Steve Cole's New Young Bond Novels Series - Reviews and Discussion

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  • Posts: 2,593
    I will say that I would have preferred IFP to have waited for Higson for more continuity and obviously because he did a great job. Was he definitely planning on returning? If so, when exactly? If it was 2 or 3 years from now then this would have been fine. If it was 5 to 10, then nothing really would have sounded set in stone to me. Plus, IFP may have picked Cole ages ago. Higson said back in 2008 that if he did return it wouldn't be until his other commitments had ended. That was 5 years ago and he still isn't ready!

  • Villiers53 wrote:
    If only the numb skulls commissioned by IFP for adult Bond had shown the same skill and defecation to the task. I loved all of Higson's books and for me, he never dropped the ball once.
    I doubt that Cole has remotely the same ability.

    Really fitting. You and Bentley seem to share the same problem with auto-correct.
  • Posts: 267
    harkaway wrote:
    Villiers53 wrote:
    If only the numb skulls commissioned by IFP for adult Bond had shown the same skill and defecation to the task. I loved all of Higson's books and for me, he never dropped the ball once.
    I doubt that Cole has remotely the same ability.

    Really fitting. You and Bentley seem to share the same problem with auto-correct.

    I think the intended word was dedication but when it comes to IFP I wouldn't put it past them defecating on it!

  • edited October 2013 Posts: 2,593
    Maybe Higson will return for Bond's war years but if Cole does a good job then he may not need to.

    The thing I wonder about though is how long should the Fleming estate have to wait for Higson? There a business. They can't just sit there twiddling their thumbs forever.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited October 2013 Posts: 17,727
    Bounine wrote:
    Maybe Higson will return for Bond's war years but if Cole does a good job then he may not need to.

    The thing I wonder about though is how long should the Fleming estate have to wait for Higson? There a business. They can't just sit there twiddling their thumbs forever.

    That's what seems to have happened as they've of course now went with somebody else.
  • MrcogginsMrcoggins Following in the footsteps of Quentin Quigley.
    Posts: 3,144
    Daggers are you ok? Your spelling is a little off this evening !
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,727
    Mrcoggins wrote:
    Daggers are you ok? Your spelling is a little off this evening !

    Yes, I am. Just my first draft post. The culprit was my bad typing I'm afraid - I don't touch the Devil Drink!
  • edited October 2013 Posts: 4,622
    Bounine wrote:
    ..... John Pearson's excellent Bond biography? He expanded on this very event and did a wonderful job. This is my favourite continuation Bond book even though it's not a traditional Bond story focusing on just one assignment. Many parts of it read like Fleming short stories.
    The very event being Bond's teenage (16 yrs old) coming-of-age adventures in Paris. Pearson in the Authorized Biography (1973), constructed entirely from the threads that Fleming left dangling, did a splendid job.
    Pearson's book IMO is hands down the best of the continuation novels. Unfortunately the later continuation authors, post Benson, such as Higson, chose to ignore it. However this book does exist. It's excellent, and along with Colonel Sun, are IMO the two perfect companion continuation-novels to the Fleming originals..
    Higson goes off on another timeline thread, so we basically have a double Young Bond continuity. I do think its a shame that Higson didn't take the time to work with the Pearson continuity, but what's done is done.
    For me Pearson's Authorized Bio is canon. It came first and its friggin Fleming worthy excellent.
    I enjoy Higson as an alternative take though. What's done is done. Interesting @Bounine you referenced Cox's suggestion that Boyd planted possible threads of Cole's new Young Bond series in Solo. Cox also suggests that Faulks referenced Higson's Young Bond in DMC. That is also interesting, although I didn't catch it myself. It does seem we may have a new continuity timeline involving Higson, Faulks, Boyd and Cole. I like this - the later (2000's) authors actually paying attention to each other.
    I'm looking forward to the Cole books, simply because I like reading Bond. I don't need Higson to continue. A fresh take on Young Bond might be interesting. Still the kid's only 14-15. He's not likely to be killing anyone despite more of what I am sure will be crazy OTTP adventures, worthy of the adult Bond, a la Higson. These young Bond books are a bit much, but still fun to read.
    The Pearson take from back in the day, makes much more sense I think, but its not a big adventure a year deal, so there wasn't much more to flesh out, Young-Bond wise.
    IFP probably needed Higson's adventures to really milk this cow, which is why I think Pearson's take was set aside.
    Yes the Cole books do seem like more cow-milking. I trust eventually Bond will find his way to Paris and get to the war even if we are all in rockers by then, with shelves full of Young Bond books, collected along the way.

    Meantime I must confess I haven't read a word of the Boyd book. I'm still waiting for a good price. That last effort (Deaver) was so awful, I lost the urge to rush out and grab the latest right away, but I will be reading the new Boyd in short order, as soon as I get off my wallet.

  • edited October 2013 Posts: 2,593
    timmer wrote:
    Bounine wrote:
    ..... John Pearson's excellent Bond biography? He expanded on this very event and did a wonderful job. This is my favourite continuation Bond book even though it's not a traditional Bond story focusing on just one assignment. Many parts of it read like Fleming short stories.
    The very event being Bond's teenage (16 yrs old) coming-of-age adventures in Paris. Pearson in the Authorized Biography (1973), constructed entirely from the threads that Fleming left dangling, did a splendid job.
    Pearson's book IMO is hands down the best of the continuation novels. Unfortunately the later continuation authors, post Benson, such as Higson, chose to ignore it. However this book does exist. It's excellent, and along with Colonel Sun, are IMO the two perfect companion continuation-novels to the Fleming originals..
    Higson goes off on another timeline thread, so we basically have a double Young Bond continuity. I do think its a shame that Higson didn't take the time to work with the Pearson continuity, but what's done is done.
    For me Pearson's Authorized Bio is canon. It came first and its friggin Fleming worthy excellent.
    I enjoy Higson as an alternative take though. What's done is done. Interesting @Bounine you referenced Cox's suggestion that Boyd planted possible threads of Cole's new Young Bond series in Solo. Cox also suggests that Faulks referenced Higson's Young Bond in DMC. That is also interesting, although I didn't catch it myself. It does seem we may have a new continuity timeline involving Higson, Faulks, Boyd and Cole. I like this - the later (2000's) authors actually paying attention to each other.
    I'm looking forward to the Cole books, simply because I like reading Bond. I don't need Higson to continue. A fresh take on Young Bond might be interesting. Still the kid's only 14-15. He's not likely to be killing anyone despite more of what I am sure will be crazy OTTP adventures, worthy of the adult Bond, a la Higson. These young Bond books are a bit much, but still fun to read.
    The Pearson take from back in the day, makes much more sense I think, but its not a big adventure a year deal, so there wasn't much more to flesh out, Young-Bond wise.
    IFP probably needed Higson's adventures to really milk this cow, which is why I think Pearson's take was set aside.
    Yes the Cole books do seem like more cow-milking. I trust eventually Bond will find his way to Paris and get to the war even if we are all in rockers by then, with shelves full of Young Bond books, collected along the way.

    Meantime I must confess I haven't read a word of the Boyd book. I'm still waiting for a good price. That last effort (Deaver) was so awful, I lost the urge to rush out and grab the latest right away, but I will be reading the new Boyd in short order, as soon as I get off my wallet.

    I agree. I've always felt that it was quite a shame that Higson didn't reference Pearson's book. I really wish he had have worked around what Pearson wrote. Why this excellent Bond biography was overlooked, I'll never know. Someone asked Higson this in his talk and signing I attended a few years ago but I can't remember what he said now. He had mentioned it in an interview I read somewhere too but I can't recall his response. I do remember thinking at the time though that it wasn't a particularly justified response.

    "These young Bond books are a bit much, but still fun to read."

    My thoughts too.

    As for Solo, I enjoyed it. I feel it is much better than DMC, CB and some of the other continuation novels. Boyd develops Bond's character well and there are some interesting, entertaining situations but it does lack a solid plot so if this bothers you then you may not like it. It was a bit of a downside for me and the mission M gave Bond is far fetched.

    In terms of Bond's character, there is this incident near the beginning of Solo involving Bond's new love interest and her house which is out of character for Bond I think. God knows why Boyd wrote this.
  • edited October 2013 Posts: 4,622
    I am looking forward to Boyd's book. Carte Blanche IMO is the only really truly awful continuation novel. I can even roll with DMC. Deaver is guilty of creating a goody too-shoes, modern pc Bond. Its a barf fest, plus its riddled with all his own patented twists and turns and stylistic conceits that might work in his own novels, but seem to be way too much for a Bond book.
    Of all the adult continuation novels CB seemed to not even make any effort to even try to read like a Fleming book. It's Deaver's re-invented 2011-Bond all the way.
    Back to Higson's ignoring of Pearson's work. Personally I don't think there is much to analyze. There was a 32 year gap (1973-2005) between their respective efforts. I think Higson felt he could go his own way and re-work the Bond back-story to his own liking. Not the worst thing really, considering what he was trying to do, which was have Bond as full blown super-adventure kid. Pearson's narrative wouldn't have accomodated such extremes. Pearson's young Bond had more the upbringing, that I think we might have expected from the pen of Fleming.
    Again, for me, Pearson is post-Fleming canon. Higson is alternative take; ie Young
    Bond as super-adventure save-the-world kid.
  • edited October 2013 Posts: 2,593
    Maybe if Higson had have worked around Pearson's work I might have felt like it somewhat tarnished what Pearson did with Bond's backstory. Higson did a good job but to think that a young James Bond could experience all these types of adventures as a child and also in such a short time is just "OTT". What Pearson did was obviously much more realistic and did seem to harmonise with what Fleming would have written had he decided to expand on Bond's backstory.

    I do think that it may have been possible for Higson to work around Pearson's work. Pearson's biography covered Bond from the time of his birth right up until post TMWTGG. If I remember correctly, the section of the book that covered Bond's Eton years was fairly brief and went into little detail where as Higson's books took place the entire time Bond was at this school. So, I feel that Higson could have probably incorporated all these adventures within this period of Bond's life but as I said, maybe it was for the best that he didn't. However, what Higson did with the maid incident was vastly different to the simple situation Pearson concocted. Still, Higson needn't have weaved this incident into the plot as he did in By Royal Command (I'm currently reading this book for a second time and I'm enjoying it just as much as the first time).
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,727
    Bounine wrote:
    Maybe if Higson had have worked around Pearson's work I might have felt like it somewhat tarnished what Pearson did with Bond's backstory. Higson did a good job but to think that a young James Bond could experience all these types of adventures as a child and also in such a short time is just "OTT". What Pearson did was obviously much more realistic and did seem to harmonise with what Fleming would have written had he decided to expand on Bond's backstory.

    Very true and well said. This would be my take on the 'Young Bond' juggernaught.
  • edited October 2013 Posts: 7,653
    I think Deaver wrote an excellent thriller, my only problem was that the main character was a 007 that I did not recognize as Flemings creation. He did the usual checklist of Bondian things but it still feels of. And I am a fan of Deaver admiting that bar the latest one I have all of his Lincoln Rhyme books, and most of his output since 1997.

    DMC while written as a pastice worked a lot better for me as a 007 novel.

    SOLO with its lack of real involvement feels more like 007 portraited the post colonial English Empire that involved in the political struggle but watches from the sideline while stuffing his face with food and drink (that salad recipe really took the ...) and while shagging some ladies of which one he is a bloody peeping Tom, shags her and leaves her for selfish reasons he knew all along (Does that symbolises the British Empire in decline?)

    I feel that Boyd did take the mickey with this book and kind of symbolised the British Empire through 007's behaviour. And of course the US had to save the day.

    I look forward to Cole's effort as it cannot become worse I hope.
  • edited October 2013 Posts: 2,593
    In terms of CB, I enjoyed the story (albeit there were too many twists) but yes, what he did with our protagonist was criminal. He is barely recognisable. This is what I hated about CB.

    I definitely felt like Faulks took the mickey what with having a villain with a monkey paw!
  • Posts: 7,653
    Bounine wrote:
    In terms of CB, I enjoyed the story (albeit there were too many twists) but yes, what he did with our protagonist was criminal. In terms of Bond, yes, he was barely recognisable. This is what I hated about CB.

    I definitely felt like Faulks took the mickey what with having a villain with a monkey paw!

    If you read my post I find that Boyd has pushed "taking the mickey" several levels up.
  • edited October 2013 Posts: 2,593
    Sure, but I wouldn't say "several levels up". Each to their own though.
  • Posts: 2,593
    Dragonpol wrote:
    Bounine wrote:
    Maybe if Higson had have worked around Pearson's work I might have felt like it somewhat tarnished what Pearson did with Bond's backstory. Higson did a good job but to think that a young James Bond could experience all these types of adventures as a child and also in such a short time is just "OTT". What Pearson did was obviously much more realistic and did seem to harmonise with what Fleming would have written had he decided to expand on Bond's backstory.

    Very true and well said. This would be my take on the 'Young Bond' juggernaught.

    Cheers. You know, I kind of wish that Higson had have been hired to write adult Bond books instead and used the young Bond stories he scribed with tweaks here and there obviously for the purposes of an adult Bond working for the SIS.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,727
    Bounine wrote:
    Dragonpol wrote:
    Bounine wrote:
    Maybe if Higson had have worked around Pearson's work I might have felt like it somewhat tarnished what Pearson did with Bond's backstory. Higson did a good job but to think that a young James Bond could experience all these types of adventures as a child and also in such a short time is just "OTT". What Pearson did was obviously much more realistic and did seem to harmonise with what Fleming would have written had he decided to expand on Bond's backstory.

    Very true and well said. This would be my take on the 'Young Bond' juggernaught.

    Cheers. You know, I kind of wish that Higson had have been hired to write adult Bond books instead and used the young Bond stories he scribed with tweaks here and there obviously for the purposes of an adult Bond working for the SIS.

    Yes, that would have been great.
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 2,593
    http://www.thebookbond.com/2013/11/steve-cole-on-young-bond-6-it-feels.html?showComment=1385423079349#c1862278878881990415

    When he says "fun fan fiction" I wonder if he is referring to his own first Young Bond draft or other people's work?

    I wonder what he means by "real". I keep pondering about what he's done.

    Looking forward to this book.
  • Bounine wrote:
    http://www.thebookbond.com/2013/11/steve-cole-on-young-bond-6-it-feels.html?showComment=1385423079349#c1862278878881990415

    When he says "fun fan fiction" I wonder if he is referring to his own first Young Bond draft or other people's work?

    I wonder what he means by "real". I keep pondering about what he's done.

    Looking forward to this book.

    He means that since it is being edited he feels that he is actually writing a actual Bond novel and not some online fan-fiction.

    He seems excited about this which is increasing my hopes for what could be the best Bond novels since well Higson's YB 5-parter.

  • Posts: 1,856
    Hmmmm.... I love Young Bond, but Higson made By Royal Command the final chapter and it shows, and i'm sort of sceptical that they would ruin the brilliant ending the book had. But i'll try and remain open minded.
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    Yeah but BRC was the closing chapter of Bind's life at Eton. There was always a plan to explore his teenage years post Eton at Fettes. I really do hope Cole can live up to the ground work already established by Higson.
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    Ok so the new logo was released about 2 days ago but how was the following missed, which came out at the start of the month?

    http://www.thebookbond.com/2014/03/young-bond-goes-hollywood.html
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited March 2014 Posts: 13,350
    Shocking indeed. I'm looking forward to this book quite a bit actually.

    Thank you @doubleoego.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Sounds alright, but I reserve judgement untill I have read the book.

    Many a fanboy will be ready to butcher the ideas, Higson did more than deliver even If there was a large amount of scepsis.
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    No worries @Samuel001

    I'm looking forward to this too but with the great work Higson consistently put out, a bit of scepticism and worry is to be expected when someone new takes over. With the great talent we've had working on adult Bond and the results being not as we all would have hoped, it does very little to calm the nerves despite Cole being a very good novelist.
  • edited March 2014 Posts: 2,593
    doubleoego wrote:
    Ok so the new logo was released about 2 days ago but how was the following missed, which came out at the start of the month?

    http://www.thebookbond.com/2014/03/young-bond-goes-hollywood.html

    I have to say, I don't really like the thought of Bond mixing with celebrities. Bond's world and the celebrity world should remain separate. Maybe he'll just briefly run into one of them. I keep thinking that he'll be on movie sets but maybe he'll just be in this area in LA.
  • marketto007marketto007 Brazil
    edited May 2014 Posts: 3,277
     
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,727
    Title and cover of the new YOUNG BOND book has been revealed today. http://jbbr.co/YB_STK

    Interesting title. Thanks for making us aware of this breaking news.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited May 2014 Posts: 13,350
    This appears to signal Bond is growing up as well as a play on words regarding the plot. I hope it's good.
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