33 replies to this topic

[kevrichardson]

I am interested in starting a thread around the novel Colonel Sun. And it place of importance in Literary Bond . Since it was the first Bond wrtten after Fleming's death and Kingsley Amis was chosen by the Fleming estate. Where do we place the novel in the genre and is this work over look , by Bond fans . Is the work more important than some of the later books by Gardner and Benson.

[zencat]

I simply place Colonel Sun as the first of the continuation novels, and a darn good one at that! But I see no reason why it should be considered any more or less important than the Gardner and Benson books. It was just the first.

There's an oft repeated rumor that Sun was written from an outline by Fleming, but I think this rumor was discredited by Amis long ago.

The more difficult novel to place within the world of the literary Bond is James Bond The Authorized Bio of 007 by John Pearson. But I guess that belongs in another thread.

[zencat]

Perhaps we should elect SUN as the book with the stangest cover art of them all. (But I like.)

[Simon]

Certainly it was the most Fleming-esque of the continuation novels. Indistinguishable from their predecessors, says he sticking his neck out.

Never did understand the cover art though - Dali-ish, isn't it? (Displaying a lack of art knowledge)

[zencat]

Yes, very Dali-ish. But it seems like the right step to take after Chopping. Look at the later Chopping covers (especially YOLT). He was getting more and more symbolic and strange. This seemed to be a lit Bond signature (the equivalent of the dream-like title sequences). Colonel Sun takes this "tradition" and goes a step deeper and gives us an image that seems to spring from the unconscious itself. Total symbolism made up dream-like elements from the book: an island, a nude woman, an ear--remember that Bond is tortured in his ear in this book... I like it.

[Simon]

Ah, there's a man who has all the Bond 1sts.

OK. Have to say I only remember the early Chopping covers so I'm probably not the best person to discuss these. But otherwise, it certainly grabs the attention.

Loved the book itself.

[Simon]

This is probably old news to the regulars but I read in an interview with Amis that he was later told he'd made a mistake with the exploding of mortars by hitting them against rocks.

They're triggered after being shot out of the mortar tube otherwise any old jump in a moving truck would have set them off.

Must be tough on authors when they learn they have a mistake printed in perpetuity.

[zencat]

Originally posted by Simon
Ah, there's a man who has all the Bond 1sts.  

OK.  Have to say I only remember the early Chopping covers so I'm probably not the best person to discuss these.  But otherwise, it certainly grabs the attention....

That's one of the reasons I so enjoy collecting the books. If gives you insights that may have been lost in time and helps you understand things like, well, that strange Colonel Sun cover.

Here's the YOLT cover. Clearly we're moving into the land of the symbolic here...

[Simon]

Hmm, see your point.

Cannot remember that one.

Guessing by the speed of your delivery that you have all these images to hand.

[zencat]

Yes, I have them all scanned and stored on my hard drive. If there's ever a cover you want to see, just give a shout.

[Simon]

Can see how they made you a staff member! Cheers fella.

[zencat]

I know I'm putting us a bit off topic, but here

[rafterman]

I like this book, it's no better or worse than a Benson or a Gardner, but it does feel more like Fleming, if only for the time in which it was written...

[colonel_13]

I have read all of the Benson novels, and some of the Garner and Fleming, should I really even try to find this book to read it, or is it a waste of time? And why did Amis only write one novel
?

[Loomis]

You should definitely try to get hold of Colonel Sun, colonel_13. By no means is it a waste of time. In fact, it's superb.

It's widely considered by far the best of the non-Fleming novels, and many rate it even higher than some of the Flemings.

Apart from Colonel Sun, I've not read many Bond novels; very few, in fact: two by Fleming and two by Benson (I plan on reading everything by Fleming this year, though). From my extremely limited grounding in the literary 007, I'd say that Colonel Sun is very nearly as good as classic Fleming and simply leaves Benson's work standing.

Like Fleming, Amis was a magnificent writer, arguably one of the giants of 20th century literature. Colonel Sun is Bond served up by a master, with a villain so cruel as to send shivers down the spine, a stupendously sexy companion for Bond, locations atmospherically evoked, horrifying scenes that linger in the memory, and much, much more. Even minor characters are drawn well.

Despite its age, Colonel Sun is neither tame nor dated. The torture scene is truly nasty, and the buildup to it some of the most gripping pages I've ever read in a thriller. As a fan of gory horror flicks (my alias on this site comes from the HALLOWEEN movies, fact fans!), and as one who read Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho without a twinge of squeamishness, I used to think I was unshockable. And then I read Colonel Sun. While not described quite as graphically as they might be today, Amis' depictions of murder and sex are much more vivid than you might expect. This is truly powerful stuff.

As to why Amis wrote only one Bond novel, I've read that Glidrose planned to hire a number of authors to write one book each under the Robert Markham pseudonym. The idea was abandoned when Colonel Sun didn't sell as well as expected.

There is a theory that Colonel Sun was rejected for being too serious, gritty and "down-to-earth" by a public that at the time was lapping up the tongue-in-cheek "fantasy" Bond of films like THUNDERBALL and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. It was years before the literary Bond was revived.

So there we have it: Colonel Sun was the LICENCE TO KILL of the literary franchise!

[zencat]

I read something interesting in Martinis, Girls and Gun. Seems that Ann Fleming, Ian's widow, HATED the idea of continuation novels and she wrote such a scathingly bad review of Colonel Sun for the Sunday Telegraph that the paper never published it because they feared libel. This may have something to do with the fact that Gildrose didn

[Blue Eyes]

Ann Fleming seemed to hate the idea of Bond full stop according to Martinis, Girls and Guns.

[Mister Asterix]

Colonel Sun is a fantastic Bond novel. And it's probably my favourite non-Fleming Bond novel. However, I must dispute what many say that Amis is 'Fleming-esque'. On my first reading of Colonel Sun, in fact, it struck me of how unlike Fleming it was. Amis' outing with 007 lacks the beauty of the prose that made Fleming so wonderful. It also severely lacks in what another forum member dubbed 'The Element Of The Bizarre'. Yes, it is a fantastic book. And the plot is quite intriguing. But it is definitely not Fleming. Amis' was very technically skilled with the language—I'd say more so than Fleming—but he didn't command the words to do new tricks the way old Ian could.

[Mister Asterix]

postscript:
One thing Amis was dead on with was the torture sequence. My second favourite of the series after the carpet beater in Casino Royale.

[Blofeld's Cat]

Originally posted by Mister Asterix
postscript:
One thing Amis was dead on with was the torture sequence. My second favourite of the series after the carpet beater in Casino Royale.

I guess it's the reasoning behind the ear being so prominent on the cover, but the woman's body under it is confusing though.

[kevrichardson]

Originally posted by Blofeld's Cat

I guess it's the reasoning behind the ear being so prominent on the cover, but the woman's body under it is confusing though.

The torture scene is really quite graphic . I feel that it is one reason that most people do not care for "Colonel Sun".

[Bondpurist]

I picked up a pretty rare copy of CS at a Boot sale the other day. Price? 20 pence!

[[dark]]

Originally posted by zencat
Perhaps we should elect SUN as the book with the stangest cover art of them all. (But I like.)

Good Lord! That is bizarre!

I just stumbled onto this one on eBay.com.au...

http://cgi.ebay.com....74&category=271

An Australian one. Certainly unique.

[Righty007]

I started reading Colonel Sun last month and I could not finish it because it was so boring and I kept getting lost. I will start reading it over again one day and hopefully I will enjoy it this time.

[scaramanga]

Originally posted by [dark]


Good Lord!  That is bizarre!

I just stumbled onto this one on eBay.com.au...

http://cgi.ebay.com....74&category=271

An Australian one.  Certainly unique.

That is by far the most weird and unique Bond book cover I've ever come across. Hope you out a bid in.

[Blofeld's Cat]

I've never seen that cover before in Australia, but its description says that it was a Readers' Club publication in Oz so I asume there aren't many of them.

Very unique indeed.

[TheSaint]

I think Colonel Sun is more important than the Gardner & Benson books because it was the first Bond book not written by Fleming.

[kevrichardson]

Originally posted by TheSaint
I think Colonel Sun is more important than the Gardner & Benson books because it was the first Bond book not written by Fleming.

i agree ! I just started re-reading the book . Plus before that i re-read Amis' "James Bond Dossier" . I believe that both should be read together .

[Double-0 Six]

Originally posted by zencat
Yes, I have them all scanned and stored on my hard drive. If there's ever a cover you want to see, just give a shout.

The cover I had features a close-up of Colonel Sun's face with Bond reflected in his glasses (standing in a doorway with his gun). Just wondered if anybody knew anything about this edition, is it worth much, that sort of thing?

Good book, by the way, a bit confusing in parts but worth sticking with.

[Qwerty]

It was one of the most difficult 007 books for me to get, and I searched in out of print book stores and online for a quite a while, but I finally got it an read it immediately. I think it is an okay Bond book, it doesn't have the stlye of Fleming, but it is certainly better then some of Gardner's that would follow. Colonel Sun is an important part of the James Bond legacy.