Ian Fleming's Quantum of Solace

James Bond said: “I’ve always thought that if I ever married I would marry an air hostess.”

These are the opening words of Ian Fleming’s short story, Quantum of Solace. The story was originally published in 1960 as part of the short story anthology, For Your Eyes Only. The story is surely Fleming’s most unusual and unique, as it is not an espionage story, nor does Bond play much of a role in it. The tale is set at a dull dinner party hosted by the Governor of Bermuda. After dinner, the Governor tells Bond the story of a young man he knew, who fell in love with and married an air hostess. After she has an affair the relationship dissolves into one of bitterness and hate.

The title, Quantum of Solace, refers to a theory which the Governor calls the “Law of the Quantum of Solace”. This is that human relationships last only as long as a level of basic humanity exists between them. As Bond points out in the text, the phrase means “the amount of comfort”. Fleming’s departure in style with this story was apparently to emulate the famous writer, W. Somerset Maugham.

The 22nd James Bond film is also entitled Quantum of Solace, although only the title is being used for the film. The film is a direct sequel to the 2006 film of Casino Royale and is being released in the UK on 31 October 2008. To tie in with the film's release, Penguin have published the complete short stories of Ian Fleming under the title Quantum of Solace, which is available in both hardback and paperback.

A Licence To Read James Bond

My literary related posts have so far primarily been concerned with the novel of John Gardner. In case anybody had the impression that this was because I preferred Gardner to Fleming, let me just say that this is not the case. The Gardner focus is because I just happen to be working my way through some of Gardner's books at the moment.

If you wish to read some articles about Ian Fleming, allow me to direct you to the 'Licence to Read' series of articles of www.ajb007.co.uk . These articles, written between myself and fellow literary Bond fan Jason Disley, will attempt to cover all of the James Bond novels written to date in the order they were published. The latest article concerns Ian Fleming's final novel The Man With The Golden Gun.
http://www.ajb007.co.uk/articles/a-licence-to-read-tmwtgg/

The next book to be examined will be Ian Fleming's second short story collection, Octopussy and The Living Daylights. After this the series will begin with continuation novels starting with Colonel Sun, so keep an eye on ajb007 to catch these article when they appear!

A Short History of Moonraker

Moonraker is a title which has special personal significance for me. Roughly eleven years ago, Moonraker was my first ever Bondian experience. The light hearted humour, the action, the music and all the other elements got me instantly hooked. However, little did I know when I watched that video that I was merely scraping the tip of an iceberg. In fact just the story of Moonraker itself is larger and more interesting than I could have imagined.

The Moonraker legacy begins in April 1955 as it is published – the third book by Ian Fleming. After seeing the film version, it was at least six or seven years before I discovered that the literary version was a completely different story to the film.

One of the few similarities between the film and the book is the name of the villain: Hugo Drax. Sir Hugo Drax of the novel is a red head, ex-German who cheats at cards. His scheme is to destroy London with a nuclear missile, supposedly built for Britain's benefit. Needless to say, James Bond foils this dastardly plot, but unlike in the film of Moonraker – he doesn't get the girl. Also, the girl in the novel is a policewoman named Gala Brand. This character was not featured at all in the film.

Although I was a fan of the film, when I eventually read the book the lack of similarity did not disappoint me – on the contrary I found the novel most enjoyable and it remains one of my favourite Fleming novels. On thing quite unusual is that the entire novel in set in England – strictly speaking not Bond's territory of operation. However, he is given special permission to work on British soil, which gives Ian Fleming a chance to show us some of his favourite places in England.

24 years after the publication of the novel, James Bond had become a genuine household name, and with the success of Star Wars in 1977, the Bond producers saw the opportunity to cash in on the sci-fi trend, and a title such as Moonraker seemed to fit the bill. In the film, the Moonraker is no longer a nuclear missile, but a space shuttle. The film opens with a spectacular pre-credits sequence. A Moonraker shuttle is hijacked while being carried on the back of a Boeing 747, and then we cut to James Bond on a aeroplane. He has a fight with the pilot, whom he throws out of the aeroplane, but Bond then is pushed out himself – without a parachute. Of course, Bond doesn't fall to his death – and in one of the series most thrilling action scenes Bond steals the parachute of the pilot in free fall. This was the scene which really hooked me on Bond.

Another thing which got me hooked was the character of Jaws – a character not from the novel. At over seven feet tall, with razor sharp steel teeth, Jaws is surely one of the most menacing villains in cinema history. He is also portrayed in a humorous light – another thing which initially attracted me to Bond.

The film also featured two new female characters: a CIA agent-cum-astronaut named Holly Goodhead and a French helicopter pilot named Corinne Dufour. Also, the villainous Drax is portrayed as a more elegant, silently menacing villain -quite different from the character in the book. Despite the film's faults – which are much more obvious to me today – it remains a personal favourite, even if just for sentimental reasons.

The novel was also not the last literary incarnation of Moonraker – another version was penned in 1979 by Christopher Wood, the screenwriter of the film. This one has the same story as the film, but is told with a very accurate evocation of Ian Fleming's style. Also, the character of Drax is the one from the original novel, as is the Bond character. The silly, implausable elements of the film are played down and the result is a cracking read which should be essential reading for all Ian Fleming fans. In fact, Ian Fleming Publications really should get Christopher Wood to write some more James Bond novels. He is surely the best author in terms of recreating the style of Ian Fleming.

I hope you have enjoyed this journey into the history of Moonraker – but I have still only scratched the surface. However, let me just say that Moonraker remains a favourite in the film version as well as the two literary incarnations. This is just another example of the fantastic story telling ability, as well as the abilities of the film makers who keep the James Bond legacy going strong.

The Art of Bond - Richard Chopping

On April 17, 2008 Richard Chopping died at the age of 91. Chopping was an innovative artist who contributed stunning watercolour paintings to the covers of 10 James Bond novels.

Chopping became established in the 1940s as an author and illustrator of children's books, as well as books about natural history, in particular butterflies, birds and flowers. Chopping even worked on an aborted attempt at a 22 volume work on flora of the British Isles, in which Chopping was to have rendered every single flower.

The story goes that Ian Fleming's wife, Ann saw some of Chopping's distinctive trompe l'oeil watercolours at an exhibition, and recommended Chopping for the cover of her husband's next book, From Russia With Love. The famous jacket, my personal favourite for a Bond novel, features a the combination of a rose and sawn-barrel Smith & Wesson which belonged to gun expert Geoffrey Boothroyd. Boothroyd appeared in Fleming next novel, Dr. No and was the genesis of the 'Q' character in the film series.

Chopping returned with the distinctive jacket design for Goldfinger, another personal favourite. From here onward, Chopping illustrated the covers of all the Ian Fleming first editions. In total, 9 of Ian Fleming's first editions featured the artwork of Richard Chopping. Some of the most distinctive include For Your Eyes Only, which has the striking image of an eye peering through a hole, presumably in a door. Another unique cover is The Man With The Golden Gun, which features artwork which extends from the back all the way to the front cover of the novel, as does the title lettering. The cover for Octopussy and The Living Daylights, published posthumously was the final Fleming novel, and the last to feature a Chopping cover. This particular cover is crawling with Chopping's trademark visual - flies.

He also returned to the fold, as the literary 007 returned in 1981's Licence Renewed by John Gardner. The following four John Gardner novels also featured covers in the Chopping style, although painted by other artists.

Chopping's relationship with Ian Fleming was hardly a smooth one, and Chopping alledgedly disliked both Fleming and the books. He was also unhappy that he didn't receive royalties from the enormous success of the books, and claimed that he was “swindled all along the line”.

Richard Chopping also wrote two novels of his own. These were The Fly (1965) and The Ring (1967). The Fly was described by the publishers as “a perfectly disgusting concoction . . . sufficiently sordid to appeal to voyeurs”. This, combined with the appeal of Chopping's distinctive cover art resulted in a success. However, Chopping's second novel “sank with very little trace”.

The legacy of Richard Chopping's art remains as some of the most distinctive and best loved Book jackets of 20th century British fiction.

100 Years of Ian Fleming

On the 28th of May 1908, Ian Lancaster Fleming was born, and now 100 years on there are surely few who have never heard of Mr Fleming, or his creation - James Bond.

During World War II, Fleming served as assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, which gave him great insight into the world of secret operation and espionage. Before the war, and after, Fleming worked as a journalist, which helped develop his writing style and eye for detail.

In 1953, Fleming published Casino Royale and the James Bond legend was born. A total of 14 James Bond books by Fleming were published, two of them posthumously. Fleming died following a heart attack on August 12 1964 - but his legacy has not yet died out. Indeed it could be argued that it is stronger than ever - the latest Bond film became the highest grossing in the history of the series, and it was based on Fleming's first Bond novel. Also, a new Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks, called Devil May Care has just been published to commemorate the centenary.

It will surely be many years before the legacy of Ian Fleming dies out, so here's to the next 100 years of Ian Fleming!