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THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN CANON~ Posted by Samantha Weinberg, September 25th 2013
Arguably, Boyd has a more daunting task. In "Solo", his addition to the James Bond canon, he will pit his writing against not only Ian Fleming’s, but against the works of five other continuation authors: Kingsley Amis (writing as Robert Markham, 1968), John Gardner (1981-96), Raymond Benson (1997-2002), and more recently Sebastian Faulks (2008) and Jeffrey Deaver (2011). Writing a sequel to any book is not easy. You have your own standards and reputation to maintain, as well as the expectations of your publisher, the literary estate that has chosen you and the legions of fans—in Bond’s case fanatics—who feel as if they have some sort of ownership over the characters. When I wrote "The Moneypenny Diaries"—which were more companions than sequels—I was acutely conscious of what the Bond fans thought. And as soon as the first book was announced, they started thinking. Some were enthusiastic, others wary of the conceit. Long before "Guardian Angel", the first in the series, was published, I found myself obsessively checking the forums on the fan sites. And they influenced what I wrote: I read and reread all 14 of Fleming's Bond books, noted down the smallest details—how Bond liked his eggs cooked, the name of M's butler—determined not to make the slightest mistake. I know that Charlie Higson, who wrote the brilliant Young Bond series, was similarly meticulous. But we weren't in the sequel game; we didn't have to ape Ian Fleming's wit, imagination and spare, brutal prose. Boyd has a far harder job to take on as the adult Bond's handler. Of all the continuation novelists, Amis was probably the best: if his Bond is not 100% authentic, his evil mastermind makes up for it. John Gardner took over from Amis and made a decent fist of it, though he didn't have Fleming's flair. Benson loved his hero, but his was the world of the Bond films: lacking in subtlety, depth and, well, class. With Sebastian Faulks, the Fleming Estate hoped to jumpstart the brand and restore Bond to the literary shelves. "Devil May Care", launched in Fleming's centenary year, was attended by massive publicity, expectation and hope. It sold well—the marriage between the names Fleming and Faulks ensured it would—but to the serious Bond fans among us, it felt rushed and had more than a whiff of the pastiche about it. Jeffrey Deaver was another banker, sales-wise, but his "Carte Blanche" was a page-turning thriller with a lead character who just happened to be called James Bond. And what of Boyd? I wish him well and hope, for the sake of all of us who will be reading "Solo" by flashlight tonight, that it hits the mark—both as a book and a Bond book. But if not, there’s always the master to turn to; to read and read again. Samantha Weinberg, writing as Kate Westbrook, is the author of "The Moneypenny Diaries" trilogy. She will be at the launch of "Solo" tonight and her review will be found here tomorrow Picture Getty |
Tomorrow William Boyd will join a growing
club of established authors who have published a sequel to a famous
literary series. P.D. James has done it to Jane Austen ("Death at
Pemberley"), Eoin Colfer to Douglas Adams ("And Another Thing"),
Anthony Horowitz to Arthur Conan Doyle ("House of Silk"), and Sophie
Hannah is about to do it to Agatha Christie. Some have been good—both
as books in their own right and as authentic channellings of the
original voice (Horowitz), others less so (James).