 in
THE MAN WITH THE RED TATTOO
?????
Anyway, I'll somehow get used to it. My guess is the tattoo could mean one of two things.
1. The Japanese Yakuza are very 'colourful' villains. They cover themselves with a myriad of tattoos.
2. It may be symbolic, referring to a horrendous scar on the villain's body ?.
I don't know about you guys, but it's going to take me a fair while to accept this title.

[Jacques Nexus]

Mister Asterix (24 Oct, 2001 04:54 p.m.):
Hmmm, going to have to let that one sink in a little bit. As far as 'The Man' titles are concerned I'd initially rate above 'From Barbarossa' and way below 'With The Golden Gun'. Maybe, it would be a better title if it were a description of the tattoo like 'The Man With The Crimson Dragon'. Still, I'll swirl this one around the brandy sniffer and see how the aroma settles...

Yeah, I'm not sure what to think of it either. This title is so way left of centre, you have to wonder what AROMA Benson and Glidrose have been sniffing lately ?.

[Jacques Nexus]

level007 (25 Oct, 2001 08:37 a.m.):
Hi

great title from Benson.

Personnaly i think that the tattoo will be very big. Not just a small tattoo on the arm. But a giant tatto all over his chest.
Because i don't think Benson will call his book the man with the red tatto, if the tatto is not special. So in my view, the tatto will be big or have a special things

level007

I think you are right. The Japanese Yakuza adorn themselves with huge tattoos. Expect Yoshida to be a 'colourful' villain.