74 replies to this topic

[OmarB]

There are no words to totally express the loss. Weird how not two weeks ago I sent him a fan email after reading Scorpious.

RIP Sir. You did well.

Now's the time to get working on those reprints. Common guys, lets start the line here!

[DamnCoffee]

Ah! So Sorry to hear about this. RIP

[deth]

what sad news. I remember first starting on his series of Bond books with such low low expectations... only to have them surpassed in every way imaginable. A fine author, and one that kept me reading late into the night on many occasions.

RIP John Gardner

[zencat]

I expect some sort of shrine on CBn and the Young Bond Dossier soon. A big event in literary Bond. Gardner demands it!

I'm actually unable to put anything up on my site right now (computer with my website Fonts is in shop*), so I will leave it to others to report this sad news for now. 007Magazine already has something up.

*Unless someone can send me the Akzidenz-Grotesk Condensed family for OSX.

Stromberg helped me solve my Font problem (thank you sir). News now on my site including own personal remembrance.

[Double-0-Seven]

The only Gardner novels I've read are Cold, Nobody Lives Forever, and the GoldenEye novelisation. I really enjoyed all three.

Thank you for helping to keep the Bond novels alive.

Rest In Peace.

[K1Bond007]

Unfortunate news.

His latest book, which I note on my blog, is due out on August 27th of this year.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

I really didn't like Gardner's Bond novels, but anyway, Rest in Peace.

[Navy007Fan]

Mr. Gardner's passing now noted on his web site.

[Garth007]

What sad news. May he rest in peace.

[Athena007]

Awe... now I'm all sad...

[Professor Dent]

Well, this news will bring my day to an end on a sadder note than anticipated...

[Sbott]

Very sad news, but what a legacy you have left behind.

RIP John.

[TheSaint]

Doublenought passed the sad news to me earlier today.

My mother ordered License Renewed for me from her book club when it was released. The NYPost serialized it. I bought the rest of them as they came out, and was able to get at least one of the last few he wrote autographed from The Mysterious Bookshop in NYC. I enjoyed the bulk of them, and thought that LR would've made a great follow-up film to "License to Kill/Revoked", though it would've confused the hell out of non-fans. Like Zencat mentioned, his books helped get me past the Bond drought of the early 90's.

To paraphrase one of his last Bond novels, Always Send Flowers.

[DLibrasnow]

Very sad news. I remember exchanging letters with him in the 1980s after I had read my personal favorite Gardner novel Icebreaker. We both hailed from the same part of the world and for a 12-year-old kid I was a little star struck receiving a letter in the mail from him.

Then about two years ago I received a couple of e-mails from him to point out that a Web site on spies in literature that I was involved with was missing reference to his Boysie Oakes character.

Perhaps it's because of those two encounters that I feel that Gardner always liked to connect with his audience and appreciated that he had been given a challenging task in continuing the legacy.

I understand he was even a member of CBn.

RIP John

[zencat]

My mother ordered License Renewed for me from her book club when it was released. The NYPost serialized it.

It was? I didn't know that. Be nice to get those issues.

[Jeff007]

Thanks for everything, John. You will be missed.

[Bon-san]

I will never forget the excitement of receiving a hardback edition of Licence Renewed as a birthday gift in my early teens. I read the book gleefully (I even carried it around with me for weeks afterward!) and will always feel a debt of gratitude to Mr. Gardner for the joy of that and other similar occasions.

Thanks very much, and may you rest in peace, Mr. Gardner.

[sharpshooter]

Stromberg helped me solve my Font problem (thank you sir). News now on my site including own personal remembrance.

Very good job.

[Qwerty]

On the CBn main page...

John Gardner (1926-2007)

James Bond author passes away

[TheSaint]

It was? I didn't know that. Be nice to get those issues.

I didn't save the entire issues but I did save the pages the serialization appeared on. And, of course, there's always microfilm.

[Flash1087]

Bless your soul, Mr. Gardner. The world's lost a literary great. If it weren't for my random discovery of Cold Fall in a thrift store some time ago I may not have gotten into Bond when I did.

RIP, John Gardner. After all you'd had published, you've earned it. I hope they saved a Silver Beast for you in heaven.

[Double-Oh Agent]

This is sad news. I always enjoyed his Bond novels. He had some great plots and characters.

The first Bond book I ever read was a birthday gift from my sister and it was John Gardner's No Deals, Mr. Bond. And my favorite 007 novel of any author is his Nobody Lives Forever.

I will forever be grateful to him for re-establishing the literary Bond character when he took over the franchise in 1981 with License Renewed. Without him and his successful efforts, who knows how long we would have had to wait for another attempt at a Bond novel?

Thanks for the memories Mr. Gardner, I will never forget them.

R.I.P.

[Robinson]

"Win, Lose or Die" was the first Bond book by Gardner I ever read. I managed to read all of his Bond novels save his film adaptations.

Rest well Mr. Gardner and thank you for the literary experience.

[Bill]

Sad news indeed.

If I remember correctly I discovered John Gardner back in 1981 when US magazine, of all publications, published excerpts from License Renewed, when I was the ripe old age of 13. I had just started immersing myself in 007's world, and I think that is where I first became aware that there was a new James Bond book being published. I had not even finished tracking down all of the Fleming books (another story entirely) but I was immensely excited to see that there was a brand new James Bond book being published.

I went to the local library (where I would have my first job three years later) and reserved License Renewed. It came in and I read it within a few days. Having not read much Fleming at that point, I thought it absolutely magnificent. I then reread the book through the serialization in the New York Post over thirteen or fourteen days, which featured some wild illustrations and little bits of Bond film trivia. As it was right around the time that For Your Eyes Only was released, it was a truly great time to be a Bond fan. I wonder if a major newspaper would ever endeavor to do something like that today.

For Special Services followed the following year, and I quickly realized how contemporary John Gardner's books were, with the Space Wolves being his version of SDI. A family friend bought me Icebreaker the following year and from then on, I bought each and every of his Bond novels the day it was released, or shortly thereafter, and devoured them within a few short days.

John Gardner did not shy away from making his James Bond a true Cold Warrior, a real hero of the Reagan and Thatcher era, and put him in the center of world events like the eve of Desert Storm (The Man from Barbarossa). He did an excellent job of fleshing out 007's character, while only aging him a little bit. He was equally adept with the supporting cast, such as with Bond's affair with Ann Reilly starting and ending in his novels, and Bond remaining friends with her afterward. He humanized Bond with his relationships with two of the strongest Bond girls in the whole world of Bond, books, films and comics, with Flicka and Beatrice. Finally, his characterization of Sir Miles Messervy was the richest I have seen in all of the various incarnations of Bond.

It was my concerns with M's ill health in SeaFire which prompted me to write to him care of his publisher back in 1994, before e-mail and the Internet (at least as far as I was concerned). I wrote him a four page letter, concerned not only with M but also with the controversial changes he had made with MI6 and the seeming possibility of Bond marrying Flicka. I did not really expect a response.

Well, less then two weeks later I received a response directly from Mr. Gardner, addressing point by point the issues I raised in my correspondence. It was no form letter, as he had clearly taken the time to read and reply directly to what I wrote. He did so to assuage my concerns for change in Bond's world (ironic that the 2006 Casino Royale changes Bond in a way far beyond anything John Gardner wrote!). A true gentleman, who obviously cared for what his readers felt. He even gave me a scoop of sorts, confirming that he would be novelizing GoldenEye and that he would only be writing one more Bond novel.

John Gardner was a worthy successor to Ian Fleming. His Bond novels contributed greatly to the Bond canon, and given that they were the only brand new Bond material released during most of the "dark times" without new Bond on the silver screen between 1989 and 1995, he filled a real gap. He was a true gentleman, and I, for one, will miss him. I will keep him in my prayers.

Bill Kanas

Edited by Bill, 08 August 2007 - 01:20 AM.

[Santa]

Well, less then two weeks later I received a response directly from Mr. Gardner, addressing point by point the issues I raised in my correspondence. It was no form letter, as he had clearly taken the time to read and reply directly to what I wrote. He did so to assuage my concerns for change in Bond's world (ironic that the 2006 Casino Royale changes Bond in a way far beyond anything John Gardner wrote!). A true gentleman, who obviously cared for what his readers felt. He even gave me a scoop of sorts, confirming that he would be novelizing GoldenEye and that he would only be writing one more Bond novel.

That is a really nice story. John Gardner was clearly an absolute gentleman. RIP.

[zencat]

Great story, Bill.

[[dark]]

Raymond Benson Remembers John Gardner

UPDATE: Ian Fleming Publications also pay tribute to James Bond author

[Qwerty]

A fantastic story, Bill.

[Double-Oh-Zero]

Admittedly, I have yet to make my way through the entire Gardner library, but it is indeed always terrible news when someone with this much influence on the Bond world passes away. Especially someone who, judging from Bill's lovely story (amongst the others told here), was so connected to the fans.

RIP, Mr. Gardner. You will be missed.

[dennisbolt]

Nobody Lives Forever in 1986/7 was my first Bond book at the age of 13. I read all of Gardner's and then all the rest through my high school years, and the rest is history.

The late 80s-early 90s were a dry period in the film series, (eventhough I really liked Dalton) and I think that Gardner helped keep Bond in the subconcious as well as anybody. His first half-dozen Bond books were his best in my opinion.

The "Secret ..." trilogy books were a fond memory of mine at that time too.

He will be missed.