William Boyd discusses new Bond novel

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Comments

  • Posts: 2,595
    Africa. I like the sound of this if it's true.
  • oo7oo7
    Posts: 1,068
    “I’m a realistic novelist and what interests me about Bond is the human being. There will be no mountains filled with atom bombs or global plagues, no gadgets, no superpowers or preposterous enemies - there will be an entirely believable psychopath, not a preposterous psychopath.

    I love how much respect these guys have for the previous work. the other stuffs all balloney and this new guys work will be the best. this guy should start talking shop his sales pitches are terrible so why would I be lead to believe his story is any better?

    “And similarly with love affairs - in my novel they will be entirely believable.” bond wont try it on till the third date?

    I really think sometimes the criteria for getting the job of writing continuation novels is just showing up to the interview with a keyboard and a face.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    oo7 wrote:
    I really think sometimes the criteria for getting the job of writing continuation novels is just showing up to the interview with a keyboard and a face.

    I'm willing (more than willing actually) to give his novel a chance. He sounds a fine & thoughtful chap, and lack of hollowed-out mountain lairs do not sound so bad IMO.
  • oo7oo7
    Posts: 1,068
    chrisisall wrote:
    oo7 wrote:
    I really think sometimes the criteria for getting the job of writing continuation novels is just showing up to the interview with a keyboard and a face.

    I'm willing (more than willing actually) to give his novel a chance. He sounds a fine & thoughtful chap, and lack of hollowed-out mountain lairs do not sound so bad IMO.
    Hey I just mean from his comments he is throwing things out there without eluding to what way he intends to take these things. hes infact turning around and rubbishing flemings work in saying the romance or plots are crap.
    Thats how he came accross. this is why im saying, how do they pick these guys. do they walk in and say THAT LAST BOND BOOK WAS AWFUL, LET ME SHOW YOU HOW ITS DONE. terrible
  • Posts: 9,737
    oo7 wrote:
    chrisisall wrote:
    oo7 wrote:
    I really think sometimes the criteria for getting the job of writing continuation novels is just showing up to the interview with a keyboard and a face.

    I'm willing (more than willing actually) to give his novel a chance. He sounds a fine & thoughtful chap, and lack of hollowed-out mountain lairs do not sound so bad IMO.
    Hey I just mean from his comments he is throwing things out there without eluding to what way he intends to take these things. hes infact turning around and rubbishing flemings work in saying the romance or plots are crap.
    Thats how he came accross. this is why im saying, how do they pick these guys. do they walk in and say THAT LAST BOND BOOK WAS AWFUL, LET ME SHOW YOU HOW ITS DONE. terrible


    no each author says


    "The last author was bad I can do worse and for less money"
    IFP exec "Your HIRED"
  • oo7oo7
    Posts: 1,068
    Risico007 wrote:
    oo7 wrote:
    chrisisall wrote:
    oo7 wrote:
    I really think sometimes the criteria for getting the job of writing continuation novels is just showing up to the interview with a keyboard and a face.

    I'm willing (more than willing actually) to give his novel a chance. He sounds a fine & thoughtful chap, and lack of hollowed-out mountain lairs do not sound so bad IMO.
    Hey I just mean from his comments he is throwing things out there without eluding to what way he intends to take these things. hes infact turning around and rubbishing flemings work in saying the romance or plots are crap.
    Thats how he came accross. this is why im saying, how do they pick these guys. do they walk in and say THAT LAST BOND BOOK WAS AWFUL, LET ME SHOW YOU HOW ITS DONE. terrible


    no each author says


    "The last author was bad I can do worse and for less money"
    IFP exec "Your HIRED"
    would higson be more fit to write a follow on story now?
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    edited November 2012 Posts: 17,687
    "The last author was bad I can do worse and for less money"
    IFP exec "Your HIRED"

    HAHAHAHAHAHAAAH!
  • oo7oo7
    Posts: 1,068
    chrisisall wrote:
    "The last author was bad I can do worse and for less money"
    IFP exec "Your HIRED"

    HAHAHAHAHAHAAAH!

    It is disappointing. I always lookforward to the new games to provide me with a standalone and entertaining bond story but since bloodstone they have just watery provided rehashes of stories we already know.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    I'll still give it a try.
  • Posts: 59
    Should go the whole hog and make Bond a geriatric, chasing Blofeld round the nursing home in motorised wheelchairs (slower version of QoS's opening car chase) - pops in to see Moneypenny "oh sorry didnt know they were emptying your catheter..."

    that would be realism
  • oo7oo7
    Posts: 1,068
    at what point was bond about realism, was reading a fiction a hobby of escapism
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    oo7 wrote:
    at what point was bond about realism
    Since Craig's movies, duh! :))
  • Posts: 116
    Jesus H. Christ, all he said was "I don't have to channel Fleming" - I think he meant, "ape Fleming's style". He also says he's taking it seriously.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    MrSpy wrote:
    Jesus H. Christ, all he said was "I don't have to channel Fleming" - I think he meant, "ape Fleming's style". He also says he's taking it seriously.
    I was being a bit flippant- I'm totally drooling for this book!!
  • edited November 2012 Posts: 2,595
    One can only hope he stays faithful to the character unlike Deaver. You almost wouldn't even have known Deaver was writing about Bond if it wasn't for our favourite spy's name. Faulks didn't take it seriously, Deaver almost completely changed the character, let's hope Boyd does neither.

    I hope we get some more news on this Bond novel soon! :)
  • Bounine wrote:
    One can only hope he stays faithful to the character unlike Deaver. You almost wouldn't even have known Deaver was writing about Bond if it wasn't for our favourite spy's name. Faulks didn't take it seriously, Deaver almost completely changed the character, let's hope Boyd does neither.
    One gets the sense (or at least I do) that Boyd's book is going to be closer to Colonel Sun that it is to Devil May Care.

    Or perhaps that's just wishful thinking. Regardless, I'm looking forward to giving it a bash.

  • I'm pleased to see it is going to be set in the 60's. Hope it is the return of the classic Bond.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    That's the plan! I have high hopes.
  • Posts: 1,407
    My only concern with this "old Bond" is that the next book will probably be another reboot. And I actually really enjoyed Carte Blanche and didn't like Devil May Care so I have mixed feelings about this
  • edited December 2012 Posts: 202
    I'm looking forward to this one and I'm glad Boyd's setting it in the 60s.

    I never bothered with DEVIL MAY CARE or CARTE BLANCHE, although the marketing team might want to employ Chesca Miles again.

    event_carte_blanche_report3.jpg

    :))
  • Posts: 9,737
    bondbat007 wrote:
    My only concern with this "old Bond" is that the next book will probably be another reboot. And I actually really enjoyed Carte Blanche and didn't like Devil May Care so I have mixed feelings about this


    Carte Blanche had some great ideas (00 branch being super secret so England can disavow the branch exists, Bond in 2010's, Bond being 30,) But was way off in the execution I liked it more then Devil May Care but that isn't saying a lot. That said I will pick up this bond novel as well I am a bond fan
  • edited December 2012 Posts: 2,595
    "There are certain boxes you have to tick, but within those relatively few parameters you're free to invent your own story. That's one reason I went back to read all the novels again. In those novels was a lot of information about Bond and his tastes, his moods, his dark side. So that's what I've really plundered the novels for rather than cars with ejector seats."

    This is great to hear. I just hope that he hasn't turned Bond into too much of a geriatric. I like how the mission will go horribly wrong.

    If any author writes a Bond novel including a car with an ejector seat I won't be happy. They were never in the books except for maybe Benson's. I don't remember much about his novels but I know they were quite cinematic. Was it Bensons's choice to have filmsque type gadgets or did IFP make him do it?

    I was hanging out for an update on this book no matter how small. Thanks Boyd!

    Oh, and that Chesca Miles is very sexy.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    Bounine wrote:

    I was hanging out for an update on this book no matter how small. Thanks Boyd!

    Oh, and that Chesca Miles is very sexy.
    Agreed on both counts.

  • I going to read it first before I express my opinion.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,328
    MrBrown wrote:
    event_carte_blanche_report3.jpg

    She looks depressed. =((
  • oo7oo7
    Posts: 1,068
    Murdock wrote:
    MrBrown wrote:
    event_carte_blanche_report3.jpg

    She looks depressed. =((
    maybe she flicked through it
  • Posts: 2,595
    You know, the way Deaver had Bond try and justify himself to Jordan all the time made me sick. The real Bond would have never put up with her bollocks. This wasn't the only thing about his personality that annoyed me. Honestly, IFP shouldn't just have a few rules regarding Bond's tastes being honoured but also his personality. Damn, I would rather Bond have drunk beer the whole way through CB than read about some chap called James Bond with an almost completely different personality to his old self. Not that I would have liked Bond to have drunk solely beer but I'm just making a point as to how horrible I found it that Deaver's Bond wasn't even the same person.
  • Bounine wrote:
    "There are certain boxes you have to tick, but within those relatively few parameters you're free to invent your own story. That's one reason I went back to read all the novels again. In those novels was a lot of information about Bond and his tastes, his moods, his dark side. So that's what I've really plundered the novels for rather than cars with ejector seats."

    This is great to hear. I just hope that he hasn't turned Bond into too much of a geriatric. I like how the mission will go horribly wrong.

    If any author writes a Bond novel including a car with an ejector seat I won't be happy. They were never in the books except for maybe Benson's. I don't remember much about his novels but I know they were quite cinematic. Was it Bensons's choice to have filmsque type gadgets or did IFP make him do it?

    I was hanging out for an update on this book no matter how small. Thanks Boyd!
    Agreed. I was also very heartened to read about Boyd's approach. Seems like hes is going to try to get at the root of Bond's character as opposed to just giving reader's a ton of the Bond surface elements.

    Off topic, but addressing some of the other comments here, Deaver did get one thing voice down pretty well in Carte Blanche, I thought: M's. I thought Deaver did a great job writing M.

  • edited December 2012 Posts: 2,595
    Yeah, he did a good job with M and there were many other things I enjoyed about CB. I just didn't like what he did with Bond. Plus, we were never really invited into his thought process or feelings. He is closer to one dimensional in this book. Also, the way Deaver would keep jumping to the end of a scene for suspense didn't do it for me. I think it works better following a conventional narrative as Fleming and the rest of the continuation authors pursued.
  • Bounine wrote:
    Also, the way Deaver would keep jumping to the end of a scene for suspense didn't do it for me. I think it works better following a conventional narrative as Fleming and the rest of the continuation authors pursued.
    This bothered me as well. It was very much, I thought, a one-trick pony sort of approach, and the trick wasn't terribly interesting to begin with.

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