42 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

How old were you when you first read John Gardner's Licence Renewed - the current book in the ?

For me, it was my first John Gardner novel (and the first continuation novel outside of Fleming for that matter). I got my copy used at a bookstore along with a few other Fleming paperbacks probably when I was in my early teens.

Wasn't quite sure what it was or who Gardner was, but I remember finding it very enjoyable. Having read the small preview of For Special Services at the back, I was eager to continue on. I guess I was lucky to have read almost all of the Gardner novels in order.

[TheSaint]

A friend of my mother's got me LR the month it was released so, if it came out in 1981, I was 13 when I read it.

[MovieMaestro]

21. I had just finished every single Fleming story (tear), so it was on to the Gardner series with a heavy heart. I heard Gardner was terrible, but luckily LR was quite good, as were many of the early Gardner books, so I kept on...

[ACE]

Autumn 1982. I had just finished all the Flemings, read Colonel Sun (after waiting 6 weeks for it on order - bought at Brent Cross, 15 years before TND was filmed there!). I then saw LR in brand, new, shiny paperback with the bullet-holed front cover in a shop near my school. Not having the astronomical

[David Schofield]

From then on to this day, every year, I looked forward to the new literary Bond outing, something my older Bondpals (for whom Brosnan means "John") were deprived of.

V. funny, ACE

I can say that I STARTED reading Licence Renewed on the day it was published in 1981 in Cape hardback. And if I recall I'd finished it pretty soon afterward (to hell with schoolwork).

I thought it was very good and was delighted that, like ACE and others, I have a brand new Bond to look forward to in future every year (you know, the real Bond, as opposed to the bi-annual comedies starring the fudy-dudy Moore).

Ah, the misguided enthusiam of youth... but then, of course, came Mr Benson, and in hindsight its not that bad after all (and nor are the Moore films).

[Thunderfinger]

I was 15.It was my second Bond book after Goldfinger.
It didn

[Tarl_Cabot]

1985 after AVTAK, I was 15...maybe that's why I was such a Dalton fan...he just felt like Gardner's Bond to me.Roger just didn't enter my mind while reading...my favorite book was Icebreaker...shoulda been a film in 1991.

[Cody]

22. I just read it for the first time this year.

[Trident]

I was 15, it was 1982. I was extremely happy when I heard the year before that some Gardner-chap was writing new Bond-books. Luckily, the first one was translated by 1982 and I wolfed it down and cried for more of the same stuff. Sad to say it, but in later years I wasn't so eager for new Gardners any more.

[bond_girl_double07]

I'm just reading it now for the first time (at 24)

[Kilroy6644]

I don't know exactly how old I was. I know I got it and read it when I was in high school, so it would've been between the ages of 14-17. I can't pin it down any more than that, but it was my first Gardner.

[Double-O Eleven]

I was fourteen, 1987. It wasn't the first Gardner I read, however. I had finished sweeping through all the Fleming books, and the John Gardner novel most heavily advertised on the back cover of the Berkley paperbacks at the time was Icebreaker, so that was the first one I decided to purchase and read when I finished Fleming. I read License Renewed second, and then For Special Services. Re-reading License Renewed for the book club is only the second time I've read it, and the first time I've ever re-read a non-Fleming James Bond novel.

[ACE]

Ah, the misguided enthusiam of youth... but then, of course, came Mr Benson, and in hindsight its not that bad after all (and nor are the Moore films).

Eh, lad, when you get t' my age, evrthing seems not so bad af t'all!

[DLibrasnow]

I was given ICEBREAKER when it was released in 1983 and quickly snapped up LICENSE RENEWED afterwards so I would have read it at age 11.

The Gardner books were the second continuation author novels I read as I read the Christopher Wood novels in the late 1970s. It was over 10 years later before I tracked down a copy of Amis' COLONEL SUN.

[Mister Asterix]

[mra]Licence Renewed was the first James Bond book I read and I was in my mid to late twenties. I was hooked.

I had tried reading Moonraker before and it was just too far from the Bond of the films. I didn

[Sir Charles]

I think I read Licence Renewed when I was 16. I had read all of the Fleming novels at that point (and even Amis' Colonel Sun).
This was not, however, the 1st Gardner novel I tried to tackel. I had first tried to read Nobody Lives Forever, but couldn't get into it very far. A year or so later I collected the rest of the Gardner books and read them in order (which made NLF a much easier book to get into!).

[Bryce (003)]

I was 13 in '81 and had just finished 7th grad. I went ona three week vacation with my parents to California and during all the travels to various destinations via planes and automobiles it made for a great read.

I also had brought along my copy of Colonel Sun which I read again. I remember enjoying how Gardner quickly, yet effectively addressed the 13 years since we had last read of the exploits of 007.

Also, we returned home from the trip and five days later I was at the first showing on opening day of FYEO.

'81...a fine summer for Bond.

[Qwerty]

Licence Renewed was the first James Bond book I read and I was in my mid to late twenties. I was hooked.

That must have been an interesting way to go about it. The continuation novels leading to Fleming, and not the other way around.

[Mark_Hazard]

Eh, lad, when you get t' my age, evrthing seems not so bad af t'all!

Said by a young whipper-snapper.

I had already read all of the Flemings as well as Colonel Sun, and I read LR before its official release date. I remember ordering it from my local WHS (in those days they couldn't put a foot wrong) and receiving it a week or so before the official launch date. As that was during 1981, I would have been all of 29.

Edited by Mark_Hazard, 01 October 2006 - 12:52 PM.

[bond_girl_double07]

Is anyone else who hasn't read LR previously having a bit of a difficult time getting into it? I'm really forcing myself to read the first few chapters!

[Double-0-7]

I got the book for Christmas in 1981, so I was 20 at the time. I had read a few of the Flemings in no particular order in my teens and found most of them to be a struggle at that time. The Gardner books seemed more like the films, with gadgets sprinkled about, so that fit more with my view of the Bond world.

Now I prefer the books to movies, and Fleming to all the continuation authors by a wide margin. But that doesn't mean I don't pick a new Bond movie to watch every weekend and can hardly wait for CR to get here!

[Flash1087]

I was 17 years old. I read it a year ago September; it was my second Gardner novel (after Cold Fall which I STILL argue isn't that bad) and I absolutely loved it. It's my #2 all-around favorite Bond novel behind Casino Royale, and my #1 continuation novel.

Edited by Flash1087, 16 October 2006 - 08:22 AM.

[Lazenby880]

I was twenty and thought it rather good; far better, at least, than I had been led to believe. Much the same goes for For Special Services and Icebreaker, although the quality does drop off into troughs after that. The concept itself I found interesting, and Gardner handled it resonably well, although I do think said concept might have been pushed further with the Bond character reacting to the societal changes wrought after Fleming's death.

Still, if one attempts to remove Fleming from one's mind Licence Renewed emerges as a generally entertaining and undemanding read.

[DOUBLE-O-JOE]

I read it in 1981, aged 17. It was eagerly anticipated by me. I think I remember liking most of it, except the climax on the starlifter which left me disappointed because there was not a countdown to destruction ala the Bond films- that difference was hard for me to take at the time but I learnt to appreciate it better in later years. I still have fond memories of this novel, eventhough in later years I started to realise it didn't seem to be a true Bond novel ala Fleming.

[Turn]

I got the hardback of License Renewed for my 15th birthday in 1981 and read it sometime in the next year. I also got the FYEO and MR soundtracks for that birthday.

[jaguar007]

LR was actually the first bond book I read. I read it in 1981 upon its release and I would hve been 13. The second Bond book I read was CR.

[Taro Todoroki]

Ummmm.......1982 when the paperback came out. Oh no, that would have made me 19! OK, who's idea was it to ask this?

[zencat]

1981.

I

[doublenoughtspy]

I was 12 or 13. My dad had gotten a copy for his birthday or Christmas.

I devoured it and wanted more.

Flash forward 14 years. I get a call that a mind blowingly major James Bond collection, put together as an investment by a professional football player, is being parted out.

I purchase the original manuscript to Licence Renewed.

A couple weeks later I get the call to help archive Fleming

[zencat]

I purchase the original manuscript to Licence Renewed.

I didn't know you had this. Nice!

Tell me, is the title on it License Renewed, or Meltdown?