With a Mind to Kill out in May 2022

Some people even wisper that before all this he was a servant for some guy named Ivanhoe. :wink:

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Both of them.

Not sure if this possibility has come up yet, but I just finished The Spy Who Loved Me (my first read of it- was very pleasantly surprised, I enjoyed it a lot mot than I was expecting) and the thought occurred to me that this could be a good period for Horowitz’s third Bond novel. It could take place post Thunderball and centre around Bond’s mission in Toronto and include SPECTRE. It could end with him getting a flat tire in the storm and pulling into Dreamy Pines, or even include the ‘Him’ part of TSWLM told from Bond’s perspective (one Horowitz writing about another). This would also tie in with the trend of his novels using parts of Flemmings work.

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Hmm…I dunno about Horowitz, but it might be interesting for someone to tackle this time period at some point. I daresay it might be one of the few unexplored corners of the Fleming Bond timeline at this point.

I mean, we’ve had plenty of post-TMWTGG books (with Horowitz making his own contribution soon). We’ve had an origin story set before Casino Royale. We’ve had a book set slam bang in the middle of the timeline, following on from Goldfinger.

The period between Thunderball and OHMSS (which includes TSWLM) could be a pretty interesting one to explore. Bond basically spends about a year or two hunting SPECTRE and Blofeld, with little success in the end by the time OHMSS begins. It could be interesting to see Bond on a mission during this frustrating point in his career where he’s so fed up of a seemingly hopeless task that, by the end, he seriously contemplates resigning from the Service!

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Typo I believe

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60,007th word: "sobbed". This is not, of course, a reference to Bond who didn't even cry when Tracy was killed. About 15,000 words to go!

— Anthony Horowitz (@AnthonyHorowitz) August 4, 2021
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He is very good with his own marketing and promoting, is he not?

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If Twitter had existed for James Joyce:

“Last word: Yes.”

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It can be a good source for information quickly but for the most part…
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The Sentence is Death has this moment from the fictionalised Horowitz;

‘I really enjoyed The House of Silk. It made me wonder if you’ve read Solo yet?’
William Boyd had just published a James Bond novel – following on from Sebastian Faulks and Jeffery Deaver.
‘Not yet,’ I said.
‘I think it would be a fantastic idea if they got you to write a Bond next. I know the Ian Fleming estate. I could have a word with them if you like …’
‘Well, I’d certainly be interested.’ I tried to sound non-equivocal when actually it was something I’d wanted to do all my life.

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I’m liking these updates from Horowitz.

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Interesting.

Somehow, I seldom picture Connery as the Bond from Fleming’s books. If I picture any of the Bond actors as Fleming’s character, its Dalton and, less frequently, Craig. But for the most part, when I picture Bond while reading a Fleming novel or one of the continuations, its a totally imaginary figure based on what’s on the page.

A long time ago, I remember reading an interview by Benson where he talked about how, when he was doing a film novelization, he pictured Brosnan’s Bond, but when he was doing one of his own continuation novels, he pictured the character from the Fleming novels.

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I picture an amalgamation of Connery (specifically DN and FRWL - which I think are still the best cinematic representation of Fleming’s Bond), Dalton and Craig.

Which is weird as his Bond is nothing like Fleming’s Bond.

I wouldn’t know honestly…haven’t read any of Benson’s books :sweat_smile:

Is his Bond similar to Brosnan’s Bond then? Or John Gardner’s?

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Closet to Brosnan’s, but kind of its own thing. Benson’s books are wildly inconsistent. I’ve read the first 3 plus all 3 novelizations (surprisingly, the novelizations are actually pretty good). Raymond Benson isn’t a great Bond writer and I’ve actually enjoyed some of his non-Bond books better. He wrote the first 2 Splinter Cell novels under a pseudonym, which I think are better than his Bond books.

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