32 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

Now on the CBn main page...

On The Eve Of 'Devil May Care'

New James Bond novel arrives in London

'Devil May Care' Launched In High Style

Sebastian Faulks and Tuuli Shipster pose for photos with the novel

[Jim]

...and did the most charming young lady wear a lifejacket?

No, she did not.

[deth]

Zencat, we expect I full report! (I assume you're there now?)

[sharpshooter]

Zencat, we expect I full report! (I assume you're there now?)

No, we demand a full report.

[killkenny kid]

Zencat, we expect I full report! (I assume you're there now?)

I wish, I was there too. A grand time, indeed.

[MkB]

Tuuli Shipster, the model featured on the front cover of the book, will be delivering these exclusive first 007 copies from the printers by hand, under a full military escort care of the Royal Navy. The books will be secured in a specially commissioned Samsonite case, and Tuuli will accompany the case as it is brought down the Thames by a Royal Navy

[delfloria]

You're right.... You are a grumpy old git. It's JAMES BOND!

[Scrambled Eggs]

[quote name='MkB' post='874285' date='27 May 2008 - 16:34']

Tuuli Shipster, the model featured on the front cover of the book, will be delivering these exclusive first 007 copies from the printers by hand, under a full military escort care of the Royal Navy. The books will be secured in a specially commissioned Samsonite case, and Tuuli will accompany the case as it is brought down the Thames by a Royal Navy

[DamnCoffee]

ITV are giving a report on Devil May Care in this evenings addition of the news.

[FLASH]

Some Photos of the event at
http://www.rexfeatur...2...pl=20&cr=-1

http://www.rexfeatur...6157?pl=20&cr=1

[marktmurphy]

Plus a video here: http://news.bbc.co.u...ent/7420894.stm

Were there any more Bentleys involved? It's just that I passed a lovely 1930s one on the back of a trailer which was going towards London on my way home- I expect it was too late for it to have been involved, but you never know.

[Qwerty]

Great photos and video. Would have loved to have been at this.

[Single-O-Seven]

Great photos and video. Would have loved to have been at this.

I would have killed to be there, too. If only to see her in that tight, red outfit. She looked pretty damn sexy. I wonder what Craig thinks knowing that a book got the same treatment he did when he was announced as Bond - only the book was accompanied by a sexy blonde, while he had no female company.

[Qwerty]

'Devil May Care' Launched In High Style

Sebastian Faulks and Tuuli Shipster pose for photos with the novel

[zencat]

Zencat, we expect I full report! (I assume you're there now?)

No, we demand a full report.

I'll leave it to CBn to give a proper report, but suffice to say it was an amazing launch event. I've been in Bond nerd nirvana and have going non-stop since the moment I arrived. Speaking of which, I have to go.

[TheSaint]

...and did the most charming young lady wear a lifejacket?

No, she did not.

Ironic, wasn't that?

[Hitch]

Is there a term of measurement that could describe the gulf between the amount of publicity enjoyed by Raymond Benson's last Bond book and Devil May Care? Hardly fair, is it? Anyway, hats off to Mr Benson for his efforts and a hearty welcome to Mr Faulks.

[Jim]

Is there a term of measurement that could describe the gulf between the amount of publicity enjoyed by Raymond Benson's last Bond book and Devil May Care?

Quantum of Selling.

[zencat]

So it's been a year since the celebrated "Centenary Week". What a great time. I'm feeling very nostalgic.

[Orion]

So it's been a year since the celebrated "Centenary Week". What a great time. I'm feeling very nostalgic.

Being British myself it get's really exciting when a Bond event such as this or the release of a new Bond film comes around as the whole country goes Bond crazy. It makes you pround to be a Bond fan.

[zencat]

Zencat, we expect I full report! (I assume you're there now?)

No, we demand a full report.

I'll leave it to CBn to give a proper report, but suffice to say it was an amazing launch event. I've been in Bond nerd nirvana and have going non-stop since the moment I arrived. Speaking of which, I have to go.

By the way, I did eventually cover the week from the Young Bond/Charlie Higson perspective. HERE.

[Loomis]

So it's been a year since the celebrated "Centenary Week". What a great time. I'm feeling very nostalgic.

It was indeed a great time. And I really think there was more buzz in the British media for the release of DEVIL MAY CARE than there was for QUANTUM OF SOLACE.

I've just re-read Faulks' ENGLEBY (a work of sheer genius) and am reading ON GREEN DOLPHIN STREET (which I seem to recall someone once telling me was the book that got him the Bond gig) in preparation for a re-read of DMC. I've also read A FOOL'S ALPHABET (phenomenal) and some of HUMAN TRACES - anyone with any other Faulks recommendations?

[Skudor]

So it's been a year since the celebrated "Centenary Week". What a great time. I'm feeling very nostalgic.

It was indeed a great time. And I really think there was more buzz in the British media for the release of DEVIL MAY CARE than there was for QUANTUM OF SOLACE.

I've just re-read Faulks' ENGLEBY (a work of sheer genius) and am reading ON GREEN DOLPHIN STREET (which I seem to recall someone once telling me was the book that got him the Bond gig) in preparation for a re-read of DMC. I've also read A FOOL'S ALPHABET (phenomenal) and some of HUMAN TRACES - anyone with any other Faulks recommendations?

You want to read DMC for a second time?
Why would you do that to yourself?

[Loomis]

Well, it's mainly because of my Faulks fandom rather than my Bond fandom (there are plenty of Bond continuation novels I'm happy to disregard because they're crap, and I'd be only too pleased to do the same with DMC.... except I'm a Faulks fan). Also, I did take part in some of last year's events in London with some fellow CBners, so, like zen, I'm feeling nostalgic.

[JimmyBond]

I really wanted to enjoy DMC, honestly. But nearing the midway point of the novel I found it really hard to keep going. When I get to the point where I feel like I'm forcing myself to finish a novel is the point where I really need to stop.

Honestly, I enjoy Gardner's works more than DMC, at least he tried to take the character in an interesting direction.

[Mr. Blofeld]

Zencat, we expect I full report! (I assume you're there now?)

No, we demand a full report.

I'll leave it to CBn to give a proper report, but suffice to say it was an amazing launch event. I've been in Bond nerd nirvana and have going non-stop since the moment I arrived. Speaking of which, I have to go.

By the way, I did eventually cover the week from the Young Bond/Charlie Higson perspective. HERE.

I found this bit very telling:

Noting that he labors for a year over each Young Bond installment, Charlie joked, “there’s this man called Sebastian Faulks who claims to have written a Bond novels in just six weeks.”

Quality over quantity, eh, Faulksie?

[Loomis]

Well, if Faulks really did spend just six weeks on DEVIL MAY CARE, then I guess that's an argument in favour of cutting the book some slack. OTOH, I wish he'd spent a year or so polishing it - regardless of how long it really took him to write it, I have it on good authority that DMC was written a long, long time before it was published, in fact maybe as much as a year before it hit shops.

Faulks is such a mindblowingly talented novelist (across a range of genres, historical periods and voices) that it's heartbreaking to consider just how phenomenal DMC would have been had he truly sunk his heart and soul into it. Alas, I think Faulks merely took the job as A Bit of Fun™ and took it far too lightly. He coasted it and it shows. DMC reads like a first or second draft in dire need of some fleshing out, and I can certainly believe the six-week story.

The greatest pity is that Faulks displayed not the slightest bit of interest in taking Bond in any new directions. If you're going to write a new Bond novel, after all these decades and all those other Bond novels, you'd damn well better do something new, otherwise what's the point? I know that a lot of Bond fans loathe what Alan Moore did with 007 (as a character in the LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN graphic novel series), but at least he did something new.

[JimmyBond]

Was it really necessary for him to write it in the voice of Fleming? Surely there was a better way to honor Fleming's legacy than releasing a book that as intended to appear as Fleming's fourteenth novel.

[Loomis]

Was it really necessary for him to write it in the voice of Fleming?

Well, he didn't do that either. It was false advertising, although as a publicity wheeze it certainly worked a treat.

Still, we'd probably never have had Faulks writing a Bond novel under any other circumstances. He'd never sit down and sweat blood over months writing his "own" Bond novel. That's something that's reserved for his "proper" writing, his own canon. With Bond, he agreed to the publicity stunt, took the money and ran. Still, better than nothing, I guess. I do hope to some day soon make my peace with DEVIL MAY CARE and find the good in it.

[JimmyBond]

Still, better than nothing, I guess.

Better than what? Not having Faulks at all? Not being a fan of his, I don't see how having him write a subpar novel is better than not having him write one at all. Surely the better thing to do would be to get a "starving author" type novelist to really give it his all and put out a truly groundbreaking novel that many people would enjoy.