james.doherty@gsa.gov
Wed, 24 Nov 1999 08:22:14 -0600
It's been awhile, but, as I rmember, Amis's novel (published
under the pseudonym of Robert Markham) dealt with Bond's
efforts to rescue the kidnapped M from the hing-ranking Red
Chinese agent who gave the book its title. Amis was a big
Bond fan (he wrote one of the first book-length critical
studies of Bond. *The James Bond Dossier*), and his pastiche
wasn't bad. Personally, though, I preferred John Gardner's
continuations. In fact, in many ways, I think the Gardner
books are better, or at least better-crafted, than the
Fleming books. I haven't read any of the continuations by the
new guy, Raymond Benson.
As has been pointed out, Bond, though tough as old shoes,
lacks the
"common-touch" colloquialism that I think is essential to be
classified as hard-boiled (something that Adam Hall's British
agent, Quiller, *does* have). On the other hand, Fleming did
consider himself to be a member of the Hammett-Chandler
school and said so in interviews. I've got no great
objections to his being discussed on the list, if no one else
does.
JIM DOHERTY
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