67 replies to this topic

[Guy Haines]

I like the "pre-OHMSS" idea, which means it could actually by post The Spy Who Loved Me ather than Thunderball, although references to that novel would probably appear.

We know from the chapter "Bedtime Story" in TSWLM that Bond was after a SPECTRE agent in Toronto and foiled an assassination attempt on a Russian defector. Matbe a future Horowitz book could record Bond's attempts to trace that back to Blofeld.

The only downside to this would be that it would be Bond chasing the villain (Blofeld) but with no big bad on the scene, for we know from OHMSS that his search for Blofeld up until that novel was futile. Bond might in this scenario defeat one or more of the SPECTRE top table men but in the end he'll be no nearer his main quarry. And how satisfying would that be for the mainstream reader? (I know the counter argument will be "that's what happened in Thunderball" but in that book Bond's primary mission was to stop a nuclear catastrophe - hunting those behind it would come later. In this pre OHMSS idea, Bond finding Blofeld is the mission, one we know he won't yet succeed in.)

What could work, perhaps, would be if the remnants of SPECTRE tried to keep an organisation going whilst Blofeld fled into his new life as a would be aristocrat. Bond is steered towards their plans by the mere mention of SPECTRE, defeats them only to find that Blofeld's former colleagues have no idea where he is. But again, the "unfinished business" would hang over the novel.

(Well, having started off this post in favour, I seem to be spending much of it presenting the case for the opposition! ;-) )

One final note of caution generally about returning Bond to the 1950s/early 60s - I think Major Tallon has touched on this - and it is confusion for the reader. Simply putting a note before the start of the story proper saying "this adventure takes place before/after the events of...." may not mean a lot to a casual reader who read "Tigger Mortis" but nothing else. It would be particularly confusing if the book was set even further back in Bond's past.

[Revelator]

Returning to the topic, Richard Hughes's memoir Foreign Devil claims that Fleming was extremely interested in learning about and seeing the Panama Canal. Hughes strongly suggests that Fleming would have sent Bond there, had illness not intervened. Since Fleming tended to base the Bond novels on his own travels, I have little doubt that better health would have ensured a Bond novel set in Panama.

[glidrose]

Returning to the topic, Richard Hughes's memoir Foreign Devil claims that Fleming was extremely interested in learning about and seeing the Panama Canal. Hughes strongly suggests that Fleming would have sent Bond there, had illness not intervened. Since Fleming tended to base the Bond novels on his own travels, I have little doubt that better health would have ensured a Bond novel set in Panama.

I've mentioned this tidbit before, myself. Seem to recall the villain's plan would have something to do with the locking system. Hughes himself was also very dissatisfied with TMWTGG as we know it.

[Trevelyan 006]

A cracking thread indeed, gents. I've enjoyed the read through and had no previous knowledge of any other works Fleming may have had up his sleeve.

 

Oh, what could have been...

[hoagy]

How about a book post-Moonraker, where Gala Brand -- now a widower or divorcee -- finally gets around to having some fun with 007 ? The title, or at least a chapter title, could be, "The One That Got Away", to borrow a fisherman's term.  I think the rejection from Miss Brand -- yes, yes, even moreso than the fact that Vesper was a Red, and all the killing, etc. -- was what got Bond's mental state messed up by the time of having to go to Shrublands in TB.

 

There are a variety of interesting storylines that can be inserted into the 1950s-60s canon timeline...

[Guy Haines]

Gala Brand never seemed that enamoured with Bond in the first place, True that was of course because she was engaged to be married - and Bond misread the ring on her finger as just a stage prop as part of her cover. But, undeniably attractive as she was, did she really seem his type?

That said, I wouldn't mind an adventure featuring Bond re-uniited with, well she would be Gala Vivian if she kept her married name. It could be some years after Moonraker, and she might have transferred to some other form of government service, which might mean she could work abroad with Bond - Interpol, perhaps?

Maybe an idea for a future Anthony Horowitz continuation novel, although would he want to be the Bond author who keeps re-introducing Bond's old flames into new novels?

[Revelator]

I'm fine with the idea of the heroines not returning--Bond's personal life is one of impermanence. There are only a few recurring characters in the books--M, Moneypenny, Loelia Ponsoby, Mary Goodnight--and they're connected with his work, his only source of stability (the only exception is May, but she's a servant). Even Bond's few recurring friends--Mathis and Felix Leiter--are work friends. He's with them only on assignment. True, the Bond girls are also encountered in the line of duty, but they usually have no reason to pop back into his life. If they did, they would jeopardize the life-work balance.

 

However, it is fun to try and imagine what happened to the Bond girls after their run-ins with OO7. In some cases, Fleming lets us know: Honeychile Rider had two children by the Philadelphia doctor who fixed her nose. Tiffany Case lived with Bond in his flat until she met a Marine at the US Embassy and sailed back to America to marry him (I bet the marriage didn't last). Gala Brand was of course engaged to Detective-Inspector Vivian--I presume that after she got married and had kids she probably retired from the Special Branch to become a housewife, as women often did in the 50s.

As for what happened to the other Bond girls, here are my guesses.
Solitaire: moved to Las Vegas and opened a psychic shop, telling superstitious gamblers' fortunes.
Tatiana Romanova: relocated by the Secret Service to Canada, where she met and married a Mountie. Had lots of kids.
Pussy Galore: having evaded prison, she moved to Nevada and opened the world's biggest whorehouse.
Judy Havelock: returned to Jamaica to rebuild and manage "Content," her parents' estate. Now a major banana exporter.
Liz Krest: inherited her late husband's millions and spends her days sailing around the world, collecting boytoys.
Domino Vitali: resumed her kept-woman ways, romancing rich playboys, until she married a wealthy count in Naples.
Vivienne Michel: continued her journey on scooter until she reached San Francisco, where she opened a coffee shop in Haight-Ashbury, giving poetry readings for hippies. Never married.
Kissy Suzuki: resumed life as an Ama diver in Fukuoka and raised Bond's son Taro, who after a scapegrace youth grew up to be a policeman on the mainland.
Mary Goodnight: took over her late boss's role as head of the Jamaica section of the Secret Service.
Trigger: executed by the Soviets for her failure to kill British agent 272.

Edited by Revelator, 10 September 2015 - 08:50 PM.

[hoagy]

I am surprised that no one has yet noted the similarities between the plot as described in this thread with Heart of Darkness...which many know moreso as the origin of the Apocalypse Now story.  In HOD the villain has a devoted following of locals (like if not equivalent to a cult).  And the Villain being named "Kaiser" ?  Rather similar to "Kurtz."