Keeping 007 Alive: Conversations with James Bond Continuation Authors
By Mark Edlitz
232 Pages/Self-Published/$49 (hc), $29.99 (sc)
Pop culture historian Mark Edlitz conducts good interviews, bringing passion and deep knowledge to each of his subjects. Of late, he has focused on Britain’s greatest spy, James Bond. He’s previously written The Lost Adventures of James Bond and James Bond After Fleming: The Continuation Novels.
Fleming drew on his own life experiences to create Bond, featuring him in a dozen novels and two short story collections before his death in 1964, just as the filmed exploits were turning the character into an international star. In the decades since, numerous writers have kept Bond in print, helping establish the category now known as the continuation novel.
That lineage began with Kingsley Amis’s Colonel Sun in 1968, but the continuation series truly gained momentum in 1981, when John Gardner began a run of 16 novels. He was followed by Raymond Benson, Charlie Higson, Steve Cole, Samantha Weinberg, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffrey Deaver, William Boyd, Anthony Horowitz, Kim Sherwood, and Vaseem Khan. All but Khan are interviewed here.
Readers need not have read the dozens of Bond works these authors produced, though some familiarity with the writers or their books certainly helps. At the very least, an affection for Bond as a character—and perhaps some exposure to Fleming’s original novels—will make the conversations more rewarding.
With that context in place, the book becomes an engaging study of how writers take a Cold War spy and keep him relevant. Some place Bond contemporaneously with Fleming; others move him into the modern day. Along the way, they discuss their process, their views on Fleming, and their dealings with the Fleming estate, Eon Productions, and publishers over the decades. As a writer of tie-ins, I found that aspect fascinating, as well as the differing styles the authors used to approach their novels. Gardner had died long before Edlitz conducted these interviews, so his son ably steps in to open the book.
From there, Edlitz brings his detailed knowledge to bear, pressing authors about their work, the issues they faced, and how they responded to the Flemings or the fans. One especially interesting thread is that none of the authors felt compelled to reference the other tie-ins; instead, they adhered closely to Fleming’s works, keeping their stories as pure and respectful as possible.
The volume is sparsely illustrated and, being unlicensed, cannot reproduce covers or other official images; however, publicity photos and illustrations help enhance the book’s look. Taken together, the interviews make the book well worth a look for Bond fans, as well as for readers curious to decide which continuation authors they might want to sample.
English (US) · 