John Gardner 007 Era Wrap Up | Final Thoughts and Recommendations
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ธ.ค. 2023
- We're almost on to a whole new era of James Bond continuation novels but given that John Gardner is technically the most prolific Bond author of them all, I felt I need a full video to sum up some thoughts as well as hear from the man himself.
Full John Gardner audio interview:
• John Gardner Interview...
Gardner and the Saab:
• James Bond - Licence R...
John Gardner's website articles:
web.archive.org/web/201610312...
john-gardner.com/bond/
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Feels like the end of an era. Has been a really fun journey seeing you work your way through these books. John Gardner has become one of the true folk heroes of this channel over the past few years, along with Sherriff JW Pepper and Charles "it's just a jump to the left" Gray. Great video Calvin :)
Thanks, Paul! Have to agree with you with Gardner becoming a folk hero of the channel 😂 feel like he springs to mind more than I ever anticipated he would! Thanks again for joining along for the journey!
I don't have my copy to hand to check the exact quote, but in his book 'The James Bond Bedside Companion', Raymond Benson says something like, "If James Bond novels were food, Fleming's would be savoured at Sardi's and Gardner's would be munched at McDonald's." To say that Gardner's Bond novels varied in quality is putting it mildly, but he at least gave us multiple new 007 adventures to enjoy, dissect and debate, which was particularly welcome during those lean Bond years between Licence To Kill and GoldenEye.
IIRC, after he became a continuation author, Benson apologized for that remark. Benson's stories vary in quality. His novels tend to be better than his short stories. My opinion, of course.
@@billkoenig1552 I can imagine Benson had more respect for Gardner having done the job himself and being able to relate to him more. I agree that Benson's 'short stories' are not that great sadly [that they were written for Playboy and TV Guide doesn't help].
Exactly. Once Benson walked in Gardner's footsteps, he gained more appreciation.
Benson’s stones in glass houses are especially egregious after reading his hilarious novelization of Metal Gear Solid.
(At least his MGS2 novel was better, mostly since it’s a pretty straight rip from the original script with very little in the way of Benson’s original words)
@@zakwojnar4714I had completely forgotten that Benson wrote the MGS novels! By his metric, if Gardner is McDonald's, Benson is a greasy spoon cafe with a 1 star cleanliness rating 😂
As you reviewed them, I felt compelled to reread them as well, and realistically, they're alright, but his best job is keeping the series going. His fun/annoying quirks like double-crossing, code names, and a non-English speaking character bungling an English idiom are at time comforting as they are jarring, but doing 16 books year on year without recycling storylines too much means much credit to Gardner
I do love that sequence in Licence Renewed where Bond escapes from the airfield and gets to Perpignan and has to hide amidst a festival crowd. Duckin and divin and trying to find a phone box to contact Regent's Park. It's well written thriller stuff.
You deserve a medal for doing this. You read 'em so the rest of us don't have to. Your videos have been brilliant, hilarious, and so educational!
Thanks, Roland! Much appreciated and very glad you've enjoyed the series :D
I'd hope a Bond fan would read them. They're a significant amount of work, and it kept the literary Bond alive between Fleming and this new era of Fleming Publication output. Of course they're not Fleming, and the quality varies throughout the series. They're legitimately authorized works, so they deserve some amount of attention, I feel.
I expect we'll be getting your The World is not Enough review later this month.
As a certain man once said, "Christmas only comes once a year."
A large portion of those who knocked Gardner’s novels at the time of publication were also the set who refused to accept Roger Moore in the film role (as in their opinion Sean Connery was irreplaceable). The parallel speaks more to a slice of fandom unable and unwilling to accept change than it does on the quality or veracity of their successors output. Both got Bond through some rough & uncertain times.
The thing is, Ian Fleming was unique. He crammed 90 years of living into 56 and a few months. John Gardner was a pro in his own right. These days, Gardner generates a mixed reaction for his Bond books. But, as someone who was there, his first Bond novel generated a ton of interest. Gardner's successors as Bond continuation author no doubt discovered how difficult it is to follow in Fleming's footsteps.
Many thanks for your entire coverage of Gardner's novels. As well as enjoying (as always) your reactions and analysis of them, it has also spared me having to read them. If someone with your ability to be engaging and interesting can't make these novels sound genuinely worth investing time in, then I've got the best of the bargain by just listening to you.
Especially looking forward to your reviews of Charlie Higson's Young Bond series!
Blood Fever is one of my All Time Favourite books.
Cheers Calvin for keeping me company while stuck in painfully slow moving traffic on the M25 on the way back from Heathrow! 👏 It's not a proper Sunday without a Calvin Dyson video hehe.
Thank you for this. I've read a number of Gardner's Bonds. My favorite is Icebreaker, which contains a truly chilling torture scene.
Hi Calvin,
I winced through many of your reviews, as I felt that Gardner under the review of any modern TH-cam channel would be subject to the obligatory snippity comments that are par for the course! (I am a great fan of your work, believe me). But your final overview here seemed to me to be a bit more balanced, and I'm glad you give him credit for the sheer magnitude of his run. No, he's definitely not Fleming, but he was who he was, warts and all.
I was one of those back in the 1980s (I was in High School) when I finished the Fleming run then discovered there was a whole new author writing the books. It was exciting to buy a new book every year for the whole run! Yes, the quality would dip, for me, during the second half/final books. But I have such fond memories of the original books, with LICENSE RENEWED, FOR SPECIAL SERVICES and ICEBREAKER being my three personal favorites. Probably as much for nostalgia sake as anything, but it was cool to see not only Bond return but Smersh and Spectre as well.
I don't know that Gardner ever was the subject of large scale praise/gratitude from Bond fandom (back then we only had a couple of official fan clubs and their newsletters) but I think your video here may be one of the first to give him some props (long overdue).
Thanks, and curious what your opinion of all the other continuation books will be.
Javier
I am inspired to go back and watch all the videos again.
Was a fun ride Calvin. Really looking forward to the other Brosnan novelizations, but I'm gonna miss looking forward to the crazy plot recaps of the Gardner videos.
I love your Bond book reviews. Based on your recommendation of Roger Moore's Bond diary, I looked through my collection and found 2 completely different copies that I've never read😅
Excellent summary of Gardiners depth of work. Considering the author was not really wild or attached to the Bond universe the fact he managed to write as competent if not good page turners (minus a couple here and there) is a testament to his talents and professionalism. And as such, you have been able to give a really good run down and summary of his wealth of work Callum is a testament of your professionalism, passion and charisma. Excellent video.
That was a solid overview on a lot of Gardner's ups and downs. Ultimately he contributed some growth of Bond's character and many great ideas that must've been extremely difficult to come up with. On the negative side sometimes certain books didn't feel quite so Bondian and there were multiple Gardner-isms that developed over time leading us Bond fans to continually groan. Yet this groaning has always been in a sort of positive way because we knew what he was up against and just how impossibly hard it is to try and come up with a new Bond story. There are usually certain Gardner books that don't gel with fans just as there are some that do. I think the first five of his run are the strongest overall and in particular LICENCE RENEWED, FOR SPECIAL SERVICES and NOBODY LIVES FOREVER are the standouts there. Brokenclaw has a great villain and elements though the story doesn't hold up. Death is Forever is the surprise return to form of the later books though it had too many Gardnerisms and Seafire is probably the most underrated Gardner as it finally has some energy back in terms of the narrative flow.
Win Lose or Die, Man From Barbarossa aren't very engaging, Never Send Flowers is quite bizarre but ultimately Coldfall is the one that is just completely baffling.
His LTK and GE novelizations have some really nice elements to them and include many deleted bits or things expanded upon but with the Gardner Bond sensibility. His GE novelization in particular is really strong.
My last readthrough ranking went something like this for just the novels:
Licence Renewed
For Special Services
Nobody Lives Forever
Role of Honour
Icebreaker
SeaFire
Death is Forever
Brokenclaw
No Deals, Mr. Bond
Scorpius
The Man from Barbarossa
Win, Lose or Die
Never Send Flowers
ColdFall
Here is my personal ranking of the Gardner books. Certainly the first 6 or 7 novels were the strongest in my opinion, although Role of Honour is a bit lower in the ranking than the others. Calvin, I was surprised to see how low No Deals, Mr Bond ranked in your videos. It tends to be one of the highest rated amongst most Bond fans I know, and I really enjoyed it. It's one of the few Gardner books that I've read twice.
1. Nobody Lives Forever
2. Icebreaker
3. No Deals, Mr Bond
4. For Special Services
5. Scorpius
6. Licence Renewed
7. COLD
8. Win, Lose or Die
9. Role of Honour
10. Never Send Flowers
11. Brokenclaw
12. Death is Forever
13. Seafire
14. The Man From Barbarossa
Thank you for your fair, thoughtful and typically entertaining take on Gardner's Bond. Much appreciated 🙏
Loved your coverage on these set of novels, and even though Gardner may have written the most Bond novels (a feat that most probably will never be equalled by any other upcoming author) he is the one author I dread in the literary Bond canon. Benson is certainly more interesting what with being introduced right when Bond was getting his second wind on the screen, but it’s not until the Fleming timeline gets reintroduced that the novels pickup IMO.
I'd love a James Bond slasher type reboot that's basically the opening to Living Daylights but bigger. Fill the cast with emerging names playing agents bring to become 007 while a mysterious figure is eliminating them. It'd give a thrilling character driven adventure Bond intro that would give the 00 status more meaning too IMO.
"Arrest me, I'm a Slasher"
@@davidjames579 'Of prices'!
"Have you got your big plate, Mister Bond?"
5:25 Agreed. Fleming put a lot of himself into the character of Bond so it's only natural Gardner did the same but the direction he took the character means I find it hard to picture any of the film actors [especially the contemporary Moore+ Dalton] when reading his books.
6:28 Please review 'Never say Alan Again' one day!
Interesting evaluation of Gardiner/Fleming's social backgrounds - something I'd never considered - cheers to ye, Calvin! A valiant effort with this batch and looking forward to your coverage of the Horowitz run with for my money contains one if the best and most outlandish titles in the entire series : Trigger Mortis....
I have very much this video series exploration of the literary Bond series. I have not read any Bond books, but you are inspiring me to start doing so.
I've loved this series, and I hate to see it end. But I'm also excited to see the start of the Raymond Benson era. His was a comparably short run, but there's lots of fertile ground in there. An American author writing Bond. Three novelizations. And, he's the only one of the two that I've actually read ("High time to Kill")...
I re-watched all your Gardner reviews after 'Cold' and I just want to say thanks for all the entertainment and your dedication. I loved all the reviews and the analysis and laughs you provided over the years. I really enjoyed the information+ clips of Gardner you unearthed and this video was an excellent conclusion to his saga.
The best line from this:
'If you're desperate for original Bond stories in print, then these books exist.'
I agree wholeheartedly: these books exist.
As an aside, John Gardner must have been the only continuation novel author to be called out by name by Michael G. Wilson. Eon's Wilson criticized Gardner at the 1995 official James Bond fan convention in New York. It was held the Sunday before Goldeneye's U.S. premiere. Wilson specifically criticized the Euro Disneyland reference. In real life, Glidrose (now Ian Fleming Publications) was negotiating with Benson to become the new continuation author at that convention. Part of the deal was Benson had to deliver an outside and three chapters *on spec*.
The podcast 'James Bond & Friends' mentioned on a recent episode that the Gardner and Benson era's generally had quite small print runs and minimal publicity which [along with 8:59] does tally with my theory that Gildrose/Ian Fleming publications was happy as long as they got an annual book [or two if there was a novelisation] and the sales were consistent [Apparently Gardner had family issues in 1985, hence why that was the only blank year between 1981-2002] and I do wonder if they weren't keen on the authors changing things too much [especially as they didn't want to contradict the film series due to novelisations]. This is in contrast to the much greater publicity around the 'guest' authors and the larger print runs of the later books [especially the very popular 'young Bond' series], along with being more willing to try spin offs and different time periods.
Thanks for the video Calvin ❤
Hey, it´s nice to hear that your are also a slasher-fan and Jason Voohees getting mentioned in one of your videos. Gardner´s run was a mixed bag. There was crazy stuff in it, outdated stuff (the tech in Role of Honour), dull stuff (will never touch "Man from Barbarossa" again in my life) and a lot of repeating ideas that got run into the ground (evil organizations, traitors). But in a "mixed bag" there are also some gems. I love Licence Renewed and Icebreaker. Icebreaker was probably his most suspensefull IMO. I also liked Brokenclaw and Seafire. While I overall prefer Horowitz, Benson and Amis (I liked Higson´s work as well) take Garnder´s overall tenure over the Deaver, Faulks and Boyd one-offs. Looking forward to your Benson-reviews.
“Where Jason Voorhees pauses from the killing to go on a monologue about Himmler” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 I spit my coffee out with that one!!!!
Don't know if you'll see this or not Calvin, but I've greatly enjoyed your series. I've only read a handful of the Gardners, but I have a lot of respect for him. I had the audio for Death is Forever as a kid and I thought I was an idiot for not being able to follow it. Sounds like that's probably the worst one to listen to. Anyway, looking forward to the Raymond Benson reviews. Zero Minus Ten's a classic. Can't wait to hear your take.
Thank you so much for this! Very glad you enjoyed the series and I can't imagine how difficult Death is Forever would be to follow along to as an audio book. The only one I feel like I didn't have a clue what was happening for a huge chunk of it 😅 got completely lost. Anyway, thanks again and I'm very keen to get reading the Benson ones too!
Cool video Calvin! Lots of info! I really liked it! It was the video i was waiting for. Keep them going. Literary Bond is amazing.
Thanks for your detailed exploration of Gardner's books, Calvin. It's been a fascinating journey to watch. I've agreed with many of your observations, especially in terms of your thoughts on the shortage of standout memorable Bond girls and villains in the series. One of the things that I enjoyed when I read them was the way in which Gardner described the equipment, secret services, world politics and history in a way which made these books feel more 'real world' than Flemings. Overall I'm a bigger fan of the Gardner books than most, but I acknowledge that I read these mostly in the teenage years and into my 20s, and they probably won't hold up as well when I revisit them now.
Fantastic Interneting new video, on John Gardner's James Bond books. a couple of months back, I finished reading Never Send Flowers. which I absolutely loved. I'm looking forward to reading Broken Claw, next. :)
Great to see that Bond eating avocado for dessert has baffled you as much as me through the years.
Great breakdown and a mammoth task Calvin you've finished !!! Thank you for that. You inspired me to read them way back when you started zhis series. So it was nice to relive them again trough you. Not much i can add to your thoughts. Must confess I did enjoy them, but they do get repetitive towards the end. It was nice to switch to Raymind Benson, which I enjoyed a lot as well!looking forward to your thoughts on them. Dont miss out on the short stories!
Great video per usual Calvin! Excited for you to get to my favorite continuation books, Charlie Higson’s Young Bond series. They, as well as playing Nightfire, got me into James Bond!
I have just finished the Higson books (I will read OHMSS after I finish the Steve Cole books) and I could not beleive how good they were. They would, in the right hands, make a superb TV/film series.
I’m all about James Bond driving a gray custom Saab 900s. I can picture Dalton driving it.
Calvin, which cinematic Bond do you see playing John Gardner’s Bond? Who would be most naturally suited to this iteration of Bond?
I agree, a lot are throwaway but some like NOBODY, and WIN,LOSE,DIE are excellent
I actually bought each one of these as they came out,
and while they varied widely in quality(😎😎😳😳))
it was still very cool to get new 007 adventures each year!
So he gets a lot of credit for making the series his own and really keeping the character alive!
And at that same time we got movies every two years- which seems incredible!
So in a way, it’s also sad to know how very different things are today.
With new films every four or five years and new novels only every few years.
I really hoped that when Amazon took over things would change but sadly,it appears that it has not!
(That reality show was just so so and definitely not Bond to me at all!)
In a way I'm glad [so far] Amazon hasn't taken Bond down the Star Wars/MCU route of having loads of spin off films/series-at least the reality show is 'non canon' so you can take it or leave it- although they've talked about going that way with Rocky/Creed so who knows. Even if Amazon eventually buys out Eon, given they'd need to set up a new production team, I think were in for a long wait.
@@jamesatkinsonja
Good point about Amazon not watering down the brand like Disney has done with Star Wars or the MCU.
Because they really have damaged both of those series in a HUGE way.
But…..
Idk…
I think in this case I’d actually like Amazon to do SOMETHING lol!
At the very least maybe have a meeting with the producers to just ask them what the heck they are doing.
I mean they did pay them all this money
and just to get a dopey reality series out of the deal is definitely not what I suspect they had in mind when they made that purchase!
@@johnrigs6540 Agreed Star Wars and MCU have been diluted with too much content. Amazon also want to revive loads of MGM properties [like Pierce's 'Thomas Crown Affair'] so we'll also have to see how they go.I guess having the films on Prime [a big selling point] and the 'Sound of 007' doc is also something Amazon has got out of it so far but some concrete info on the future from either Amazon or Eon would be welcome!
@@jamesatkinsonjaI've heard Amazon are milking as many of the MGM IP's as they can. As you say Rocky/Creed, Thomas Crown but also Robocop, The Pink Panther, Road House and Poltergeist. Even Stargate is getting defrosted. While that was wildly successful as a few TV series after the movie, it was some time ago, but Amazon seem to pledging a lot of faith in making a major new franchise with crossovers. So they do seem hungry to exploit every IP, new and old. If they had their way it seems they'd do that with the biggest prize, Bond. But will be interesting to see what EON exert and how much that rubs with Amazon.
🤔📚 Is there a complete 'boxset' of his tomes available for sale (affordability is a separate matter, as is inclination) ?
Great wrap up, Calvin. I read all of Gardner's novels ca. 10 - 15 years ago and I'm currently re-reading them again, so.. never say never. I agree with most of your opinions, though not necessarily with the ranking (I *really* like "No Deals, Mr. Bond" in spite of the ending). As for the novels. Yes, they're not Fleming. They are flawed (twists and turns are irritating!). But they're a fun read (mostly). Bond fans should at least give it a try.
One more thing. "Win, Lose or Die" is not a "Top Gun", but "Under Siege" (yes, I know the film was released 3 years after the novel) ;).
I've been back and forth on whether or not I'd like to read the Gardner books (at this point I've only read the novelization of Licence to Kill). I finally plowed through all of the Fleming Bonds last year and loved most of it. I know from watching every one of your reviews that Gardner has some issues, but I think that I've decided to go through them next year after I finish reading the series that I'm in right now. As someone who grew up in the 80s and "came of age" in the 90s I'm particularly interested in seeing some of Gardner's asides on things of that era.
I assume you'll be reviewing the Raymond Benson books next?
I love this!
Looking forward to your thoughts on the Young Bond books. Underrated, the last two are very poignant and line up with Fleming.
I am looking forward to it too. I've picked those books up recently and while the 'Alex Ryder' influence is clear [Aunt Charmaine is parallel to the role of Alex's guardian Jack], they are fun reads.
I remember enjoying the Young Bond books as well as the Alex Rider series when I was a kid. Would be interested to hear Calvin's thoughts.
I always considered the books by Fleming to be the original character and idea. The early movies were a pretty good xerox of the Fleming prototype. The other books and writers have been a 40th generartion of the movies.
Thanks for the recommendations, Calvin. The only non-Flemings I've read are the Kingsley Amiss one (Robert Markham) and the the two by Anthony Horowitz, so I might have a look at the Gardeners.
Gardner might not be as stylish and thoughtful as Fleming but he must have been doing something right as the publishers never replaced him with anyone else. I assume he had decent sales, so someone was buying and reading these books. It's interesting to speculate what would have happened if the Internet had been around in Gardner's time. Would he have been trashed by Bond fans, as in "Although we buy his books, he's not very good and we want him replaced with someone better", or would there have been a lot of Bond fan-fiction, with people looking to outdo Gardner to make a case for replacing him. Sure, we have the potential for such situations now, but Bond was a lot more popular back in the 80s and 90s, so I wonder whether feelings would have been stronger.
As for myself, I read his first book License Renewed, when it was first published, and all I can remember now is that Bond had a Saab. I didn't like it enough to buy any more. Actually, my mother had bought it, and she didn't buy any more. I was never a great Bond reader though, for some reason. I read every Alistair MacLean novel my mother had, every Clive Cussler, but I couldn't get into Bond. Of course, it didn't help that I tried Spy Who Loved Me First because the movie was great, but that's the one with almost no Bond in it. My mother still had all those awesome cover Fleming novels, like Calvin has behind him, so maybe I'll try Fleming again. Ironically, Gardner sounds more like MacLean and Cussler in style and plot craziness, so maybe I would like him more.
I've enjoyed your journey/trudge through these books. A question for you: When you're reading a James Bond book do you listen to a soundtrack at the same time?
I’ve not read all the Gardner’s but from the few I have, I feel similar to you- a total mixed bag. However, I really enjoyed everything I’ve read so far by Benson even if the stories are little far fetched at times, they’re really entertaining and all feel very Brosnan.
It feels fitting Benson's final Bond novel was the 'Die another day' novelisation given how his books feel very linked to Brosnan.
Just bought loads of these cheap from eBay lately will let you know how I get on!
Calvin, have you see "The Quest" from the 90s, starring Jean Claude Van Damme and Sir Roger Moore? Since we're starved for 007 content, I think you'd enjoy seeing a Roger Moore movie. It's kind of like a combination between Indiana Jones and Van Damme's classic "martial arts tournament" movies. Worth checking out I think if you've not seen it.
The behind the scenes stories are also interesting with Roger saying in his autobiography Van Damme and the the producer were the only two people he hated in the film industry!
would love to hear your opinions about charlie higsons 'young bond' series. Ive read most and find them interestingly compelling and a strong attempt to emulate the feeling of bond and some what adhere to some of the connonic parts of bonds past while having a fun twist on the idea
22:09 That's a factor in why people getting angry at creatives as people rather then over the quality of there work doesn't sit right with me as we often never know what restrictions are placed on the creator or what other voices are in the room as well as what's going on with the creator's private lives at the time [like Gardner's financial and health issues as well as losing his wife soon after he retired from Bond].
I recently discovered that Timothy Dalton actually had a lost 3rd entry bond movie called "Property of a lady"
I'm not sure where it being titled 'Property of a Lady' came from as despite that being often cited, the excellent Mark Edlitz book ['The lost adventures of James Bond'] found that the script draft were never called anything other than just 'Bond 17'. Personally, I don't think they would have suited Dalton as they were certainly more in the lighter Moore/Brosnan style. Several ideas were used subsequently, such as in Tomorrow Never Dies [as a 'first draft' of what became Wai Lin features].
If the James Bond movie producer get the rights to some of these novels, they just have to update the time period and tech, the never sent flowers one, could just use one princes' wife's and kids as the targets
..of
Honestly they could just do that anyway without having to get the rights! [they've used bits and pieces of Amis' Colonel Sun like M being kidnapped without ever having the rights, only acknowledging it for 'Spectre' because specific dialogue was used].
You should do Forever and a Day book
In the end, it comes down to the fact that the John Gardner 007 novels exist. lol
It would be interesting to see you do this for Reymond Benson.
Personally i remeber liking them better that gardner, (at least i cold finish the book). But cant seem to remember a single thing, other than them being rarher brosnian in multiple senses: as the adventurs seem to fit his Bond with a similer action entertainment factor, being something of mind candy, and alas has the same "rather forgetaable/ hollow factor", that would plague the Brosnan films despite being entertaining.
But if Garder was the moore of the books, be benson would be rhe brosnan.
Do you think any of his books could be adapted to film?
No dedicated ranking video?
I suppose as he was ranking the books as he goes along it felt unnecessary.
has anyone read the james bond books written by Iain McLaughlin? (firewalker and for queen & County)
Could someone recommend the best Bond novels by John Gardner ? His top 5? I'll read them.
The only James Bond novels are Ian Fleming's . This is published fanfic.
With the exception of License to Kill, any chance we'll see more of his James Bond books coming to the bog screen?
Next to zero. Eon don't own the rights to any books bar Fleming but Gardner's books and have shown little interest in them. The books are pretty dated anyway [as mentioned in this video they feature a lot of contemporary technology].
If Gardner was endorsed by the Fleming estate, WHY don't EON use them for movie's???
Going into the Benson books, when it's time to cover TND, I recommend checking out the audiobook. I believe it's still available here on TH-cam. The narration is phenomenally bad, especially the cringy accent given to Wai Lin. I've never been able to get my hands on a physical copy of the novel, so audio was the only way to experience it. I normally enjoy Benson's prose but man, did that audio narrator really take me out of it.
Nanny knows best, James. 😂
12:11 yes, i have commented several times - the double-crosses became annoying. It was refreshing when a character wasn't a lying fraud.
My recommendation is to see all of Calvins reviews and don't read any of them. The reviews are more fun than the books. 😂
The Gardeners that are good are the ones where he takes Bond to the US. Gardner did a better job than Fleming with US adventures. Mind bending ice-cream plots, aside 😊.
Agree with the Partridge comments 😂. Gardner did turn Bond, at times, into a fussy moron and a petty snob.
I bought all of the first ten and read them…with increasing disappointment.
:/
'Ian Fleming sold out...'
Unfortunately John Gardner is not even the best fiction writer named John Gardner
No Bond book as crazy as Nobody Lives Forever? Uhm... I mean, "On His Majesty's Secret Service", is definitely a book. It's a Bond book, and a pretty... shocking one at that. To be honest I don't even wanna consider that trash to be among the same novels like From Russia With Love, Moonraker, Brokenclaw, and Forever In A Day...
In fairness he hasn't read that [or Forever and a Day for that matter] yet as he's covering the books in order...
Still nervous about you tackling my favorite author as i consumed the benson novels like nobody’s business any word kn when you will start i am thinking of rereading them as i you read them @calvin dyson
I am very interested to see what Calvin makes of them. Given to me they read as if there covering what Brosnan's Bond did between missions I think he might well enjoy them but can't wait for those videos to start when he's ready.