Continuation authors' top WTF? moments

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  • Posts: 2,491
    Most of Devil May Care.
    I know it's unpopular opinion on this forum but I liked DMC

  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    I just... Didn't. If it didn't have "Writing as Ian Fleming" underneath the man's name, I would have probably accepted it more, but as far as I'm concerned, Higson's the only author that deserves that.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited August 2014 Posts: 17,804
    I just... Didn't. If it didn't have "Writing as Ian Fleming" underneath the man's name, I would have probably accepted it more, but as far as I'm concerned, Higson's the only author that deserves that.

    Yes, that tag line on the front cover immediately opened Sebastian Faulks up to criticism from page one of Devil May Care. It was a terrible marketing decision to append that to any author's name. No one can now channel the spirit or dead hand of the late great Ian Fleming and they should never claim to be doing so either in my opinion.
  • Well, I think he did to say, hey, if you're a fan of Birdsong, I won't be writing in that style. A sort of fair warning to his fans, but it also came across as a bit pearls before swine. He was writing in that style, whether you think it worked or not. Likewise, Kingsley Amis was writing as Fleming for Colonel Sun, and might have felt the need to emphasise that had the book gone out under his name and not Robert Markham.
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Using ice cream to drug military personnel - was that a WTF? moment for some in John Gardner's For Special Services (1982)? I know it was for some reviewers of the novel; in fact one reviewer even used that fact as part of the title for his review! ("Was the ice cream drugged or dopey?")

    Having the main villian (but not really) be an "ice cream baron" was about the least sexy thing I can think of. Somehow it's worse than Dr No being a guano baron.
    The Ekranoplan in DMC.

    Agreed that was really dumb.
    cdsdss wrote: »
    I can think of a few:

    Gardner in FSS: Felix pimps out his daughter: "She's a hottie, isn't she James. Have at her!" Um, ick.

    As soon as the character made her entrance I said "wtf" followed by "if Bond bangs her I'm throwing this book in the garbage".
    Bond killing a rat with his bare hands, then tearing the rat apart with his teeth to fashion a knife out of its backbone in "Never Dream of Dying."

    I actually thought this was brilliant. I couldn't figure out how Bond was going to escape and this came as a surprise. I wouldn't be surprised if Bensen got it from a real escape story. I would have preferred Bond having a gadget, but it was definitely creative and seemed realistic ( it didn't have to be a real knife, just something sharp enough to kill the guard).
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    I find the lack of spoiler tags disturbing.
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    I didn't know we needed to use spoiler tags for books that have been out decades. I haven't read all the continuation novels but I expected coming into this thread that some points would be discussed.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Walecs wrote: »
    I find the lack of spoiler tags disturbing.

    Your sad devotion to that ancient invention has not helped you avoid spoilers on other threads, or given you the clairvoyance to figure out that some threads don't need them.
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    edited December 2014 Posts: 3,157
    Sark wrote: »
    I didn't know we needed to use spoiler tags for books that have been out decades. I haven't read all the continuation novels but I expected coming into this thread that some points would be discussed.

    I became a Bond fan recently, and I haven't read all continuation novels yet.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Then why would you click on this thread?
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,804
    James Bond visiting a sperm bank in order to make a "donation" in Raymond Benson's The Facts of Death (1998) might be a WTF? moment I think.
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    Holy shit, I hadn't read that one. I can't imagine a situation where that would be appropriate.
  • Posts: 2,896
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    More than a few of the post-Fleming comic strip originals had Bond say unlikely things if I recall.

    He calls people "luv" quite a lot in the post-Fleming comics, a word Fleming wouldn't have been caught dead using. But to be fair, that's the only howler I remember from the admittedly few post-Fleming strips I've read.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,804
    Revelator wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    More than a few of the post-Fleming comic strip originals had Bond say unlikely things if I recall.

    He calls people "luv" quite a lot in the post-Fleming comics, a word Fleming wouldn't have been caught dead using. But to be fair, that's the only howler I remember from the admittedly few post-Fleming strips I've read.

    Yes, that was the sort of thing I was thinking of - it mentions it in The Bond Files by Andy Lane and Paul Simpson.
  • Posts: 14,824
    Walecs wrote: »
    Sark wrote: »
    I didn't know we needed to use spoiler tags for books that have been out decades. I haven't read all the continuation novels but I expected coming into this thread that some points would be discussed.

    I became a Bond fan recently, and I haven't read all continuation novels yet.

    I have been since decades and I haven't read any of the continuation novels. I will read Carte Blanche out of curiosity. One day. Maybe.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,804
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Walecs wrote: »
    Sark wrote: »
    I didn't know we needed to use spoiler tags for books that have been out decades. I haven't read all the continuation novels but I expected coming into this thread that some points would be discussed.

    I became a Bond fan recently, and I haven't read all continuation novels yet.

    I have been since decades and I haven't read any of the continuation novels. I will read Carte Blanche out of curiosity. One day. Maybe.

    You're missing out. You need to at least read Kingsley Amis' Colonel Sun and the Christopher Wood novelisations. I think that you would enjoy them.
  • Posts: 14,824
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Walecs wrote: »
    Sark wrote: »
    I didn't know we needed to use spoiler tags for books that have been out decades. I haven't read all the continuation novels but I expected coming into this thread that some points would be discussed.

    I became a Bond fan recently, and I haven't read all continuation novels yet.

    I have been since decades and I haven't read any of the continuation novels. I will read Carte Blanche out of curiosity. One day. Maybe.

    You're missing out. You need to at least read Kingsley Amis' Colonel Sun and the Christopher Wood novelisations. I think that you would enjoy them.


    Maybe, but I am a purist. I don't like continuators in general, whether it is of Fleming, Chandler, Stoker, what have you.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,804
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Walecs wrote: »
    Sark wrote: »
    I didn't know we needed to use spoiler tags for books that have been out decades. I haven't read all the continuation novels but I expected coming into this thread that some points would be discussed.

    I became a Bond fan recently, and I haven't read all continuation novels yet.

    I have been since decades and I haven't read any of the continuation novels. I will read Carte Blanche out of curiosity. One day. Maybe.

    You're missing out. You need to at least read Kingsley Amis' Colonel Sun and the Christopher Wood novelisations. I think that you would enjoy them.


    Maybe, but I am a purist. I don't like continuators in general, whether it is of Fleming, Chandler, Stoker, what have you.

    I understand - many people doubtless feel exactly the same. Each to their own and all that jazz. :)
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