41 replies to this topic

[Loomis]

I was a little spooked until I saw Faulks on that Amazon clip.

Why were you a little spooked?

[Loomis]

I suspect DMC will be in the Licence Renewed catagory which, if one can forget Gardner's writing style and sticking Bond in a Saab, is a good novel and a damn fine story.

A good novel and a damn fine story? Can't agree there, I'm afraid. It is, at best, a so-so rainy day (or train journey or beach or whatever) timekiller, and has a very generic Bond-stops-crazed-billionaire-from-unleashing-nuclear-armageddon "story" that really isn't up to much. Perhaps I need to re-read it, but I don't recall anything particularly special or memorable about LICENCE RENEWED at all. Even if Faulks wrote DEVIL MAY CARE in his sleep, I'm sure it would still be many, many times better than LICENCE RENEWED.

Still, I agree that LICENCE RENEWED would have a far higher reputation had it been Gardner's only Bond novel. Undeservedly, though, but it's undoubtedly true that fandom values "one-shot" Bond efforts (Lazenby, Amis and Pearson, and also Wood-as-novelisation-writer and Dalton effectively count in this category).

[David Schofield]

I suspect DMC will be in the Licence Renewed catagory which, if one can forget Gardner's writing style and sticking Bond in a Saab, is a good novel and a damn fine story.

A good novel and a damn fine story? Can't agree there, I'm afraid. It is, at best, a so-so rainy day (or train journey or beach or whatever) timekiller, and has a very generic Bond-stops-crazed-billionaire-from-unleashing-nuclear-armageddon "story" that really isn't up to much. Perhaps I need to re-read it, but I don't recall anything particularly special or memorable about LICENCE RENEWED at all. Even if Faulks wrote DEVIL MAY CARE in his sleep, I'm sure it would still be many, many times better than LICENCE RENEWED.

Still, I agree that LICENCE RENEWED would have a far higher reputation had it been Gardner's only Bond novel. Undeservedly, though, but it's undoubtedly true that fandom values "one-shot" Bond efforts (Lazenby, Amis and Pearson, and also Wood-as-novelisation-writer and Dalton effectively count in this category).

But isn't the beauty of the Licence Renewed its bog-standard simplicity? Compare this with the far higher regarded Colonel Sun which, after a brilliant set up, just has Bond aimlessly drift around the Aegean while various people come to attack him before finally assaulting the enemies base. Now if I called this Nobody Lives For Ever by John Gardner, the story would be laughable. And in Colonel Sun, once Bond finds out from Ariadne whher M is, why the hell doesn't he call for help and assault Sun's base, pronto? This is the kidnapping of the Head of MI6, a man full of secrets, we're talking about. But Bond goes for a cruise!!

Even Faulks suggests he is writing a rootin' tootin' easily identifiable Bond story - like Gardner's LR - doesn't he?

On the cultiness of one or two hit Bond contributors, agreee 100%

[Loomis]

But isn't the beauty of the Licence Renewed its bog-standard simplicity? Compare this with the far higher regarded Colonel Sun which, after a brilliant set up, just has Bond aimlessly drift around the Aegean while various people come to attack him before finally assaulting the enemies base.

Well, LICENCE RENEWED's bog-standard simplicity might have been beautiful had Gardner matched Amis as a prose stylist. Gardner's plot is, shall we say, C-list, and so are his characters and prose. Amis' plot is also C-list, but his prose is A-list and it's because of the very high quality of his writing that his characters come to life a little bit (whereas Gardner's characters don't - they remain cardboard and lifeless) and COLONEL SUN is rightly held in high regard.

The difference between COLONEL SUN and LICENCE RENEWED (and, indeed, between COLONEL SUN and pretty much all of the other continuation novels) is in the penmanship. Tell me that Amis' storyline was full of holes and doesn't make any more sense than that of any of the other continuation novels, and I won't disagree (and I hardly need to point out how ropey and how full of gaps in logic most of Fleming's plots were!).

But it's all about the quality of the writing. For me, at least. Even the greatest plot in the world won't do much for me if a continuation novel is badly written. I hope that DEVIL MAY CARE has a decent storyline, but if I doesn't I doubt that I'll mind too much, as long as the Faulks Plaza is up to its usual high standards in terms of virtuoso prose.

To put it bluntly, Faulks is ten times the writer that Gardner was, as well as better than Fleming and quite possibly also superior to Amis, which is why I have no fears (or, to quote the GOLDENEYE poster, no limits or no substitutes) about DEVIL MAY CARE.

Anyone wondering why I bang on so much about Faulks as a giant of literature just needs to get hold of one of his books - plenty of time for anyone to do that, and read it, before the release of DEVIL MAY CARE, I'd have thought. Now, I'm no Faulks expert - I've only read two of his novels myself, although there are other books of his waiting for me on my bookshelf. But what I've read of his (A FOOL'S ALPHABET and ENGLEBY) has blown me away.

So my advice would be to road test the old boy - pick up one of his novels and give him a spin. At worst, you won't like him, but it won't matter because DEVIL MAY CARE is something unique in his canon; and at best, it'll get you (even more?) pumped up for DEVIL MAY CARE.

[marktmurphy]

A feller on another forum says a mate of his has read DMC and said it reads like a 'Fleming pastiche'. If you believe this third-hand tale, I actually don't find it very offputting- it's sort of supposed to be a Fleming pastiche!

[Loomis]

A feller on another forum says a mate of his has read DMC and said it reads like a 'Fleming pastiche'. If you believe this third-hand tale, I actually don't find it very offputting- it's sort of supposed to be a Fleming pastiche!

Exactly. Anyway, you could say the same thing about COLONEL SUN and JAMES BOND: THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY, particularly the latter. And look at how well those two books turned out!

[Single-O-Seven]

A feller on another forum says a mate of his has read DMC and said it reads like a 'Fleming pastiche'. If you believe this third-hand tale, I actually don't find it very offputting- it's sort of supposed to be a Fleming pastiche!

Exactly. Anyway, you could say the same thing about COLONEL SUN and JAMES BOND: THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY, particularly the latter. And look at how well those two books turned out!

Would you rather have something that sounded like Fleming pastiche, or a Bond novel that didn't sound like Fleming at all, and took on a tone far removed from him? Personally, I'd prefer something that deliberately emmulated Fleming, because it's Fleming's voice, for me, that enriches the stories in the first place (and the films, when they adhere to his tone and sweep).
And Loomis, long ago you posted a portion of A FOOL'S ALPHABET on these boards. It prompted me to hunt down and buy that book, which I read straight away. It was definitely worth the read. Faulks is an absorbing writer. His travelouge is excellent, and I hope to see plenty of it in DMC, for it reeked of the style and tone of Fleming's own travel descriptions. Everybody here is advised to try a Faulks book, preferably before DMC.

Edited by Single-O-Seven, 14 May 2008 - 01:29 PM.

[Loomis]

A feller on another forum says a mate of his has read DMC and said it reads like a 'Fleming pastiche'. If you believe this third-hand tale, I actually don't find it very offputting- it's sort of supposed to be a Fleming pastiche!

Exactly. Anyway, you could say the same thing about COLONEL SUN and JAMES BOND: THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY, particularly the latter. And look at how well those two books turned out!

Would you rather have something that sounded like Fleming pastiche, or a Bond novel that didn't sound like Fleming at all, and took on a tone far removed from him? Personally, I'd prefer something that deliberately emmulated Fleming, because it's Fleming's voice, for me, that enriches the stories in the first place (and the films, when they adhere to his tone and sweep).

Well, I guess a Bond novel that "took on a tone far removed from him" could still be good. It would depend on the writer and content. I don't think there's ever been such a book, though.

One of the things I was hoping for with the 2008 novel was that IFP would give Bond to a distinctive and brilliant author - Haruki Murakami, say, just as one off-the-top-of-my-head example among many - and let him or her do totally his or her own thing with it, with not the slightest connection to Fleming if the author so wished.

Hasn't happened, of course, and I'm certainly delighted with the choice of Faulks, but it's an interesting unexplored idea for the future.

And Loomis, long ago you posted a portion of A FOOL'S ALPHABET on these boards. It prompted me to hunt down and buy that book, which I read straight away. It was definitely worth the read. Faulks is an absorbing writer. His travelouge is excellent, and I hope to see plenty of it in DMC, for it reeked of the style and tone of Fleming's own travel descriptions.

I'm very glad to read that. I never imagined that anyone took any notice whatsoever of my posts praising A FOOL'S ALPHABET and picking out the Flemingian bits in it! I'm very pleased that I played a part in getting someone to read that book (one of the most unique and brilliant novels I've ever read, incidentally, and extremely moving into the bargain), and I'm delighted that you enjoyed it.

[zencat]

I was a little spooked until I saw Faulks on that Amazon clip.

Why were you a little spooked?

I explained in another thread somewhere. In fact, I think we went back and forth for a while. Sorry, I don't remember which thread. Might have been the one where Faulks sort of laughed off the novel at some book festival, but now I can't find the thread or article.

[quantumofsolace]

I was a little spooked until I saw Faulks on that Amazon clip. Seeing him speak with such excitement about the book has now REALLY jazzed me. May 28 can't come quick enough.

He did seem to be genuinely enthusiastic and this is excellent to see as some of the print interviews he's done where he mentions DMC have not come over so well

[Single-O-Seven]

I was a little spooked until I saw Faulks on that Amazon clip. Seeing him speak with such excitement about the book has now REALLY jazzed me. May 28 can't come quick enough.

He did seem to be genuinely enthusiastic and this is excellent to see as some of the print interviews he's done where he mentions DMC have not come over so well

I suspect he is proud of DMC, and as the release date approaches his excitement toward the project is finally seeping out. It might help that the media is giving extensive coverage of all things Fleming, and there is a great positive air toward it all. Any dismissive or light remarks he might have suggested toward the book before were likely because the book is outside his regular literary set, and perhaps he was somewhat apprehensive about how it might affect his serious-lit reputation. Now that many people are showing an overwhelming and enthusiastic interest in the book it may be that he's finally begun to relax, and is willing to expose his true appreciation of the work. Either that or IFP have given him a sharp boot in the and told him to be more enthusiastic lest he give the book a negative marketing vibe.

[Trident]

I've just finished Faulks' 'Charlotte Gray'. It was a fantastic read and I highly recommend it. While set in WW II and telling the story of a young SOE courier in France, it's truly not a thriller in the traditional sense. Instead this is a story that has several themes it touches on different levels. For one thing, on the surface it's about Charlotte's search for her lover who's missing in France. During this search, she encompasses a country that is not just occupied by the Germans, but whose people are also at the brink of a civil war, torn between fascism and the struggle for freedom and democracy. While the Vichy-regime busily nurses antisemitism as well as the fear of communism and aides the Nazi forces by deportations and slave-labour, the Resistance movement is in a state of discord with some cells hating each other even more then their common enemy.

In this atmosphere of oppression and constant danger Charlotte meets with a painter whose work and attitude to his art and its power deeply touches her. Continuing her work as an SOE-agent and at the same time on the lookout for her lover, Charlotte becomes entangled in the destinies of several people whose fate is changed, in some cases fatally, by the war.

On another level, the war's scheming and plotting, the manipulation and the politics have their effect on Charlotte's own convictions and opinions, her belief in the cause and trust in her organization's motives are not exactly shattered but altered. When she returns to London, her mission a success, it's evident that she's no longer the same person that has once been approached by SOE. Her experiences on one hand have deeply troubled her. On the other hand, surviving her mission has given her the strength to face a conflict rooted in her own past and the relationship to her father, finally settling an experience that has left her troubled since the early days of her childhood. So this novel, while only covering about a year and a half, is in effect also an 'entwicklungsroman', showing the development of the heroine's character and her coming to terms with her own life.

While all of this doesn't actually sound too Fleming-like, it's still very close to the events of WW II that arguably have had the most effect on Fleming's own life. When reading Chancellor's or Macintyre's books it's evident that in his function as assistant to DNI Godfrey he has had many contacts to SOE and its by now famous F-Section (for some reason dubbed 'G-Section' in Faulks' book), meeting people like Vera Atkins who was originally recruited as a secretary but quickly became one of F-Section's top agents.

Edited by Trident, 21 May 2008 - 01:12 PM.