8 replies to this topic

[OHMSS Spion]

Has anyone read any of the number of fictional books that feature Ian Fleming as a character? I gave the Ian Fleming Files a try. They're sort of mindless fun. Here's a listing of all the books I've found so far:

 

The Ian Fleming Files: Operation Armada by Damian Stevenson (https://www.goodread...n-fleming-files)

The Ian Fleming Files: Operation Parsifal by Damian Stevenson (https://www.goodread...n-fleming-files)

Too Bad to Die: A Novel by Francine Matthews (https://www.goodread...-too-bad-to-die)

In Secret Service by Mitch Silver (https://www.goodread...version=service)

Shaken, Not Stirred (The Secret Files of I__ F______, Code Designate 17F) by Aaron Cooley (https://www.goodread...ken-not-stirred)

No Dawn for Men: A Novel of Ian Fleming, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Nazi Germany by James LePore (https://www.goodread...no-dawn-for-men)

God's Formula: A Novel of Ian Fleming and JRR Tolkien in WWII France by James LePore (https://www.goodread...7-god-s-formula)

The Bone Keepers by James LePore (https://www.goodread...he-bone-keepers)

Death to Spies (Ian Fleming #1) by Quinn Fawcett (https://www.goodread....Death_to_Spies)

Siren Song (Ian Fleming #2) by Quinn Fawcett (https://www.goodread...3670.Siren_Song)

Honor Among Spies (Ian Fleming #3) by Quinn Fawcett (https://www.goodread...nor-among-spies)

 

Of them, I've only read the first two, but I'm going to pick up Too Bad To Die and In Secret Service this weekend. I feel like I remember hearing about a fiction book about 30 Assault Unit that featured Fleming, but I could also be misremembering it. Anyone else have any to add to my list?

Edited by OHMSS Spion, 19 May 2016 - 03:47 PM.

[Dustin]

Some years ago I read the first of the Quinn/Fawcett novels. Frankly, I wasn't too impressed, I thought the restrictions of using a real person in a fictional story didn't help the whole thing. This should - and could - have been much better. After Death to Spies I lost interest in the idea.

[AMC Hornet]

I've read 2 1/2 of Quinn Fawcett's trilogy. I really should finish Death To Spies someday (that should have been the title of JG's sixth novel, instead of No Deals, Mr. Bond).

 

The first one, Honour Among Spies, was a bit dreary, as Fawcett chronicled what Fleming paid for everything he purchased during the course of his investigation. Historical verisimilitude can be take too far. I remember nothing about the second one, but the third was shaping up nicely.

 

I am currently reading Too Bad to Die and it's quite interesting; it's about a Nazi plot to assassinate Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin during their meeting in Tehran in 1943, and only Fleming can stop it. Unfortunately Francine Matthews ignores the truth behind how Fleming chose 007's name - which plenty of other writers have done as well - in order to inject some 'Bond' references onto the story.

 

The rest of the titles on your list I haven't even heard of. I'll have to watch out for them.

[Dustin]

Was not Death to Spies the first one? I completely forget. But the cover on Amazon looks like the cover of the book I was toting around for a time...

[OHMSS Spion]

Yes, I believe Death To Spies is the first one.

From what I've heard of the James LePore books, they're much more fantastical, owing to J.R.R. Tolkien's involvement in the plot. Glad to hear that Too Bad To Die is a good read so far. I'm excited to pick it up on Audible once my monthly credits kick in (only two more days!)

[AMC Hornet]

Was not Death to Spies the first one?

 

Yes, I believe Death To Spies is the first one.

 

Very probably - it's been yonks since I read them.

[Godhammer]

Other novels featuring Fleming as a character:

 

YOU BET YOUR LIFE by Stuart Kaminsky (also featuring the Marx Brothers!)

 

ANY HUMAN HEART by William Boyd, who went on to write the Bond pastiche, SOLO.

 

And, of course, JAMES BOND: THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF 007 by John Pearson.

[Single-O-Seven]

I didn't realize there were so many fictional Fleming novels out there. I've read In Secret Service by Mitch Silver. It was good, easy fluff reading, but the passages attributed to Fleming were so far off his voice and style that it took me out of the book just to try and imagine Fleming's involvement.

 

As for the Fawcett series, I have all three, but only got through the first 1 1/2, and it was quite a few years back. They are quite verbose for thrillers, and, again, the historical details are wrong. I have no problem with Fleming being spun into extra adventures and secret service work that never happened, but it's getting the little details wrong about his life, etc, that ruin it. Maybe I'm too fussy. But mentioning the "upstairs" in Goldeneye and leaving out Ann and having Fleming still a bachelor into the late 40s/50s, whoever they are set, suggests the authors didn't do any cursory reading on Fleming's life. They had some good moments but, really, could have been about a character with a different name and served the same purpose.

[Dustin]

I had totally forgotten about the Toby Peters episode with Fleming. He is merely one of the historic characters that acted as guest-of-the-week in Kaminsky's series. The books are fairly good entertainment for the P.I. aficionado. But apart from a homemade flu remedy consisting of raw egg, orange juice and red wine I remember next to nothing of that particular book. It's set before the US enter WWII and Flemig is on some spy business when Peters stumbles over him. And that's already it, nothing to write home about IMO.