The James Bond Bedside Companion

by Raymond Benson

  ("The Property of a Lady," OCTOPUSSY)

  The story picks up a little once Bond arrives at the auction, but the entire incident is over so quickly it is hardly worth one's time. Of course, one must remember that "The Property of a Lady" was originally commissioned by Sotheby's to be included in their publication, The Ivory Hammer: The Year at Sotheby's. Perhaps this explains its thinness.

  As a whole, OCTOPUSSY is not a grand finale to the Fleming Bond saga. It's too bad that his oeuvre ends with the two weakest books in the series. But, as Glidrose Productions probably assumed, weak Fleming is better than no Fleming.

  The James Bond saga entered a hiatus after OCTOPUSSY was published in 1966. It was not until 1968 that Kingsley Amis (under the pseudonym Robert Markham), took the reins and resurrected Bond from literary inactivity.

  THE NON-FLEMING NOVELS:

  COLONEL SUN (1968)

  COLONEL SUN, by Robert Markham (Kingsley Amis), continues the Bond saga and is a worthy successor to the Ian Fleming novels. It is not totally faithful to the Fleming books, but it would be foolish to expect a new author to mirror Fleming's style completely. It is important, however, to maintain the continuity of Bond's character and the events that have a direct bearing on Bond's life. COLONEL SUN achieves this. Despite a slow middle and an overly complicated plot, COLONEL SUN contains several exciting passages, good characterizations, and the rich detail that typify Fleming's work.

  The story concerns Bond's attempts to rescue M, who has been kidnapped by Red Chinese forces belonging to one Colonel Sun Liang-tan. Colonel Sun hopes to lure Bond into his clutches so that both the famous agent and his chief can be killed. An important Russian summit conference is scheduled to take place in Greece; Sun plans to bomb the conference with a mortar gun and leave the two Englishmen's bodies at the site to implicate their guilt in the crime. 007 teams up with Russian agent Ariadne Alexandrou and her Greek friend, Niko Litsas, to combat Colonel Sun and his henchman, an ex-Nazi named Von Richter. The allies are eventually captured by the villains; Bond is severely tortured but is saved by a prostitute staying with Sun. The girl's intervention gives 007 the advantage over his enemies, and he and his confederates overcome Sun and succeed in rescuing M.

  STYLE AND THEMES

  COLONEL SUN begins and ends with explosive events. The main problem with the book is the middle, which is slow-moving and sometimes a little boring. At the beginning of the story, M is kidnapped by terrorists working for Red China; the Hammonds, who take care of M and his home, Quarterdeck, are murdered.

  This is one of the most frightening and suspenseful openings to any of the James Bond books. Finding M in a helpless state—drugged and immobile—is a very disturbing image and it stamps the novel with a dark, foreboding mood which persists throughout the story. COLONEL SUN is the most violent, the sexiest, and one of the most unsettling of all the Bond books. The climax is extremely bloody, and James Bond undergoes perhaps the worst torture he has ever experienced.

  One of the problems with COLONEL SUN is the lack of the Fleming Sweep. This is the one stylistic element which Amis has failed to duplicate in the series. The book is sometimes tedious, and this is not helped by the fact that the author has used an extremely complicated political plot. It is a lengthy book, and each chapter is dense with information and detail. Although there are a few tense passages in the middle of the book (the gun battle in the streets of Greece before Ariadne takes Bond to meet Litsas; the sea battle in which Bond sinks the enemy ship), the slow overall pace of the novel is a flaw.

  Amis manages to create an adequate semblance of Fleming's penchant for rich detail, eloquently describing locations, characters, and events. He is also much more daring than Fleming in chronicling the sex act:

  Within seconds they stood flesh to flesh. She shuddered briefly and moaned; her arms tightened round his neck, her loins thrust against his and he felt the strength of her as well as the softness. As if they had become one creature with a single will, the two bodies sank to the bed. No preliminaries were needed. The man and the woman were joined immediately, with almost savage exultation. She leapt and strained in his grip, her movements as violent as his. The pace was too hot for their strivings to be prolonged. Their voices blended in the cry of joy that sounds so oddly akin to the inarticulate language of despair.

  (COLONEL SUN, Chapter 8)

  Though tame by today's standards, this is more explicit than anything Fleming wrote.

  COLONEL SUN marks James Bond's first important involvement with politics. It is also Bond's first encounter with the Red Chinese as adversaries. A strong theme in the novel is that of keeping the peace between nations, especially Britain and Russia. Until Bond realizes that his adversaries are the Chinese, he of course believes them to be Russian. It seems that Amis is making a point that the Russians are no longer enemies of the British Empire as they were portrayed in the earlier Fleming novels. The ending of the story is ironic, as a Russian official thanks and offers James Bond a medal for defending Russia. Amis is extremely successful in maintaining the tension between the Russian official and Bond. Although nothing is said of Bond's past encounters with the Soviet government, there is a definite subtext underlying their conversation. The Russian chooses his words carefully, not quite apologizing for his government's treatment of Bond in the past, but rather approving the valiant efforts Bond has made on their behalf. Even M agrees that it was appropriate for the British Secret Service, this time, to help Russia in a common fight against Red China.

  Another theme of the novel deals with Bond's permanent tie to his profession. The last few lines of the book present the two spies from opposite sides, Bond and Ariadne, reaching for each other's companionship; but deep down they both know a union would be impossible:

  Bond said, "Come to London with me, Ariadne. Just for a little while. I know they'll give you leave."

  "I want to come with you, just as you don't want to go. But I can't I knew you'd ask me and I was all set to say yes. Then I saw it somehow wouldn't be right.... I'm still stuck with my middle-class respectability. Does that sound silly?"

  "No. But it makes me feel sad."

  "Me too. It all comes from our job. People think it must be wonderful and free and everything. But we're not free, are we?"

  "No," said Bond again. "We're prisoners. But let's enjoy our captivity when we can."

  (COLONEL SUN, Chapter 21)

  What Bond means is that he and Ariadne are both prisoners of their professions. In a way, this is a flashback to the same feeling Fleming brought to the end of MOONRAKER with the allusion to James Bond as a "man without a silhouette." Bond is trapped in his profession—there will never be an escape. This was underscored with the deaths of Vesper Lynd and Tracy di Vicenzo, the only women he admitted truly loving, as well as by his devotion to rescuing M from his abductors in COLONEL SUN.

  Finally, the other strong theme in the novel is that of revenge. James Bond is intent on avenging the deaths of the Hammonds and the kidnapping of M. Bond is particularly brutal in achieving his goal:

  Bond just had time to notice the deep parallel scratches on the gunman's left cheek before Litsas grabbed him and clapped a large hand over his mouth. Bond stepped forward and looked into the dilated eyes. "This is for the Hammonds," he hissed, and drove the knife in. De Graafs body gave one great throe, as if he had touched a live terminal, then went totally limp.

  (COLONEL SUN, Chapter 20)

  The revenge is very satisfying. This is Bond at his toughest Amis has not forgotten that Bond is primarily an executioner—a prime element in the make-up of his character.

  CHARACTERS

  Luckily, Amis has not tampered with the character of Bond. He is the same darkly handsome man first introduced in CASINO ROYALE. At the book's opening, Bond is troubled by the familiar malaise—boredom and complacency. The agent also seems to be much more hardened since YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. It's almost as if Amis has brought back the humorless Bond of the early novels. Perhaps the agent h
as built new walls around himself since his traumatic ordeals of the past five years. The death of Tracy; the fight with Blofeld in Japan; the loss of memory and subsequent year of living with Kissy Suzuki; the brainwashing ordeal in Russia; the assassination attempt on M; and the fight against death after Scaramanga's poison-tipped bullet almost eliminated the agent forever—all have had a toll on Bond. He is in a new cycle of his life.Now it's only the job that matters. He is as grim and determined as before, but with a renewed strength. This is illustrated in the scene at Colonel Sun's house in which Bond sees M for the first time in weeks. When his chief orders Bond to leave him behind if there is a chance for the agent to escape, Bond flatly refuses. Bond's loyalty to his job and chief are stronger than ever in COLONEL SUN.

  Ariadne Alexandrou is a very appealing heroine and a creation of whom Fleming would be proud. She is beautiful—a Greek, but unlike the "overrated, beaky, 'classical' look one associates with old coins." She has skin with soft tints of tan and white and olive and rose. Her eyes are tan-colored, and she has "tobacco-blonde hair." Ariadne is tough, intelligent, and resourceful. In many ways, she is superior to most Fleming heroines in that she has strong beliefs and ideals for which she is fighting. She is extremely independent (a common Bond-heroine trait), and can hold her own in a fight Bond is impressed by her ability to knock down a thug twice her size, as well as by her sexual magnetism.

  Colonel Sun Liang-tan is a cruel, methodical villain, and very worthy of inclusion in the Bond saga. He is tall for a Chinese (nearly six foot) and is big-boned and long-headed. His skin color is the usual flat light yellow, his hair is blue-black and dead straight, and the "epicanthic eye-fold is notably conspicuous." One immediately compares him with Dr. No, not only because of the doctor's half-Chinese origin, but also because of his manner of speech and the control with which he holds himself. His methods and philosophies of torture, presented in the obligatory lecture scene, reveal Sun's demoniacal inclinations:

  "In the divine Marquis de Sade's great work Justine there's a character who says to his victim: 'Heaven has decreed that it is your part to endure these sufferings, just as it is my part to inflict them.' That's the kind of relationship you and I are entering into, James...."

  "You must understand that I'm not the slightest bit interested in studying resistance to pain or any such pseudoscientific claptrap. I just want to torture people. But—this is the point—not for any selfish reason, unless you call a saint or a martyr selfish. As de Sade explains in The Philosopher in the Boudoir, through cruelty one rises to heights of superhuman awareness, of sensitivity to new modes of being, that can't be attained by any other method. And the victim—you too, James, will be spiritually illuminated in the way so many Christian authorities describe as uplifting to the soul: through suffering. Side by side you and I will explore the heights."

  (COLONEL SUN, Chapter 19)

  Sun's words are chilling, and the subsequent torture Bond undergoes is excruciating for the reader as well as for the hero. Sun proceeds to probe the orifices of Bond's head with extremely thin wires which reach into his brain. Sun's words reveal the sick mind of the villain, and this impression is further refined at the end when Bond corners the wounded madman. Prepared to die at the hands of Bond, Sun welcomes his angel of death and pathetically attempts to apologize for the cruel treatment he has visited upon Bond. Also chilling is his use of "James" instead of the usual "Mister Bond." Sun's "Goodbye, James," as Bond plunges a knife into his heart, is the final plea for absolution.

  Niko Litsas is an admirable Bond ally along the lines of Darko Kerim and Colombo. In his mid-forties, Litsas is a World War II hero and an excellent sailor. He is tanned a rich brown after years of sun and salt air, and is remarkably handsome. Bond puts him down as a loyal friend and a totally implacable and ruthless enemy. He "trusts him on sight." His obvious similarities to Kerim and Colombo prevent him from becoming an outstanding Bond ally, but he is certainly more interesting than the Felix Leiter of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. Litsas shows tremendous bravery and fortitude throughout the story, and his character is an integral part of the plot

  A different side of M is revealed in COLONEL SUN. The opening scene presents a catatonic, zombielike Admiral, a condition which frightens Bond and intensifies his determination to rescue his chief. M, for the first time, is seen in a helpless, defenseless state. He is reduced to dealing with violence on the same level as Bond. The image of the great Admiral for whom Bond holds "his deepest respect" in such a state cannot help but evoke an emotional response from the reader.

  HIGHLIGHTS AND OTHER INGREDIENTS

  Among the outstanding moments in the novel one must include the Quarterdeck scene at the opening. It is explosive, highly dramatic, and immediately sets the book's peculiar, foreboding tone. The action scenes in the first half of the book are somewhat flawed by the fact that the plot, which is extremely complicated and sometimes confusing, has not yet been fully explained. For example, it is sometimes difficult to tell the two different houses on the islet apart, as well as distinguish who inhabits which house. It may have been a mistake on Amis' part not to reveal the implications of the Russians' summit conference until very late in the book

  Once Bond is captured by Colonel Sun, the book never lets up in excitement. The torture scene is particularly unsettling, and the subsequent fight with Sun and his men is bloody and violent in a way Fleming never attempted to picture.

  Despite the slow patches, COLONEL SUN is a worthy successor to the Fleming oeuvre. It is too bad Kingsley Amis was not interested in continuing the series. COLONEL SUN would be the last James Bond novel for another thirteen years. Weak in the middle but terrific at both ends, COLONEL SUN is just as important to the Bond saga as the Fleming books, and should not be ignored by the serious Bond reader.

  THE JOHN GARDNER BOOKS

  The summer of 1981 was significant for James Bond fans: the first in a new series of novels was published. British mystery writer John Gardner was approached by Glidrose to resurrect Bond from literary limbo, and the result was LICENSE RENEWED. This was followed by FOR SPECIAL SERVICES (1982), and ICEBREAKER (1983). Gardner has since been signed to write additional 007 novels.

  The books are controversial among Bond fans in that they make many changes in Bond's world. Gardner's writing style is dissimilar to Fleming's, and Gardner/Glidrose have elected to update Bond's environment; basically, the character has been picked up and placed unchanged in the eighties. This change may be disconcerting to some fans who desire a continuity with the Fleming series. In 1981, the "real" James Bond would be in his late fifties; the Bond of the Gardner novels is still fairly young—perhaps in his forties (there is a little grey showing in his black hair). Another striking stylistic element of the books is that they resemble the film scripts more than the original Fleming novels. Gadgets abound in the books, and LICENSE RENEWED especially borrows ingredients from the film versions of GOLDFINGER, THUNDERBALL, and ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. But, despite these disconcerting changes, all three Gardner efforts are fast reading, slick, and entertaining.

  LICENSE RENEWED concerns James Bond's investigation of Anton Murik, the Laird of Murcaldy. Murik was a top nuclear scientist who had developed plans for a "perfectly safe" nuclear reactor. But his colleagues at the International Atomic Energy Research Commission would not approve his plan; Murik resigned and began making plans to hire terrorists to infiltrate six major nuclear plants around the world in order to cause meltdowns unless he is allowed to build his own reactor.

  FOR SPECIAL SERVICES, the most engaging of the three books, involves a new SPECTRE organization controlled by an offspring of Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Clues have pointed to a wealthy Texan named Markus Bismaquer, an entrepreneur working out of a huge ranch. Bond teams up with Cedar Leiter, daughter of his friend Felix, and together they uncover SPECTRE's plot to drug the personnel of NORAD headquarters in Colorado with specially prepared ice cream. Once the personnel are at the mercy of SPECTRE, a disguised team
of military personnel will infiltrate the headquarters and steal the computer tapes controlling the Space Wolves, the new laser-equipped satellites which can monopolize the arms race.

  ICEBREAKER, the weakest of the trio of novels, concerns Bond's attempts to destroy a terrorist organization called the National Socialist Action Army (NSAA), whose objective is to rid the world of communism. The NSAA is revealed to be an extreme fascist group controlled by ex-Nazi Count Konrad von Gloda. In Finland, Bond teams up with KGB agent Kolya Mosolov, CIA agent Brad Tirpitz, and an agent from the Mossad of Israel, the beautiful Rivke Ingber. After a series of mistaken-identity situations, Bond and a girlfriend working for Finnish Intelligence, Paula Vacker, thwart von Glöda's plans to recreate the Third Reich.

  STYLE AND THEMES

  The obvious element missing from Gardner's writing is Fleming's journalistic flair for detail. Gardner is descriptive—he takes pains to describe foods, gadgets, locales—but his writing is simply not as colorful as that of Fleming. It doesn't have that distinctive elite tone—the original author's inner voice—which heightened the early novels. Gardner seems to be injecting detail into the story simply because it is expected in a James Bond novel. Whereas Fleming managed to weave technical and descriptive detail into his tales with exceptional believability, the "Gardner Effect" only calls attention to itself.

  There is a semblance of a "sweep," however. The books undeniably move very quickly and generate a fair amount of suspense. Gardner is no amateur. He manages to manipulate and involve the reader in the story, and he uses a plot structure similar to Fleming's in order to do so. But in a way, the novels move too quickly. They can be read easily and digested without much thought. The Gardner books might be termed "fast-food" James Bond. As an analogy, if Fleming's works were savored at Sardi's, then Gardner's efforts would be munched at McDonald's.