311 replies to this topic

[Righty007]

From Simon's Blog...
Gardner, Benson & Bond

The classic interview is coming this weekend!

[Simg]

From Simon's Blog...
Gardner, Benson & Bond

The classic interview is coming this weekend!

Here you go

http://www.john-gardner.com/features


ENJOY

SRJG

[zencat]

Fantastic. Looking forward to re-reading this.

[whiteskwirl]

Maybe we should start a letter writing campaign to move this along. Just a poll on a forum isn't going to have much impact. Does anyone know the best person(s) to write to?

[Righty007]

Maybe we should start a letter writing campaign to move this along. Just a poll on a forum isn't going to have much impact. Does anyone know the best person(s) to write to?

This campaign has more than just a thread on a forum. Check out GardnerRenewed.org.

[whiteskwirl]

Maybe we should start a letter writing campaign to move this along. Just a poll on a forum isn't going to have much impact. Does anyone know the best person(s) to write to?

This campaign has more than just a thread on a forum. Check out GardnerRenewed.org.

Oh, I know about the site. But it's still rather passive. The site just tells you to follow a twitter fee and go to this thread and vote in a poll. We need to get the word out, start convincing those who have the ability to green light this project.

[Righty007]

Maybe we should start a letter writing campaign to move this along. Just a poll on a forum isn't going to have much impact. Does anyone know the best person(s) to write to?

This campaign has more than just a thread on a forum. Check out GardnerRenewed.org.

Oh, I know about the site. But it's still rather passive. The site just tells you to follow a twitter fee and go to this thread and vote in a poll. We need to get the word out, start convincing those who have the ability to green light this project.

Oh, I see. Well, I'm told that IFP does know about the campaign.

[OmarB]

Maybe we should start a letter writing campaign to move this along. Just a poll on a forum isn't going to have much impact. Does anyone know the best person(s) to write to?

This campaign has more than just a thread on a forum. Check out GardnerRenewed.org.

Oh, I know about the site. But it's still rather passive. The site just tells you to follow a twitter fee and go to this thread and vote in a poll. We need to get the word out, start convincing those who have the ability to green light this project.

I don't see this movement as "passive" at all. Sure we are not burning effigies in the streets and turning over cars ... but we are talking about books here. A good word here and there by enough fans should help the cause along.

Though if you were to find the mailing info of those responsible I might send a note off.

[Bucky]

i would love to have the gardner books in new editions. i have a bunch of his books but i bought them used and will not put them on the same shelf as my fleming and higson novels (also recently added the union trilogy omnibus to the collection)

[whiteskwirl]

I don't see this movement as "passive" at all. Sure we are not burning effigies in the streets and turning over cars ... but we are talking about books here. A good word here and there by enough fans should help the cause along.

Though if you were to find the mailing info of those responsible I might send a note off.

It's passive in that the movement, at least seems, self-contained to CBn. There has been some talk about it, but just to each other. And we can't make it happen. So my thought is we need to get the attention of those who can make these reprints happen. Righty007 says that he believes IFP is aware of the campaign, but we need to press the issue.

All I have found is a contact form on IFP's website: http://www.ianflemin.../contact_us.asp

A bunch of written and mailed letters would be better, I think. I haven't looked for the address yet.

[zencat]

Don't worry, whiteskwirl. I'm confident that this idea of ours has been heard, and if it appeals and makes sense to the powers-that-be, it could happen. Not sure we need to press the issue too severely. But it is nice that there is still a great passion for this idea, even in light of the Deaver book announcement.

BTW, just finished Role of Honor for the third time. What a treat the Gardner books are. I feel like I rediscover them each time I read them. They just get better with age.

[Single-O-Seven]

Don't worry, whiteskwirl. I'm confident that this idea of ours has been heard, and if it appeals and makes sense to the powers-that-be, it could happen. Not sure we need to press the issue too severely. But it is nice that there is still a great passion for this idea, even in light of the Deaver book announcement.

If not all the Gardner's make it to reprint, I sense that we will at least get a handful of them. With the 30th anniversary of LR coming up, it's a good bet that we will at least see the early - and most successful and popular - of the Gardner's get a redo. This is the very least I'm hoping for, and would be quite happy with it at that.

[whiteskwirl]

Yeah, at least License Renewed. I would be fine even with just an ebook release. With periodic releases, Gardner's books would be a good way to keep Bond visible in the literary realm in between Project X releases. And if IFP held a cover design competition, they could get the cover art done free.

[Righty007]

It would be really cool if they started rolling out Gardner reprints to coincide with the release of Project X. Here's why:

John Gardner re-introduced Ian Fleming's James Bond into the 1980s (1981 to be exact) after a long absence.

Jeffrey Deaver is re-introducing Ian Fleming's James Bond into the 2010s (2011 to be exact) after a long absence.

Next May would be ideal!

[Jeff007]

Good idea, Righty. I really hope that they can do something like this as I think they would be great to be placed around the NEW James Bond novel in the bookstores.

[David Schofield]

It would be really cool if they started rolling out Gardner reprints to coincide with the release of Project X. Here's why:

John Gardner re-introduced Ian Fleming's James Bond into the 1980s (1981 to be exact) after a long absence.

Jeffrey Deaver is re-introducing Ian Fleming's James Bond into the 2010s (2011 to be exact) after a long absence.

Next May would be ideal!

Bit of a risk that, Righty007.

If you put Gardner's LR - which is a VERY good continuation, probably the best after Wood's Spy - on the shelves at the same time as X, it could easily be that X suffers by comparison.

Remember, Gardner was trying to write about Fleming's Bond, but slightly older. There was none of this forced youthful reboot crap. AND LR got some fine reviews in 1981. X might not fare so well.

LR + X = best kept apart.

[Trident]

I also have my doubts about Gardner reprints right at the moment. They probably will only happen once X-Bond is firmly established, i.e. after X2 or X3 even.

On a sidenote: I'd really like to hear what Gardner would have made of the reboot idea. Shame we're never going to find out now...

[zencat]

I think the reprints would need to come our before Project X. They could contain ads in the back for the new book and series. But it's not that big of a deal. Pearson's James Bond Bio was re-released in a pretty nice hardcover around the same time as DMC and it didn't cause any problems of comparison or confusion.

[DAN LIGHTER]

Bring them out with Project X.

Jeffery Deaver is a international bestseller, his readers will pick up Project X, plus all the Bond fans and casual browsers. Gardner reprints could ride on the publicity wave. They would need a little help from Deavers name. Timing would be the key. Muck it up and they don't sell.

What would make someone buy Gardner reprints if you already had them?

[OmarB]

What would make people read Gardner's books? Reprint them and number them like comic book issues. On the spine of LR you can have under the title 1/14 or something of the sort.

[DAN LIGHTER]

Good point, like the Penguin paperbacks of Ian Flemings reprints that had introductions by Hisgon, Cummings, Deaver etc etc etc

Anything else? For me, it would be the chance to get them all without the hunt. I also love the fresh smell of a new book rather than the musty first or battered paperbacks.

[Simg]

On the reboot issue, I think my Father felt in some respects he was rebooting Bond with the lower tar cigarettes, less booze etc. etc. In the 80's that really was a bit of a reboot. Oh and don't forget irritating the hell out of the die hard fans by putting Bond in a SAAB. Also it would seem that IFP etc. have relaxed in their views and attitudes since the 1980's in what you can and cannot do with Commander James Bond.

SRJG

[zencat]

Yeah, I've made that argument to people who (still) can't get their heads around a reboot. LR was a reboot in its day. And Benson's ZMT rebooted that. Heck, every time they changed an author (or actor with the films) it's been a bit of a "fresh start." I think it's the erasing of history (and memory) that freaks some people out. But if we could do it with Craig and CR, we can do it with Deaver and Project X. And IFP has said they "haven’t left the past behind entirely", so it's all good.

And I had no problems whatsoever with the Saab. Great car!

[Trident]

On the reboot issue, I think my Father felt in some respects he was rebooting Bond with the lower tar cigarettes, less booze etc. etc. In the 80's that really was a bit of a reboot. Oh and don't forget irritating the hell out of the die hard fans by putting Bond in a SAAB. Also it would seem that IFP etc. have relaxed in their views and attitudes since the 1980's in what you can and cannot do with Commander James Bond.

SRJG

I often wonder lately what would have been the outcome had there been the option of a 'proper' reboot back then. To me the Gardners often read somehow 'restrained'; as if not everything Gardner aimed for was possible to tally into the Bond character. The 'older' angle with grey traces in his hair was quickly forgotten, the cottage mentioned in LR's intro was never mentioned, the workout routine hardly brought up again and so on.

To me it always felt as if there was a lot more behind the scenes of Bond's world that Gardner imagined but didn't use in the end. Why was the 00-section abolished? And why did it have no effect whatsoever on Bond's work? If anything one would imagine there was more use for a SIS-owned anti-terror squad in the 80's. I felt Gardner had some interesting visions that perhaps might have been put to more effect in their very own series instead of forcing them into Fleming's ideas.

Yeah, I've made that argument to people who (still) can't get their heads around a reboot. LR was a reboot in its day. And Benson's ZMT rebooted that. Heck, every time they changed an author (or actor with the films) it's been a bit of a "fresh start." I think it's the erasing of history (and memory) that freaks some people out. But if we could do it with Craig and CR, we can do it with Deaver and Project X. And IFP has said they "haven’t left the past behind entirely", so it's all good.

In a way, yes. But new authors also always pretended their character lived in an unbroken line from CR to their books; an increasingly difficult task, particularly when extremely dated adventures are remembered by Bond. So it always was a have-your-pick reboot of sorts.

[zencat]

That's a good question, Trident. Thing is, 1981 wasn't really all that long after Fleming (and not long at all from Amis, Pearson, Wood) so I think a full reboot would have been more confusing than anything. Bond would be a veteran of Korea instead of WWII? They only needed to shave ten years off. Gardner was in a tricky place, but I think he did the right thing. Freeze Bond and transport him, but allow for the changes in his world. Very doable back then.

[Trident]

That's a good question, Trident. Thing is, 1981 wasn't really all that long after Fleming (and not long at all from Amis, Pearson, Wood) so I think a full reboot would have been more confusing than anything. Bond would be a veteran of Korea instead of WWII? They only needed to shave ten years off. Gardner was in a tricky place, but I think he did the right thing. Freeze Bond and transport him, but allow for the changes in his world. Very doable back then.

No, I think for the time the decision was right. Reboots are a relatively new thing and back then nobody would have understood the concept the way it's common today. But the logical thing would have been to pick right up after either TMWTGG or CS, either as period piece or by pretending these adventures happened only recently.

But what bugged me recently (strangely enough before X was announced) was, what if Gardner had come in 2006 or thereabouts? How would his series have turned out then? I daresay a lot of his concept would have better befitted a fully blown restart. But I agree that Gardner already went boldly forward for 1980 and was surely ahead of his times.

[Jeff007]

With all the Deaver news, this thread has slowed down. Anything new on the Gardner front?

[Righty007]

With all the Deaver news, this thread has slowed down. Anything new on the Gardner front?

BREAKING NEWS: Righty007 still really wants Gardner reprints as soon as possible.

[zencat]

Okay, here's another reason why we need new editions. I'm currently reading Scorpius, U.S. hardcover edition. For whatever reason, the publisher used very heavy stock paper. Maybe that was fine in '88, but time has aged the pages and has made them stiffen up even more, and it's now like leafing through pages of cardboard. Just holding the book open is murder on the fingers. Why must I suffer!?

[Simg]

Okay, here's another reason why we need new editions. I'm currently reading Scorpius, U.S. hardcover edition. For whatever reason, the publisher used very heavy stock paper. Maybe that was fine in '88, but time has aged the pages and has made them stiffen up even more, and it's now like leafing through pages of cardboard. Just holding the book open is murder on the fingers. Why must I suffer!?

Very valid point Zencat, I will inform IFP as soon as it is possible, the right circumstances for bringing said problem up etc. You should not have to suffer!

SRJG