Eye of the World (Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan, after enjoying the TV show I am very curious about the source material and so far it is quite enjoyable.
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No excitement for a Michael Mann penned HEAT prequel/sequel around here?
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I’m freaking out! I can’t wait! With the passing of Sir Sean, Al Pacino is my favorite living actor.
The 15 minute conversation in the diner between Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro is the best scene ever filmed in a live action movie(IMO). Michael Mann’s screenplays read like literature, so an actual wriiten novel might even surpass Mr. Fleming’s descriptive narrative.( Defined by Raymond Benson as the “Fleming sweep.”
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Just completed Icebreaker. I prefer the first two books but still liked this one, even if Bond plays more of a bystander role. The torture scene is one of the best, Bond working in a team gave a different dynamic and I actually found the double crossing/question everything theme a positive rather than a negative. Role of Honour is next.
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I had only just heard of it the other day. Maybe I’m not looking in the right places, but it seems like a bigger deal might have been made of it.
I’ll end up checking it out. I can’t say that I’m overly excited about it. HEAT is, as far as I’m concerned, one of the best films I can remember seeing. A masterpiece through and through. But at the same time, I’m not sure that I need any more of the story. The film tells the story that it needs to tell and not sure how much any continuation to it will actually offer. But, we’ll see.
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I wonder whether Mann tried to get this greenlighted as a movie but no studio considers him bankable anymore.
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When word first surfaced about the project back in 2016, it sounds like the plan had been to write the book and develop a movie and/or TV show around it at the same time. I’m assuming the book had always been an important part of it to help launch his book imprint…
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This year, I’m hoping to finish both Ian Fleming’s and Roger Moore’s books. I have The Blofeld trilogy and TMWTGG for Fleming and One Lucky Bastard and À Bientôt for Moore. Those are my planned James Bond reading for this year.
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I don’t doubt that Mann probably has a solid story in mind for the sequel, but there’s more to it than simply coming up with that. HEAT was a perfect storm of a good story, an exceptional cast, and that touch that only the Michael Mann of the time could bring to it. It just feels like something that should probably be left alone. But, who knows, maybe it’ll end up being something special like the original was.
Have to give Meg Gardiner a shout-out too as she’s a hell of a writer. Her “Unsub” series she’s done in the last few years is fantastic.
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I just finished Billy Summers by Stephen King. I got through it pretty quickly which is a good sign usually. Even for non-fans, this is a good read for anyone who likes stories about hitmen, the Iraq war and redemption.
I have been a fan of King for over 20 years, and have read just about everything apart from the Dark Tower series. I find that these days he is much better at writing about women and female characters than he was, say, in the 1980s. He’s almost apologising for slight sexism and racism in his earlier work, although it’s difficult to say that with King because he writes from the character’s viewpoint and way of talking rather than his own.
Definitely worth a read.
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When did King ever go for that?
Role of Honour complete. The connection Bond has with Percy would be my highlight. It’s the running theme throughout the book, with Bond being reminded of her at various stages. Getting her all to himself at the end was the payoff, with a nice downbeat ending leaving him all alone again.
I think I prefer this to Icebreaker, mainly for the working for the enemy concept. It does nicely set up Nobody Lives Forever, which I’ll start soon. Really looking forward to it, because I’m sure it’ll retain top spot. I’m burning through the series - I hope to be finished in a month or so.
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I remember when he has an Indian dinner ( can’t quite remember the actual dish) with “all the trimmings” then went to a meeting.
I was surprised he could still move after eating all that!
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Finished Nobody Lives Forever in one day. It’s one of the all time great Bond books with a cracking pace, a sense of urgency and a very satisfying conclusion. Definitely the highlight of Gardner’s era: weaving in a few double crosses but not in confusing or overbearing ways, allowing Bond to always be under pressure while still taking the initiative and the fight to the enemy. As always, onto the next book - No Deals, Mr Bond.
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I’m not going to go through a list, but even in his new one he describes a prostitute as a “black chick”.
The narrator, a character we should not sympathize with?
King has always been anything but racist, a strong supporter of the working class and people of color.
Don’t mistake the author for the character who needs to talk like they would in real life. And in „Billy Summers“, the protagonist‘s friendship with an afro-american family is crucial to understanding his pain when he has to leave them behind.
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An interesting take on King and racism:
The author starts with the mention of King’s fondness for the Magical Negro–famously part of “The Shining” and “The Green Mile.”
Something I am curious about: in European culture in general, or in individual cultures of European nations, is there the concept of the Magical Negro, or something adjacent?
That tweet was tonedeaf?
No way.
And that article - really having an agenda and doing what reveals the major mistake of mistaking author for narrator.
As for John Coffee - a black Jesus Christ, which in fact is an allegory working against racist tropes - if one wants to blame King for using the „magic negro“-trope then one has to ban every use of every trope, thereby making any conversation about it offensive and every argument unspeakable.
King places Coffey in a very particular racist society in order to show how he is mistreated. That is not a racist use of the „magic negro“-trope, it‘s the demasking of the racism inherent.
It seems that the writer of this article just wanted to stir outrage. And to use a prominent successful white man for this was not by accident.
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I know a lot of people do not like the Gardner novels but those were the first Bond novels I read back in the 80s. I liked that Bond drove a car I knew and was part of the world that I lived in. They eventually led me to Fleming.
I do seem to recall there being one novel that has Bond looking into computer planned crimes as the crimes were planned perfectly in terms of timing. I believe he did this with someone from the US. That is what I recall, but I could not figure out which novel it was using google and wondering if I am mixing it up with a non-Bond plot. If that is a Bond novel, I did not enjoy it much.
John Gardner’s Bond novels will always have a place close to my heart and I enjoyed almost all of them.
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