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Licence Expired: the Unauthorized James Bond

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  • vzokvzok
    Posts: 4,049
    Still works. You might need to consider a proxy
  • coco1997coco1997
    Posts: 129
    RichardTheBruce wrote: »
    coco1997 wrote: »
    Anyone read FIREWALKER? It's a solid enough Fleming pastiche with an early '60s setting and a colorful cast of characters. Nice title, too.
    RichardTheBruce wrote: »
    I'll be able to share comments in a couple weeks likely @coco1997.

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    Well it took much longer than planned but I read the Iain McLaughlin novel Firewalker during recent travel.

    To me it was a fun book, with a compelling opening.

    At first look it's very professionally presented as a paperback with graphics and type-style on front and back covers. Quickly getting into the first couple chapters there are examples of wrong words used like affection for affectation. Later missing or incorrect or misspelled words. I was thinking maybe not the author's fault, blame going to publishing software or whatever a typesetter is called nowadays. It is what it is, didn't really distract.

    McLaughlin took the Bond character seriously enough and respectfully and 007 worked his way through Dallas Texas, London, New York, Havana Cuba, Miami Florida, the Soviet Union. Maybe I missed some locations.

    Anyway the detail and action worked fine for me, along with the Russian Bond Girl. Sure this is for a specific demographic as an interested person able to search out a copy. A decent piece of Bond history for what it is. So I think I'm on board with @coco1997 and that positive assessment.


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    Glad you enjoyed it!
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,710
    And by chance pretty timely this week with its lead story hook @coco1997 .

    Anticipating the 23 March release of records.

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    JFK Assassination Records
    https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk

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  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited March 25 Posts: 18,988
    vzok wrote: »
    Still works. You might need to consider a proxy

    Thank you, did the trick :)

    I found this review of all of the stories in the collection, I don't know the reviewer so not easy to tell if it's spot on or not, but it sounds like there's some fun stuff in there
    https://spywrite.com/2016/09/14/review-licence-expired/
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 18,988
    I read Dirty Business by Iain McLaughlin as it was recommended on that link above: not Fleming but really very decent, worth a read. I’ll try the others.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,710
    So I also read Iain McLaughlin's "A Dirty Business", a quick one at 13 pages.

    Enjoyed it. 007 carrying out an unwelcome assignment, and creating consequences for some unsavory players on "his side". Next for me likely is Iain McLaughlin's For Queen and Country: A James Bond Anthology of seven stories.


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  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 18,988
    Yeah it's not outstanding but a decent read, isn't it?
    What I quite liked was that initially I wasn't sure if it was present day or period, and it struck me that you could write a Bond story and not actually make it clear. Mobile phones don't have to be used, and if you said 'Bond got in his Bentley' etc. then you can kind of leave it up to the reader.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,710
    So I should catch up and comment further on Iain McLaughlin and the James Bond anthology For Queen and Country.

    And I've read additional unofficial stories during travel.

    Meanwhile, I see this unexplainable offering on Amazon in the US. Kindle and paperback.


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    Ocular Green: A James Bond Novel
    by Melvyn Howard (Author)
    https://www.amazon.com/Ocular-Green-James-Bond-Novel-ebook/dp/B0FD83X2L5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=N25NZXJRMFLQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.cdmvx7EHQxX2CTtDQUSwwNytHLNdhubc0M7Mt3e4acsEAy5viMrBuHNCAF5qIEoN1FqRXurb9uJVYzDOZLuGgNy8MXWvjA8vD_D25xCothz0muNcLKS9TRbzmfyrzd9RiOQVkpgW7oux8zGYQPy1yyeOZY0XiboEM4xYgC2XFHYQAaIP-8Bv7Hs-8b-4Gzb9NqmUbShOIZzEsQZNB9ptGwqbefJe0K7Po-RziKx9MYc.YEGoeipBnB5JLTbbduWmwZB3HlfCvgVYXgp1czPaK4M&dib_tag=se&keywords=james+bond&qid=1757034651&s=digital-text&sprefix=james+bond+%2Cdigital-text%2C91&sr=1-1&xpid=i2MVViDr63WyP

    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars (1)
    A new James Bond adventure in the style of Ian Fleming. A band of female assassins, start killing off foreign politicians. But then it becomes personal when they kill a British minister, one of Bond’s past lovers. Officially unauthorized, and against British Intelligence orders Bond crosses the globe from London to Miami, Paris to Africa to hunt down her killers, even though by all appearances he is being lured into their web. But for what reason? Why do they want him? What do they have in store for him? What will they do, when he finds them?
    ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FD83X2L5
    Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
    Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 13, 2025
    Language ‏ : ‎ English
    File size ‏ : ‎ 1.1 MB
    Print length ‏ : ‎ 233 pages
    Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
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