With any left, I’d imagine there’s a reason they weren’t used by Fleming for short stories, and why Horowitz passed on them…twice
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As a TV series, Yes. As a book, then not yet really…?
Hmmm…depends.
Some things work in a visual format because the visuals just sell the thing. A film, a tv show doesn’t let you stop and question the whole setup, it just zips along and you’re either on board or not.
The whole Grand Prix racing episode in Trigger Mortis has the perfect setup for a British telly production of the late 50s/early 60s: there are several British race courses with a prestigious and colourful past and an army of enthusiastic fans.
An episode in this setting practically shoots itself, some stock footage from past races, closeups of the main protagonists in helmet, goggles and racing overalls, a training session with a spectacular crash, a stealthy penetration of the villain’s workshop, a fight between race cars and fuel drums, some stunt driving as the highlight of the episode. You already have the visuals right there.
In the Bond context though there are several holes in the story. If Smersh decided to throw money at Formula One racing, let them. They aim to kill Stirling Moss? Not even Moss himself did manage that, in a sport that killed its players like few others. Why send 007, a government tool that might be needed elsewhere, to interfere with machinations he has little hope of influencing anyway?
Of course that is stuff Fleming was well used to cover up, deflect and help his readers ignore. Just look at Moonraker (a book full of imagery that never once lets us stop and think for a minute) to see how well Fleming could do that.
In Trigger Mortis though the racing stuff, to me, feels not well fitted to the rest of the tale. I don’t know what further development Fleming had in mind with this - possibly nothing since it might already cover the short length of a tv episode of that age - but overall I would not have missed the part if it hadn’t been there.
There is likely still some material left that Fleming couldn’t properly use for his books or the tv projects (Commander Jamaica was another that later morphed into Doctor No). I would certainly love to read such little miniatures, even raw and without any much redaction effort. Cutting them up for use in projects that have no real relation to the original intent seems not the best use in my opinion.
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Indeed.
And, given the track record, Lord alone knows where Fleming nicked some of the material from. Had a bit of a habit of “homaging” / outright lifting. Might be another barrier to use.
If set after TMWTGG, I suppose there’s a signal in that that we can now leave Fleming behind as it is out of his “period”, for want of a better word. Would be happier with that sort of vibe than mining for scribbles on the backs of a collection of ancient cigarette packets, for contrived effect.
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Years ago I began work on an adaptation of the film version of Casino Royale set in 1961 before Dr No (I actually found the outline a few weeks ago). I planned to use a set piece based around the Monaco Grand Prix in place of the Skyfleet sequence. The sequence played out quite similarly to the Nurburgring race in TM. This outline was created in early 2015, prior to the release of Trigger Mortis.
It’s probably just me but, outlandish as Fleming could be, there was and remains, something adult about the writing. This is my criticism of most of the homage, continuation novels, with the exception of Colonel Sun, they are all rather childish in tone. They have all, in my opinion mistaken simplicity of prose for childishness.i would love to see Horrowitz ditch this and write an adult novel in whatever timeline he wishes
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In his review of The Man With the Golden Gun, Kingsley Amis noted that:
At the end of You Only Live Twice [Bond] was taking off for Vladivostok, because it was part of a country that, he sensed, he had had a lot to do with in the past. This was a promising situation. One could hardly wait for the follow-up: inevitable capture by the KGB, questionings and torturings and brainwashings, break out (aided probably by some beautiful firm-breasted female major of the Foreign Intelligence Directorate), the slaying of Colonel-General Grubozaboyschikov of SMERSH, and perhaps of Lieutenant-General Vozdvishensky of RUMID for good measure, in revenge for what happened on the Orient Express in 1957, and final escape over the Wall.
Perhaps General G will be the bad guy from the past? Smersh might have disbanded, but its head was surely up to more mischief…
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It should be someone Bond has had a face to face conflict with. I still hope for Le Chiffre’s killer.
Most likely it will be Irma Bunt. Depends on how Mr. Horowitz feels about Pearson and Benson’s mentions in their stories. IMO Pearson’s 007 “biography” is a continuation novel
Just heard the news!
I’m glad that, as predicted, we’re getting something at the end of Fleming’s timeline, capping of Horowitz’s ‘trilogy’. And it seems that, like Trigger Mortis was set right after Goldfinger, this one will be set immediately after The Man with the Golden Gun.
I wonder if Horowitz will delve a bit deeper into Bond’s psyche during this period of his life, and have him deal with the fallout of fairly recently being brainwashed by the KGB and deprogrammed by the Service. Forever and a Day did a good job showing us Bond as a relatively inexperienced agent…maybe this book can lean a bit into the idea of Bond maybe being a little past his prime and a bit worn-out, despite his ultimate success in taking down Scaramanga.
Then there’s the issue of Mary Goodnight, and the somewhat ambiguous note on which things ended between her and Bond in TMWTGG (or maybe I’m remembering it wrongly). I’m expecting some follow-up on that.
As for the old enemy, some great guesses here. I think it will be someone connected to SMERSH - maybe someone who was part of the plan to disgrace and kill Bond from FRWL? Unless the ‘old enemy’ isn’t necessarily someone we’ve met before in the previous novels, but just someone from Bond’s past. Sometime from his wartime service or brief pre-007 career in SIS?
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In the book, I think it was mainly about proving the superiority of their equipment. But to me, it still felt like the racing section fit in with the spirit of Casino Royale (Bond being drafted to engage the enemy in a game), especially if one imagines SMERSH are also determined to win the race for money.
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Reached the 40,007th word in my new Bond novel. It's a single letter, the 13th in the alphabet.
— Anthony Horowitz (@AnthonyHorowitz) July 16, 2021
Oh. One is reminded of one’s own paltry effort.
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The other 2 M’s were too big for a gif…literally.
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Mawdsley and Mansfield…Hargreaves as a gif remains elusive…
Or even a postable still!
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It’s still not confirmed that Hargreaves was M.
The debate is both endless and valid for either.
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Kind of like whether or not DAF is the greatest Bond film ever (ducking in Brooklyn and awaiting an Orion gif).
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It is. however, indisputable that Robert Brown’s M and Judi Dench’s M are the same character.
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Why wasn’t there a code name theory for M, by the way? 
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Mmmmmmm…
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