202 replies to this topic

[bryonalston]

I'd rather have this book based off of the movie version of MP instead of the novel version. It's a good thing that we know what her first name is though.

Edited by bryonalston, 07 July 2005 - 02:16 AM.

[Righty007]

And she died in 1990! 

The post-Fleming books arn't being considered.

Jane Moneypenny? I'm glad we finally know her name. This spin-off sounds cool!

[clinkeroo]

I'm rather turned off on the whole thing since Moneypenny wasn't really a Fleming thing. She was M's secretary and was barely involved at all in the novels (not even remotely close to the films). Should have been Ponsonby or Goodnight. They had much larger roles and actually communicated with Bond.

I agree with Ponsonby and Goodnight, but Moneypenny, thanks to the films, does have the name recognition. I always figured that Fleming kept Moneypenny in the shadows a bit because he had plans for her character somewhere down the line. I remember reading a bit by one of Fleming's cohorts many years ago, it may have been Amis, who said that Fleming had told him that he always assumed that Bond and Moneypenny would end up together somewhere down the line.

It is encouraging that they're keeping the timeline relatively true to Fleming, as they did with Higson. If the IFP is involved (one would suspect they would have to be) and they do come out with a new, original Bond adventure eventually, maybe we'll finally get a period piece .

I just wish that Gardner and Benson had been given the chance to take a crack at Bond in his true element. Furthermore, I would hope they would pick a great writer who is fond of history, as opposed to a great historian who fancies himself a writer.

[Qwerty]

Pretty cool to finally know her first name. Quiet and simple like "James".

[Athena007]

I'm actually really excited about this book for some reason... and very interested to see what's enclosed in it's pages.

[Strangways]

Wake me up when she goes to lunch with Rublevitch, Gen. Gogol's secretary, and they dish about sleeping, or not, with their bosses.

[zencat]

I was pretty put off by the Young Bond concept when it was first announced, but IFP did a great job and now I can't wait for Book 2. While I can't yet say I'm excited about reading the tales of Miss Moneypenny, I expect IFP will do this right. I love that they are sticking to the Fleming timeline, and have the courage to state upfront that the Moneypenny of this novel is now dead. Sure beats Eon's "young Bond with Judi Dench in a first mission set in 2006 have it all gobbly-gook" approach.

[Sam Fisher]

This should be interesting. If There's no adult Bond novel coming out for a good long while I'll be glad to give Moneypenny's P.O.V a chance.

And for the record: Silverfin sucks

[zencat]

I wondering if Bond is going to appear in TMD (ah, my first use to the acronym). If he does, do this mean I have to put the book on my shelf of Bond first editions?

[Qwerty]

What do you keep on your "Firsts" shelf Zen? Fleming, Amis, Pearson, Wood, Benson, Higson...is that it? (Just curious and trying to see from the one photo of it)

[zencat]

What do you keep on your "Firsts" shelf Zen? Fleming, Amis, Pearson, Wood, Benson, Higson...is that it? (Just curious and trying to see from the one photo of it)

All of the above...I also have The Killing Zone, Holmes & 007, and The Adventures of 003 1/2 (seeing as it was published by Cape and all..it looks good next to the Flemings).

[Qwerty]

Ah yes, I assumed TKZ and 003 1/2 - agreed with you there. Holmes & 007?

[MrDraco]

Wow they're truelly losing their minds, i'm going to pick up Higson's novel as soon as i get done with Thomas Friedmans stuff then i'll deal with it, wont this kinda mess the series up...i think were heading the route of starwars

[Jim]

Oh my God.

Let me get this straight - IFP commission books that circle around James Bond but are not actually James Bond. Perhaps this is as much a signal as anything that they've given up on continuing adult Bond. Perhaps it's too soon to leap to that conclusion but this is a bit... odd.

[Bond_Bishop]

Looks quite interesting. But I don't like the fact that they have given Moneypenny a first name. But when it is not about Bond as the main character and it is instead Moneypenny it seems a little iffy. Don't understand me wrong, Moneypenny is a great character and she is quite complex but I want her to stay in the background as the loyal secretary of M.

[David Schofield]

What do you keep on your "Firsts" shelf Zen? Fleming, Amis, Pearson, Wood, Benson, Higson...is that it? (Just curious and trying to see from the one photo of it)

All of the above...I also have The Killing Zone, Holmes & 007, and The Adventures of 003 1/2 (seeing as it was published by Cape and all..it looks good next to the Flemings).

Never heard of Holmes and 007, but surely you don't count The Killing Zone (pure fan fiction and not widely published/distributed) or 003 1/2 as canon? like Pearson, they don't fit with established continuity - Bond dying, having a brother, etc

[spynovelfan]

Is it at all possible that this could have been done without the sanctioning of IFP? I have a couple of questions about the text that is supposedly from the dustjacket. Some of it really doesn't sound like stuff you'd put on a dustjacket. For example:

'The take on this is that Moneypenny was a real person, much the same as John Pearson's 1973 book James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007.'

'The take on this' sounds very informal, and more like a pitch. It doesn't sound like IFP. And notice the title of Pearson's book. Why is there no 'official' or 'authorised' on the cover of this, as there is with Chancellor's boo? No IFP logo. It says Westbrook is a histrorian specıalısing in 'the emergence of post-colonial structures' - hence the Kenya thing, I guess. But I wonder if this wasn't an idea spun out in much the same way as George Macdonald Fraser took the minor chracter of Harry Flashman from TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS and 'discovered' his memoirs. The 'much the same as Perason' line makes this sound like something an avid Bond fan might come up with as an original piece of fan fiction, rather than IFP.

Then again, they did think laterally with Higson, and there are massive copyright issues, of course. Things have moved on since the Bulgarian tried to feature Bond in a novel. But it does seem odd that there's no 'official' or 'authorised' anywhere, and that Westbrook doesn't seem to have written anything else before, or have any connection with the Bond world. That said, it's published by John Murray, and they're also doing Chancellor's book, so I guess it *must* be IFP-sanctioned. Very odd indeed. Moneypenny doesn't seem to have so much potential for a trilogy to me. I'd have preferred to see a novel based around other double-0 agents' adventures in the Cold War period.

Perhaps I should pitch it to IFP.

[zencat]

Good points, spynovelfan. As I said in the article (and as you see in this thread), when Trempo first discovered the listing I asked IFP about it, and they seemed to be unaware of it's existence (which I'm now thinking was them playing coy, but who knows?).

Still, I would think there would be no way a book like this could be down without IFPs permission. And it is the same publisher as James Bond: The Man and His World. But as of right now, it's has not been officially announced by IFP and therefore it's not officially linked to IFP.

[Qwerty]

Perhaps they're trying to distance the announcements of these books since there are quite a few lately.

[zencat]

Interesting article about all this on the The Grumpy Old Bookman Blog.

[spynovelfan]

Yes, thanks for that, Zencat. On reflection though, it has to be IFP-sanctioned, doesn't it? Can't imagine John Murray would get permission for the Chancellor manuscript and then sneakily try to pull out a trilogy of unauthorised books from the point of view of a Fleming character. The coyness the site you link to queries will just be that they don't want to start promoting it yet, because Chancellor's next on the list.

[DLibrasnow]

My question is this-

If UK law only protects a copyright for 70 years after an authors death.....then Bond becomes public domain much like Sherlock Holmes is now!?

Also the article seems to indicate that there is a legal question over whether a copyright can exist at all.

[Hitch]

Fingers crossed that these books, if published, are worth reading. Might be fun.

Two thoughts:

1. The character of James Bond seems to be something of an anomaly. There aren't many fictional characters of his longevity who are still enormous popular, albeit in the cinematic world, if not the literary. The copyright of (for example) comic book characters like Batman and Superman, both of whom predate Bond, are presumably still current because Bats and Supes comics are published every week. Does the 70-year rule apply in their cases? Does the Bond literary copyright expire soon, while the cinematic Bond keeps chugging on? Can one separate the two?

2. I think that in some cases copyright or licensing can be lengthened if the character/product is shown to be constantly renewed. (This may be hogwash.) If so, would IFP be best advised to publish a new adult James Bond novel sharpish in order to protect their copyright status?

My head hurts (yet again).

Edited by Hitch, 08 July 2005 - 03:40 PM.

[DLibrasnow]

The copyright of (for example) comic book characters like Batman and Superman, both of whom predate Bond, are presumably still current because Bats and Supes comics are published every week. Does the 70-year rule apply in their cases?

But when did the authors of these characters die? Thats the question the UK law seems to apply to, not when the characters first appeared.

[zencat]

Yes, thanks for that, Zencat. On reflection though, it has to be IFP-sanctioned, doesn't it? Can't imagine John Murray would get permission for the Chancellor manuscript and then sneakily try to pull out a trilogy of unauthorised books from the point of view of a Fleming character. The coyness the site you link to queries will just be that they don't want to start promoting it yet, because Chancellor's next on the list.

Agree, spynovelfan. It just seems inconceivable this book isn't official.

[Mister Asterix]

[quote name='DLibrasnow' date='8 July 2005 - 10:28']My question is this-

If UK law only protects a copyright for 70 years after an authors death.....then Bond becomes public domain much like Sherlock Holmes is now!?

Also the article seems to indicate that there is a legal question over whether a copyright can exist

[DLibrasnow]

Well according to this article....there can be no copyright on characters anyway:

"One might assume that it would be an infringement of copyright to use characters and style developed by another person. Not so; copyright protects the words and form in which ideas are expressed, not the ideas or characters themselves."


http://www.geocities...s/solomn05.html

[K1Bond007]

Well according to this article....there can be no copyright on characters anyway:

"One might assume that it would be an infringement of copyright to use characters and style developed by another person. Not so; copyright protects the words and form in which ideas are expressed, not the ideas or characters themselves."


http://www.geocities...s/solomn05.html

I think the James Bond series proves that false; SPECTRE, Blofeld, McClory's "Warhead" (70s) - think about it.

[DLibrasnow]

Did you read the article K1?! Given your post I sincerely doubt that you did.

The article was written by a Judge for a legal journal and it is judges who interpret the law and that's how cases get overturned etc.

[philbowski]

It seems as if this title will also be released in paperback the same time that the hardcover is being released.

http://www.amazon.co...4896126-2974205