Zero Minus Ten (1997) – Raymond Benson

While I may not have cared for Raymond Benson’s 007 short story, Blast From the Past (to be clear I liked everything but for the Penthouse Forum ending of the story) I was more than ready to return to the world of James Bond, and see what Benson could deliver with his first novel featuring…

Blast From the Past (1997) – Raymond Benson

Benson takes over 007’s adventures from John Gardner, and delivered this short story that first appeared in Playboy in 1997. Benson shows that he can tell a Bond story in true Ian Fleming style, though the ending definitely is a little more adult, but hardly surprising given the context of where it was published. James…

Win, Lose or Die (1989) – John Gardner

John Gardner’s eighth 007 novel is on the book shelf this week, and honestly, as much as I have been enjoying his take on James Bond, I think this may be my favourite one so far. Bond finds himself facing off against a terrorist organisation known as BAST who have plans to infiltrate a Russian/American/British…

Role of Honour (1984) – John Gardner

James Bond is back in action in Gardner’s next 007 title, taking Ian Fleming’s character further into the 80s with a story that sees the secret agent encountering computers, war game simulations, and a familiar enemy. There are some familiar elements in this film that showed up in 1985’s A View To A Kill, computers…

Licence Renewed (1981)- John Gardner

In the early 80s, the estate of Ian Fleming reached out to author John Gardner to continue telling stories about James Bond, 007, and to perchance, bring him into the 80s. This involved a bit of a retcon moving the events of the previous novels from the 50s/60s to the 60s/70s. Gardner’s first effort, Licence…

James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) – Christopher Wood

Christopher Wood who penned the screenplay for Roger Moore’s The Spy Who Loved Me, also took it upon himself to write the novelisation, with the expanded title, ‘James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me’ in order not to be confused with the original Ian Fleming title. The adaptation is a curious blend of the Bonds…

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) – Roger Spottiswoode

Pierce Brosnan’s second outing as Ian Fleming’s James Bond, 007, is the final recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following a screening of Goldfinger, and I quite happily make the argument that this may be Brosnan’s best outing in his four Bond films. From the opening White Knight sequence, to…

Live and Let Die (1973) – Guy Hamilton

007 is back, and he’s the next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Roger Moore debuts as secret agent James Bond in this 1973 update of Ian Fleming’s character. It also delves a little into blaxploitation, and features one of my favourite Bond Girls, Jane Seymour as Solitaire. Marrying drugs…

Dr. No (1962) – Terence Young

It’s back to the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book to check in with the Action genre, and consequently, I get to spend some tine with secret agent 007. Bond, James Bond. Sean Connery brings Ian Flemings’s spy to the big screen in Dr. No, the first recommendation for the previously reviewed Goldfinger….