114 replies to this topic

[marktmurphy]

Read the first extract from Devil May Care here:

http://entertainment...icle3963143.ece

[Qwerty]

From K1Bond007 on the CBn main page...

'Devil May Care' Extract Online

Get a sneak peek into the centenary James Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks

[marktmurphy]

Whoops- must actually read the front page before the forum occasionally!

[Qwerty]

Oh no, I just hijacked this thread for the discussion area as it was the exact same topic.

[MkB]

Just read it, and I have mixed feelings. Not exactly what I expected from Faulks, but I guess this introduction of the Bond character might not be the best extract to begin with. It sounds a bit forced, like Faulks had to tick off a check-list of Bond attributes: navy blue suit + knitted black tie + Morland specials + black coffee + Bentley + Villain with an odd physical defect + plus the May, M and Moneypenny characters, all in a few pages... phew! My guess is that I should better consider the novel in its entirety, but I can now only react with what I've been given to read

As a side note, did May ever addressed Bond as "Mr Bond" in the novels? I remember a development about her never calling addressing him as "sir", but sometimes as "'s...".

[bleary_25]

If Faulks is indeed emulating Fleming's style, my guess is this extract is not the first chapter of the novel. Indeed, it doesn't begin like the start of a novel at all. I suspect this is from the second or third chapter - since he references a woman whom we know nothing about. It's possible the extract isn't even the beginning of the chapter - although it does seem to be the end of one.

But so far, so very good. I enjoyed that. Was a bit surprised at all the name-dropping, but I suspect Faulks wanted to throw a bone to Fleming fans and Bond movie fans as well.

[Scrambled Eggs]

Well i think its bloody marvellous. Yes, as Mkb says theres a touch of "how many Fleming Bond attributes can I mention inside a thousand words?" but to me it doesn't read like an out and out pastiche.
There are some little touches of class in there: "the bonfire whiff of marijuana", "Miss Moneypenny, a tailored Cerberus at the gates of whatever underworld awaited him".
Also, this little exchange:

[quote]

Edited by Scrambled Eggs, 24 May 2008 - 12:02 AM.

[sharpshooter]

Good so far. I look forward to reading the rest.

[quote]

[doublenoughtspy]

Its not the beginning - beginning is in France.

I have mixed feelings as well. In the the Times interview he said he had problems with Bond's voice - it kind of shows here.

I wonder if he is aware of Brokenclaw?

I agree that the Moneypenny scene reads more film than Fleming.

Glad he has the PPK.

[Matt_13]

Miles better than anything Benson came up with. I'm a fan so far.

[MarkA]

Miles better than anything Benson came up with. I'm a fan so far.

Does sound little bit like a pastiche but far better than Benson. At least the man can write.

[doublenoughtspy]

Miles better than anything Benson came up with. I'm a fan so far.

Benson didn't have the luxury of writing about Bond in the 60s.

M doing yoga?

[Major Tallon]

Just read it, and I have mixed feelings. Not exactly what I expected from Faulks, but I guess this introduction of the Bond character might not be the best extract to begin with. It sounds a bit forced, like Faulks had to tick off a check-list of Bond attributes: navy blue suit + knitted black tie + Morland specials + black coffee + Bentley + Villain with an odd physical defect + plus the May, M and Moneypenny characters, all in a few pages... phew! My guess is that I should better consider the novel in its entirety, but I can now only react with what I've been given to read

As a side note, did May ever addressed Bond as "Mr Bond" in the novels? I remember a development about her never calling addressing him as "sir", but sometimes as "'s...".

I've got mixed feelings as well. And May called Bond either "s" ("sir" being reserved for the King and Winston Churchill) or "Mr. James." A small detail, I know, but it's little mistakes that set the alarm bells ringing.

[Peaceful]

I agree with all your comments, except I enjoyed the Benson novels and knew him at the time.

My only issues (and they are nit-picky) are as already mentioned, M doing yoga, and the name DR JULIUS Gorner. Couldn't he have come up with a different 1st name? Even this "R" person (another issue, why R? Obviously it's taken from R'N'R, but as soon as I read that I immediately thought John Cleese) has the name JULIAN.

Perhaps Dr Gorner won't be the central villain. But still ...





I just had a thought, I hope it's not gonna be a entire "nod to" book, with names of old characters popping up all over the place...

Zencat what do you think???


P.F.O.D.

[Mr. Blofeld]

M doing yoga?

Delightful...

[K1Bond007]

Its not the beginning - beginning is in France.

I wonder if he is aware of Brokenclaw?

I agree that the Moneypenny scene reads more film than Fleming.

Glad he has the PPK.

I probably should have been more clear about when this extract approximately takes place. I hastily wrote it up so I could see Indy.

Faulks has said he's only read Fleming, but I bet his curiosity got the better of him and he read Colonel Sun too. He's acknowledged several times that he's a fan of Amis. Brokenclaw was a disfigured hand though, it wasn't a monkey paw. I thought that was weird, but not outside the realm of believability. I think you're pretty spot on about the Moneypenny bit, though there are novels where she plays about as big of a role so again - believably Fleming.

The yoga bit was the oddest thing and I'm not sure what to think about that. And I am slightly concerned with the amount of name dropping and "oh yeah, I remember that" that was going on.

Still, I loved the extract. Pretty Fleming with a little Faulks thrown in. Can't expect much more than that or much better than that from someone who isn't Ian Fleming.

[FLEMINGFAN]

Even though it it only an excerpt, it all seems so horribly strained in the sense that it wants to be taken as an Ian Fleming-like books, but gets so much wrong.

May would call him "Mr. James", not "Mr. Bond"; Moneypenny would not have his travel arrangements, the Paymaster would; the Aston-Martin was a one-up borrowed car that was never referenced again; the reference to prior villains and the update of 'what is happening in the world' seems awkward and forced; his cigarettes are wrong; etc., etc.........

All this from just a simple excerpt? I shudder to think what the balance will be like. Did he do ANY research? This is not a promising start for a novel promoted to be a continuation of Ian Fleming's writings.

That said, and to be fair, it will be best to read the whole book and take it from there, but it does seem like messy a mix of the films with the Fleming scriptures.

[K1Bond007]

May would call him "Mr. James", not "Mr. Bond"; Moneypenny would not have his travel arrangements, the Paymaster would; the Aston-Martin was a one-up borrowed car that was never referenced again; the reference to prior villains and the update of 'what is happening in the world' seems awkward and forced; his cigarettes are wrong; etc., etc.........

The cigarettes are fine. Bond smoked that blend in From Russia with Love IIRC and even if I'm wrong, it's still the same brand and still a blend from the Balkans so it's fair to say that a man can change or try new things.

A lot of your comments seem incredibly nitpicky to me, but to each their own. There have been far worse things in other continuation novels. Hell Benson brought a character back from the dead and he's a guy who has researched Bond about as much as any of us. Nobody is perfect, not even Ian Fleming who made continuity errors himself.

[FLEMINGFAN]

The cigarettes are fine. Bond smoked that blend in From Russia with Love IIRC and even if I'm wrong, it's still the same brand and still a blend from the Balkans so it's fair to say that a man can change or try new things.

A lot of your comments seem incredibly nitpicky to me, but to each their own. There have been far worse things in other continuation novels. Hell Benson brought a character back from the dead and he's a guy who has researched Bond about as much as any of us. Nobody is perfect, not even Ian Fleming who made continuity errors himself.

Actually, it was Darko Kerim's supply of Diplomates (a Turkish blend) that he smoked in FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE, along with a hated Players that Grant offered him. He had those because he ran out of his own. At home, a regular smoker would not change brands that easily, especially a brand that is custom made and has been smoked for almost 20 years.

Sticking to this new book, and not bringing in others, we are told that this would be a "Fleming Bond book" and it even states "Writing as Ian Fleming" on the wrapper. I do not feel that I am being nitpicky as the things I pointed out are the most basic of details without doing any research. These are just things that the average reader would know (Like the standard is established by MOONRAKER that it is either '007' or 'James' that 'M' refers to Bond as).

All Faulks had to do was read Amis' THE JAMES BOND DOSSIER to get the basic details right. If that was too difficult to read, he could have used Amis' THE BOOK OF BOND.

As an overview, I guess the book is not really written for a Fleming fan, but is just marketed to the new, dumbed-down readers that really do not care about the details. It would have been fun to read what they promoted, but it just does not seem the case.

[Byron]

As an overview, I guess the book is not really written for a Fleming fan, but is just marketed to the new, dumbed-down readers that really do not care about the details. It would have been fun to read what they promoted, but it just does not seem the case.

I too feel a bit underwhelmed by the extract. The banter between Bond/Moneypenny is too cinematic for my tastes, too much Roger Moore. And that between Bond/M again a bit too casual and jokey. M was very serious and Bond was always respectful and deferential in his presence.

In addition wasn't Julius, the first name of Dr No? Yes it's nitpicking but if it was, that's very lazy of Faulks.

Hope the rest of the book improves. I was expecting much more of an original novel, this doesn't seem like it......

[marktmurphy]

If the motorcyclist is coming up on Bond's offside, how does putting the car into a slide to the right ('Bond dropped the wheel to his right') bring the car's tail into the bike? Either the bike would have have to have been on the nearside or Bond would have had to slide the car to the left. Or perhaps we've suddenly started driving on the right in the UK. In the 60's.

[Loomis]

So much for my willpower. Have just skimmed this extract so far, but will doubtless read it properly later (and again, and again).

Like others, I'm having mixed feelings. It's not exactly what I expected.

[MkB]

The yoga bit was the oddest thing and I'm not sure what to think about that.

My guess is that it's a nod to Thunderball and M's sudden "bee in the bonnet" about dietetics and so on.

Now, I know that The Beatles were referenced in GOLDFINGER (Eon's, not Fleming's), but am I the only one who thinks this exchange is a bit, how to put it? A bit cute?

Yes, it sounded strange to me too.

[Double-0-7]

Good read!

How long do we still have to wait - a week? I can hardly wait...

[Loomis]

M doing yoga chimes with Pearson, does it not?

Anyway, my initial thoughts:

It's not a perfect copy of Fleming's voice, or even a close copy. Reads more like a sendup. There's a flippancy here that's causing alarm bells to ring - note, for instance, how quickly the action scene is over, how little danger Bond seems to be in, and how the whole scene just appears to a bit of a joke. It's like something from a novelization rather than a novel.

Not only is it not Fleming, but it's not the Faulks I know and love, either.

Hmmm.... might some of us Fleming fans be in for a KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL-type disappointment?

On the other hand, this extract does have its moments of fun (albeit rather too much self-conscious "fun", if you get my meaning), and I'm sure that this will still turn out to be one of the very best continuation novels. Although that says more about the low quality of most of the others.

[ACE]

M doing yoga chimes with Pearson, does it not?

Er, how?

I guess it's Sebastian Faux.

[Loomis]

M doing yoga chimes with Pearson, does it not?

Er, how?

Well, I seem to recall Pearson's M taking up yoga. I may be wrong, though.

[FLEMINGFAN]

M doing yoga chimes with Pearson, does it not?

Er, how?

I guess it's Sebastian Faux.

M did go to a nudist camp in the Pearson 007 biography. In THUNDERBALL he did have that 'psycho-analyst man' come in for the staff, the 'physical exercise course', as well as that visit to Shrublands, so the yoga is not too far off.

[ACE]

Thanks

[Trident]

Sorry, but this is definitely not what I had hoped for.

The minor faults (cigarettes, Mr. Bond from May, the banter thing, Moneypenny's office seemingly having lost its wall so that the lift opens right in front of her desk) I could cope with. The forced 60's-setting, as if Bond has just left the Tardis and has to establish his surroundigs first or the wrong tone between Bond and M (somehow too friendly; it would better work as a scene between Bond and Tanner), ok that also needn't bother me too much.

But what really puts me off is the whole scene desperately reeks of a 'Thunderball' retelling, complete with motorcyle assault. But 'Thunderball's' assault had the decency to bring back the story on the grounds of reality immediately after the action was over. Lots of witnesses (no wonder, thinking of London's congested streets and the heavy traffic even back in the 60's), a major gathering surrounding the site of the affair and an inquiry that made Bond miss the next two flights to New York. Here we get nothing of this, Bond's still on time for his scheduled plane and happily drives on. An ordinary day at the Secret Service. Wouldn't do to bother his organization with such minor things.

Sorry, but this isn't it. I'll, of course, reserve my judgement until I've read the whole thing. But at the moment I'm severely underwhelmed.

Edited by Trident, 25 May 2008 - 09:43 AM.