John Gardner and the re-birth of the literary Bond
Despite the ongoing success of the movies, it was not until 15 years after Fleming’s death that a new series of Bond continuation novels was finally commissioned.
John Edmund Gardner had already lived a fascinating life by the time he was approached by Glidrose Publications (now Ian Fleming Publications) in 1979. He had been a Royal Marine commando, had a short stint as an Anglican priest, worked as a drama critic, and kick-started his writing career in 1964 with the autographical Spin the Bottle about his fight with alcohol addiction (he was drinking two bottles of gin every day).
Later in 1964 he invented the character Boysie Oakes, a coward who is mistaken for a tough guy and gets recruited to become a spy. Gardner later admitted that the character was intentionally “a complete piss-take” of Bond. The Boysie Oakes stories were a mixture of parody and thriller and proved very successful at the height of ‘60s spy mania. The first novel, The Liquidator, was made into a film by MGM and starred Jill St John, who would go on to play Tiffany Case.
The prolific Gardner wrote eight Boysie Oakes novels and two short stories over the next 11 years. He also created a series of books about an inspector called Derek Torry, a series about secret agent Herbie Kruger, and books about Professor Moriarty, the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes.
His first Bond novel, Licence Renewed, was published in 1981. Bond was given some grey hair at the temples and a contemporary storyline, but Gardner generally remained true to the characters and world that Fleming had created.
Between 1981 and 1996, Gardner wrote 14 original James Bond books, plus novelisations of Licence to Kill and Goldeneye. They were much more cinematic than Fleming’s novels and lacked his flair for detail, but there are some excellent characters, action sequences and storylines that are very worthy additions to the literary world of James Bond 007.
Gardner retired from writing Bond in the mid-1990s after learning that he had cancer, and the series was handed to Raymond Benson.
After recovering from his illness, and the tragic death of wife Margaret in 1997, Gardner returned to writing at the start of the new millennium. In total he wrote 50 works of fiction over the course of his career, before his death from heart failure in August 2007 at the age of 80.
John Edmund Gardner had already lived a fascinating life by the time he was approached by Glidrose Publications (now Ian Fleming Publications) in 1979. He had been a Royal Marine commando, had a short stint as an Anglican priest, worked as a drama critic, and kick-started his writing career in 1964 with the autographical Spin the Bottle about his fight with alcohol addiction (he was drinking two bottles of gin every day).
Later in 1964 he invented the character Boysie Oakes, a coward who is mistaken for a tough guy and gets recruited to become a spy. Gardner later admitted that the character was intentionally “a complete piss-take” of Bond. The Boysie Oakes stories were a mixture of parody and thriller and proved very successful at the height of ‘60s spy mania. The first novel, The Liquidator, was made into a film by MGM and starred Jill St John, who would go on to play Tiffany Case.
The prolific Gardner wrote eight Boysie Oakes novels and two short stories over the next 11 years. He also created a series of books about an inspector called Derek Torry, a series about secret agent Herbie Kruger, and books about Professor Moriarty, the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes.
His first Bond novel, Licence Renewed, was published in 1981. Bond was given some grey hair at the temples and a contemporary storyline, but Gardner generally remained true to the characters and world that Fleming had created.
Between 1981 and 1996, Gardner wrote 14 original James Bond books, plus novelisations of Licence to Kill and Goldeneye. They were much more cinematic than Fleming’s novels and lacked his flair for detail, but there are some excellent characters, action sequences and storylines that are very worthy additions to the literary world of James Bond 007.
Gardner retired from writing Bond in the mid-1990s after learning that he had cancer, and the series was handed to Raymond Benson.
After recovering from his illness, and the tragic death of wife Margaret in 1997, Gardner returned to writing at the start of the new millennium. In total he wrote 50 works of fiction over the course of his career, before his death from heart failure in August 2007 at the age of 80.
Licence Renewed (1981)
James Bond returned in a fast-paced thriller with a plot about taking over nuclear power stations and holding the world to ransom. Gardner made the action contemporary, so Bond's world and its familar faces were largely transported to the early '80s. On the whole the updates were successful, with the odd notable exception (Q'ute, the pretty new armourer - cringe). |
For Special Services (1982)
One of Gardner's best novels, which introduces more offspring from Fleming's original characters. Bond teams up with CIA agent Cedar Leiter, daughter of Felix, to investigate Markus Bismaquer, who is suspected of reviving SPECTRE. Bond discovers that SPECTRE are planning to gain control of Amercia's military space satellite network, and that Bismaquer's wife Nena is actually Blofeld's daughter. |
Icebreaker (1983)
Snow ploughs, ice torture and Nazis abound as Bond joins forces with the CIA, KGB and Mossad to stop an ex-Nazi SS officer from establishing a Fourth Reich. Some decent action scenes paper over the weaker characters in Gardner's third entry. |
Role of Honour (1984)
Bond is "sacked" from MI6 to go undercover and joins Jay Autem Holy, a SPECTRE agent, in a plot to destabilise the Soviet Union and the United States, by forcing them to rid the world of their nuclear weapons. Lots of fun and alliteration in this one, with characters like love-interest Persephone "Percy" Proud, Cindy Chalmers, Freddie Fortune and General "Rolling Joe" Zwingli. |
Nobody Lives Forever (1986)
A price is put on Bond's head by Tamil Rahani, the current leader of SPECTRE, who is dying from wounds received in Role of Honour. Bond's housekeeper, May, and Moneypenny are both missing and Bond attempts to find them whilst avoiding various assassins. A strong entry, with Gardner weaving an exciting personal plot with some well-crafted action sequences. |
No Deals, Mr Bond (1987)
Notwithstanding the dreadful title, this is a solid thriller with a Cold War plot that harks back to the days of Fleming. Two women, previously connected to a Cold War espionage mission, are brutally murdered. Bond is subsequently sent by M, "off the record", to find the remaining members of the mission before they suffer the same fate. |
Scorpius (1988)
The quality of the cover artwork nosedived as publishing switched from Jonathan Cape to Hodder & Stoughton, but Gardner turned in a tense and violent novel here. Bond is threatened by a cult known as "The Meek Ones", led by arms dealer Vladimir Scorpius/Father Valentine, who brainwashes followers into committing acts of terrorism. |
Win, Lose or Die (1989)
James Bond is promoted to the naval rank of Captain and takes on the absurdly named Brotherhood of Anarchy and Secret Terrorism (BAST), who are holding Margaret Thatcher, George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev hostage on board an aircraft carrier. An enjoyable read, but feels more like a Tom Clancy book rather than a Fleming continuation novel. |
Brokenclaw (1990)
The Bond movies were entering a hiatus at the start of the 1990s, and Gardner followed up his 1989 novelisation of Licence to Kill with a forgettable entry. Bond investigates Brokenclaw, a half-Blackfoot, half-Chinese philanthropist/terrorist who is trying to start a worldwide economic collapse. Bond is challenged to a torture ritual known as o-kee-pa and kills Brokenclaw with bow and arrows. |
The Man from Barbarossa (1991)
Gardner always said this was his favourite Bond novel, although most fans and critics disagreed. It is political and focuses on real world events, namely the first Gulf War and impending demise of the Soviet Union. Bond teams up with Mossad, the French Secret Service and the KGB to infiltrate a Russian terrorist group called the "Scales of Justice" who are attempting to supply Iraq with nuclear weapons before the UN-led coalition invades. |
Death is forever (1992)
The Cold War is over, but James Bond and CIA agent Elizabeth Zara "Easy" St. John are assigned to track down the surviving members of "Cabal", a Cold War-era intelligence network that received a mysterious and unauthorised signal to disband. Some exciting moments on the soon-to-be-opened Eurotunnel, but otherwise not much that lives long in the memory with this one. |
Never Send Flowers (1993)
Bond investigates the murder of a member of the Secret Service and connects the death to four political assassinations that take place within a week. Bond discovers a link with a former actor, David Dragonpol, who is responsible for the deaths. Bond meets Swiss agent Fredericka "Flicka" von Grüsse, who remains his love interest in Gardner's following novels. |
Seafire (1994)
Bond globe-trots with new girlfriend Flicka as he investigates Max Tarn, a billionaire tycoon who wants to reunite Germany under a Fourth Reich and carry out eco-terrorism in Puerto Rico. The relationship with Flicka is a highlight of this book, and there's an interesting twist as Bond now reports to a government committee called MicroGlobe One, rather than M. |
Cold (1996)
Gardner wrote the novelisation of Goldeneye in 1995, before penning what would be his final James Bond outing. He retired to fight a battle with cancer after this. The story (titled Cold Fall in the US) begins with an aircraft disaster that supposedly kills Bond's former lover, Principessa Sukie Tempesta. It then becomes a personal revenge battle against another fanatical sect, Children of the Last Days (COLD). |