9 replies to this topic

[terminus]

The proposition is simple - assume that Benson had been asked to write another Bond after TMWTRT and he had been given the year off that he was going to ask for. The new Benson novel debuts in April, 2004 - what would you have liked to see it be about and what do you think it would have been about ?

Here is my opinion, under a few headings, it would be titled THE HAND OF GOD:

BOND GIRLS

Benson always showed a predisposition with displaying his vast knowledge of the Flemming books. He has mentioned events, villains and girls and brought sparse few characters back - here he brings back one of the Flemming girls: Gala Brand. Here she is freshly divorced with a broken marriage behind her, sacrificed for the furthering of her career and she's now working for the SIS in Cayman Islands and that's where Bond meets up with her.

The second Bond girl (the Benson books generally seem to have two girls, the exceptions being NDOD and ZMT [TFOD had two, HTTK had three, TMWTRT had two and DS had four]) is called Solange - a tip of the hat to '007 in New York' and because Benson apparantly likes to base characters on people for a visual reference, he might use Beyonce Knowles or Vivica Fox as a reference.

I wouldn't pass up a cameo by Heidi and Hedy Taunt either - the editors liked them and Benson turned down the opportunity to use the characters again.

BOND ALLIES

Benson has spoken of how he wanted to turn Bond's new secretary, Nigel Smith, into a sidekick for Bond - so we would likely see Nigel venture into the field to aide Bond at some point. IIRC, he was a Royal Marine so despite any injury he wouldn't be useless -

BOND VILLAINS

We have had British, Greek, Spanish, French and Japanese villains - it's time to see an American villain. He might be based on Richard Branson and would be encountered for the first time in the Cayman Islands - on his luxurious private yacht.

BOND LOCATIONS

Cayman Islands, Arizona and the Panama Canal.

PLOT

When an American operative disappears, his last words to Gala Brand are the name of our villain - on arrival in the Cayman Islands, it soon becomes apparent that the American operative has been murdered, prompted by the fact he has uncovered information about the villain. Bond follows the trail to the outwardly respectable villain where a standoffish encounter and a chess game force the villain to try and eliminate Bond - though the attempt fails and Bond is saved by Gala Brand.

Bond and Gala travel to the bay where the villains yacht is docked and sneak onboard, stealthily observsing a meeting between the villain and a scientist about a device known simply as THE HAND OF GOD.

The trail lets Bond follow the scientist to Arizona where he meets an American agent, Solange. She was dispatched to follow the scientist, the US having been alerted by the SIS after Gala informed them of the situation - they discover that the Hand of God is an experimental weapon and escape from the laboratory with knowledge of when it is being used, Solange being killed in the process.

Bond reunites with Gala and travels to Panama where they are equipped with a boat by Major Boothroyd - they manage to diffuse the new weapon and save the Panama Canal but must trail the villain on his yacht, infiltrating it and then killing him.

Bond and Gala eventually have sex - as we learn that she is divorced, having kept up the pretense she was married in order to warn Bond off.




WHAT WOULD YOUR BENSON 7 BE ABOUT ?

[ComplimentsOfSharky]

Term why are you still here??? Why aren't you working for EON or hell IFP even????

[David Schofield]

The proposition is simple - assume that Benson had been asked to write another Bond after TMWTRT and he had been given the year off that he was going to ask for. The new Benson novel debuts in April, 2004 - what would you have liked to see it be about and what do you think it would have been about ?

Here is my opinion, under a few headings, it would be titled THE HAND OF GOD:

BOND GIRLS

Benson always showed a predisposition with displaying his vast knowledge of the Flemming books. He has mentioned events, villains and girls and brought sparse few characters back - here he brings back one of the Flemming girls: Gala Brand. Here she is freshly divorced with a broken marriage behind her, sacrificed for the furthering of her career and she's now working for the SIS in Cayman Islands and that's where Bond meets up with her.

The second Bond girl (the Benson books generally seem to have two girls, the exceptions being NDOD and ZMT [TFOD had two, HTTK had three, TMWTRT had two and DS had four]) is called Solange - a tip of the hat to '007 in New York' and because Benson apparantly likes to base characters on people for a visual reference, he might use Beyonce Knowles or Vivica Fox as a reference.

I wouldn't pass up a cameo by Heidi and Hedy Taunt either - the editors liked them and Benson turned down the opportunity to use the characters again.

BOND ALLIES

Benson has spoken of how he wanted to turn Bond's new secretary, Nigel Smith, into a sidekick for Bond - so we would likely see Nigel venture into the field to aide Bond at some point. IIRC, he was a Royal Marine so despite any injury he wouldn't be useless -

BOND VILLAINS

We have had British, Greek, Spanish, French and Japanese villains - it's time to see an American villain. He might be based on Richard Branson and would be encountered for the first time in the Cayman Islands - on his luxurious private yacht.

BOND LOCATIONS

Cayman Islands, Arizona and the Panama Canal.

PLOT

When an American operative disappears, his last words to Gala Brand are the name of our villain - on arrival in the Cayman Islands, it soon becomes apparent that the American operative has been murdered, prompted by the fact he has uncovered information about the villain. Bond follows the trail to the outwardly respectable villain where a standoffish encounter and a chess game force the villain to try and eliminate Bond - though the attempt fails and Bond is saved by Gala Brand.

Bond and Gala travel to the bay where the villains yacht is docked and sneak onboard, stealthily observsing a meeting between the villain and a scientist about a device known simply as THE HAND OF GOD.

The trail lets Bond follow the scientist to Arizona where he meets an American agent, Solange. She was dispatched to follow the scientist, the US having been alerted by the SIS after Gala informed them of the situation - they discover that the Hand of God is an experimental weapon and escape from the laboratory with knowledge of when it is being used, Solange being killed in the process.

Bond reunites with Gala and travels to Panama where they are equipped with a boat by Major Boothroyd - they manage to diffuse the new weapon and save the Panama Canal but must trail the villain on his yacht, infiltrating it and then killing him.

Bond and Gala eventually have sex - as we learn that she is divorced, having kept up the pretense she was married in order to warn Bond off.




WHAT WOULD YOUR BENSON 7 BE ABOUT ?

Any chance that Bond might get to know the two kids that Gala has according to Gardner in For Special Services?

[terminus]

Perhaps there would be a mention of them by Gala - perhaps she lost them in the divorce settlement and she mentions that to Bond since I don't suppose the split with her husband would have been amicable.

[hcmv007]

Mine was based off of a plot idea I had for a James Bond fanfic:

Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 in:

The Nautilus Affair by: Raymond Benson

(poster's note-this story to serve as a relaunching point for Bond)

Story-The story opens w/ Bond still in the Royal Navy on a mission in which a British Agent is rescuing an operative inside the Chinese government. The Double-0 agent, David Leonard is traveling underwater to the subamarine and is being pursued by Chinese agents. The Sub's commander wants to leave, but Bond insists on going out and rescuing Leonard and the other operative. The commander says no, but Bond defies orders and goes in anyway. Bond ends up saving the lives of Leonard and the operative. Bond gets chewed out by his CO, but Leonard interests Bond in intelligence work, saying that the service could use men like him. Cut to ten years later-Leonard, 002, is observing allegations of the possible sabotage of the Nautilus Defence System. Leonard exposes a Cuban agent who is in on the deal, as is the head of the comapny, Nemoverne Industries, Jules Hemingway, is also in on the deal. Leonard is chased down and killed by the Cuban agent Major Sasha Lopez. Meanwhile the Nautilus-an automated computer terminal that controls the weapons systems for British warships and submarines is tested in the Atlantic, only to go horribly wrong. The crews aboard one sub and two warships are all killed. M (female M)immediately sends for Bond, who is seperated from (Miyomi? I havent read the TMWTRT in almost 2 years), and is eagerly waiting a new assignemnt. Bond herars about the death of 002 and gets the assignment involving Nemoverne. Bond is introduced to Courtney Blackwell, a woman whom we learn Bond has a past with. We flashback to just after Bond's encounter with Scaramanga. Bond meets her while vacationing in Jamaica. Some men try to force her into an awkward situation, Bond rides in and saves the day. They end up together and Bond tells her of all he has had to go throught in the past few months. Back to the present, Courtney is the public relations director for Nemoverne, and is Bond's liasion officer. Bond tries to be professional at first, but admits he still has feelings for her, after all this time. Bond then meets Hemingway, and is immediately suspicious of him, and even more so when he meets his secretary, Sasha Lopez. Bond is soon cornered in his hotel room by some assassins, but he manages to get the drop on them, killing all four of them. Bond, w/ Courtney helping out, learns that Hemingway intends to sell Nautilus to various terrorist groups. Bond sends Courtney to get intouch w/ M, only to be kidnapped. Bond is captured, and Sasha tortures him in a painful way, Bond flashes back to how he dealt w/ LeChiffre's torture, but draws on his new experience to get out of the situation, and gets the drop on Lopez, breaking her neck. Bond then goes after Hemingway, who has Courtney in his clutches in a boat. Bond uses a jet ski to catch up to him, in an excellent chase, and manages to get on the boat, only to find the boat is the wrong one. A bomb is on the boat and it explodes. Bond is found floating by a policeman and is recovering. M informs Bond that Hemingway has Courtney, but more importantly, the British fleet is helpless, Nautilus has taken control of all the armaments of every British ship, pointing the weapons at China and North Korea. Bond then remembers where Hemingway could be, he has 24 hours to stop him. Bond travels to Costa Rica, where Hemingway has a private island. Bond infiltrates the island and learns of Hemingway's true intentions: Start WW3, and through the Cuban govt sell WMD's to terrorist groups as the world's remaning super powers go to war. The paln would work, but Bond, w/ a gift from Q sends out a computer virus that destroys Nautilus, and then has a final firefight w/ Hemingway, killing him. Bond gets Courtney out, and they relax in a secluded spot in Latin America, enjoying each others comapany. End.

Not the best I know, which is why I elected to not use it for my fanfic, but it does refer to his past, and just puts it in a different light.

[terminus]

Sounds good - has the flashes to the past that Benson liked to use and an interesting though fairly cinematic plot.

[hcmv007]

Glad you liked it terminus!

[Gri007]

If Benson had wrote another book then perhaps the 'Young Bond' novels would have come later

[TheREAL008]

Defenately. Raymond benson can write Bond better than Gardener. It'll be somewhat disappointing that He won't be writing anymore. But I wish him great luck in his "solo career"

But reading his ssplinter cell novels was very much like eating at McDonald's

[Flavius]

I rather liked TMWTRT.... perhaps it's best that Benson went out on a high.

I would have liked a further continuation of following up the loose ends of the remains of The Union. Post Spectre, The Union was a nice creation.... I wouldn't have minded him milking it dry for plot ideas!