Sherwood wears her politics on her sleeve too, so we have the strange combination of a writer telling us a story about government agents, while actively disliking the government - the police are the bad guys, the climate protestors the victims. More than once, in fact over and over again, the spies working for MI6 question why they are devoted to a colonial power that has caused so much misery around the world. We get lectures on climate change, capitalism, colonialism, as though Sherwood is determined to use this opportunity to tell us all how the world should be. The straining to be politically correct throughout results in some unintentional hilarity (no tigers were sacrificed in the making of this action scene!)
Our new Double-O agents in the central roles are a woman and a Muslim man. M has been shuffled off to semi-retirement and for some unknown reason his former secretary Moneypenny, with no military experience, is now in charge of the Double-O section. Poor Major Boothroyd (Q) has been replaced by a computer, with the credit for that invention not belonging to him but a Mrs Keator (who?) and run by two young upstarts Aisha Asante and Ibrahim Suleiman (both questioning why they serve Her Majesty after the way their ancestors were treated by the Empire). The 3rd new 00 agent - Dryden - tips the whole thing over the edge into parody - he's black, gay, comes from poverty AND deaf!
Apparently this is planned to be the first in a trilogy
Surely the Fleming estate must have picked a writer with a long track record of working with beloved franchises and characters to let her make such wholesale changes?
https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/kim-sherwood
I am a Lecturer in Creative Writing. As a novelist, I contribute towards teaching creative writing and literature at postgraduate and undergraduate levels. I also supervise postgraduate dissertations, and am available as a PhD supervisor. I currently teach on the Creative Writing MSc and the English and Scottish Literature MA. Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, I taught literature and creative writing at undergraduate level at the University of East Anglia (2014-2015); on the Critical and Creative Writing MA at the University of Sussex (2016); and co-developed a Creative Writing BA as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of the West of England (2016-2021). My debut novel, Testament (riverrun, 2018), was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Award, shortlisted for the Best First Novel Award, and won the Bath Novel Award and the Harper's Bazaar Big Book of the Year. In 2019, I was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. I am now writing a trilogy of Double O novels expanding the James Bond universe for the Ian Fleming Estate and HarperCollins. The first in the trilogy, Double or Nothing, was published September 1st 2022. My next literary novel is A Wild & True Relation, out with Virago in February 2023. The novel follows a girl who joins a smuggler's screw in eighteenth-century Devon, and explores women's writing and history in a subversive adventure story.
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The Fleming Estate seems to hate their own legacy.
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This probably isn’t going to bring in the big bucks.
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No, but there's not exactly a dearth of Bond novels, is there?
If I trade getting my name out there for giving the family 95% of booksale profits, then they're probably not gonna say no, will they? It's probably a standard form on their website.
They probably don't have too many more years on that copyright, so they've gotta churn out some garbage FAST
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Not to mention that the Bond IP has been dwindling in relevance. Casino Royale injected some life into it but I question how much longer it will last.
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Casino Royale would’ve been better if Bond was black
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I mean, if their goal was to churn out some random garbage purely for the ip’s sake, they could get any number of random ghostwriters for cheaper than they likely got this person. And if they were going to insist on some larger effort with a big promotional push, they could’ve farmed it out to someone already known for pooping out grocery store thrillers like James Patterson.
This is pretty obviously ideologically motivated, imo. There’s no monetary reason to pursue some nobody feminist professor with an ip anywhere near as notable as James Bond.
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Can you call it an ideological shift if the basis of it is still, Maybe this garbage will sell?
Like with Bud Light, you don't go woke to appease Twitter commies, you do it to hopefully drain what their landlords have left in their shallow pockets.
Unfortunately, though, they don't drink domestic beer (sans PBR) or read James Bond novels lol
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I would say yes because I think the motivation would come in two parts.
First, it’s likely some out of touch loser at the estate’s pet project—a sort of representing the flemming estate as they modernize and adapt to the new world. Then only second, maybe they’ll even make some money. But that point probably doesn’t matter much.
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DEI funding will flow in and it will sell a billion copies to be distributed in the name of 'empowerment' and 'decolonializing narratives.' Most will never be unboxed.
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Because if there's one thing communists can all agree on, it's propping up Big James Bond, and keeping it from being embarrassed.
I hope you don't actually believe that lol
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Fricking kino
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You can make your character a transbian computer hacker who grew up with poor black Mexican parents, and your antihero's internal conflict is maintaining xer colonialist career while indulging in xer diaper fetish: that shit's gritty hyperrealism nowadays.
But unless your entire world is obese (like in our world) or deaf (not yet), your push for diversity begins to pour into nazi psyop: do leftists really not see that?
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006 your orders are simple- put on this Niqab and return to your father's home at once and pray for forgiveness.
007- the bus full of Israeli schoolchildren will arrive at 9am sharp. Q will now show you the special vest we have for you.
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009 it appears the eeeeevil billionaire has procured a tank.
Here, take this rock.
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Double or nothing more like nothing to sell haha
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I'm predicting a lot of disappointed Dads this Christmas and then a disappointed publisher when the second one tanks
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Just set James bond stories in the early 60s so they can be filled with cool cars and clothes and James can be Chad banging hot babes. Leftoids can pretend it's about deconstructing the patriarchy of the era or whatever, normal people can just enjoy fun things. Basically Mad men with guns and gadgets.
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Besides I like 60s spy stuff way more
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The warhammer 40k approach.
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Wokies, every single time.
It's almost as dumb as giving control of the U.S. government to people who hate American values
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The Bond estate makes money from the movies, not the books. Part of their agreement is probably that anyone can right anything, and that when it comes time to make a billion dollars from a movie, they're allowed to steal absolutely anything from their novel and expect zero credit in Hollywood.
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Based if true.
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And then they'll get Charlie Higson to write another regular Bond book and get even more free publicity.
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Forrest had no idea of the level of evil he was sitting next to
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Forrest deserved better.
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Anyone actually read the Bond books? They're not very good. I read casino royale and probably won't read any more.
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They're very digestible 50's pulp. I've read most of Fleming's books, they have some real dudes rock moments in them.
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The action scenes were top notch, the spycraft was quite good but bond bloviating on and on with some thoroughly midwit takes was just
Fleming's storytelling is good but i dont care for his prose
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Literature is an absolute meme of an art discipline:
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They're all doing their best, OK?
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Most authors are only as good as their editor. They need their particular
beaten out of them so they’ll actually continue the plot 
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Le Carre > Fleming
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Forsythe > Le Carre > Fleming
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They're fine when Fleming isn't going on multi-chapter rants about his personal politics.
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movies are always better than the books, so there's no reason to read them!
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The Sean Connery bond movies are so comfy
Mid century aesthetic in exotic locales
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There are only movies. The trans lives matter book are new
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trans lives matter! We be helpin' ye, right enough - we'll ne'er let ye post or comment anythin' that doesn't be expressin' yer love an' acceptance o' minorities! Heave to an' resubmit yer comment withtrans lives matterincluded, or it'll be the deep six for ye, savvy? This be an automated message; if ye need help, ye can message us 'ere. Arrr!Jump in the discussion.
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Why do "people" like this even exist
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Implying that it takes three People Of Diversity to do the work of one straight white male
Based
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Based on what? Your personal experience? Newsflash: your experience is not universal. In fact, it's probably not even representative. So why don't you check your privilege and shut the frick up.
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You’re right. I should have said keyed
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What, are you too good for the word "keyed"? Grow up.
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Keyed? Keyed on what?
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I though the Daniel Craig bond movies were sufficinetly liberal on the scale of James Bond movies. And theyre acrually pretty well off for it. I think what should have tipped people off with casino royales opening being a feminist dressing down of the bond legacy. But then again these people are fricking r-slurred.
And nobody is reading the new james bond novels. Literally nobody.
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Bond beating a guy to death in a public potty and then shooting the guy's boss is a feminist subversion?
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I was referring more to his conversation about bondisms with Vesper, whose death he mourns for the rest of the series.
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True. But also Vesper, for all her feminist womynhood, still ends up falling for James.
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Tbf if you're a current year glowie for the most communistic slave surveillance state in the world where all citizens are deprived of basic human rights including the right to keep and bear arms, are servants of an unelected tyrant whose blasphemous claim is to be chosen by Christ from a sinful heretical bastardizing His One True Church and monitored 24/7 by Muslims who invaded society you p much deserve a shitty story
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This would be hilarious if you just plopped James Bond down in the middle of the setting, older and confused at all this new rabble rousing and still giving his chuddish takes. The James Bond novels were never that serious; you could probably make something pretty funny if you did it with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
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This sounds very promising. Can’t wait to pirate it
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Really gets the nogging jogging
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It really makes sense to have a deaf secret agent. Who would suspect? And when it comes time to do the darn thing, you don't have to worry about gun shots hurting your ears. Any comments about "needing to hear" is ableist.
Putting the
in
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mawp
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FYI the bond comic strips from the 50s own and are p much all of the novels in comic strip form
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They get paid either way
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Snapshots:
archive.org
ghostarchive.org
archive.ph (click to archive)
https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/kim-sherwood:
archive.org
ghostarchive.org
archive.ph (click to archive)
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