Espionage In Fact And Fiction: William Boyd On Ian Fleming, John Le Carre And Kim Philby

William Boyd, who has written the latest James Bond continuation novel, Solo, wrote three interesting pieces for the British newspaper the Guardian.

Two of the pieces were on spy thriller writers Ian Fleming and John le Carre and the third piece was on the notorious British spy and traitor Kim Philby.

You can read Boyd's take on Ian Fleming via the below link:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/19/ian-flemings-commandos-nicholas-rankin-review

And you can read Boyd's take on John le Carre via the below link:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/sep/16/tinker-tailor-a-z-william-boyd

And you can read Boyd's take on Kim Philby via the below link:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/sep/23/featuresreviews.guardianreview31      

Video Interview: William Boyd On Bond

The James Bond web page MI6 offers a video interview with William Boyd, the author of a new continuation novel featuring Ian Fleming's iconic character James Bond.

In this first of a three part video, author William Boyd talks about reading Ian Fleming's novels in his youth and how he has delved deep in to the life of James Bond in order to pen the continuation novel 'Solo'.

He also comments that as a continuation author he is writing his own novel within the framework, rather than a pastiche of Ian Fleming's style - a stinging put down of exactly how Sebastian Faulks approached his top selling but poorly reviewed 'Devil May Care'.
 You can watch the first video via the below link:

http://www.mi6-hq.com/news/index.php?itemid=11087

And you can watch parts two and three of the video interview with William Boyd via the below link:

http://www.mi6-hq.com/news/index.php?itemid=11096&t=mi6&s=news  

And you can read my Philadelphia Inquirer review of Sebastian Faulks' Devil May Care via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/08/my-philadelphia-inquirer-review-of_31.html

William Boyd Interviews James Bond

William Boyd, the author of the new James Bond continuation novel, Solo, offers a mock interview with Ian Fleming's iconic character in the British newspaper the Guardian.

Time travel. 1969. Chelsea. There was an autumnal feel about the day as I emerged from the tube station at Sloane Square. Instinctively, I looked round over my right shoulder to see what was playing at the Royal Court. The Contractor by David Storey, directed by Lindsay Anderson. I hadn't seen that play – but then I had been a 17-year-old schoolboy in 1969, and my theatre-going life hadn't really started. It was strange being back in Chelsea in 1969, the year of the moon-landing, the year of my first summer in London. Stranger still to be going to interview James Bond. 

... Bond – now 45 years old – was wearing a dark-navy worsted suit, a pale-blue shirt and a black knitted silk tie. Lightly tanned, he was slim, about my height, six feet one inch, and had short dark hair with no trace of grey. I knew people would ask me to describe him with more precision. There was a scar on his right cheek. He was even-featured – though there was something "hard" about his looks.

You can read the rest of the interview via the below link:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/28/william-boyd-james-bond-interview

You can also read Boyd's Q&A with James Bond via the below link:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/28/william-boyd-q-a-james-bond

Note: In 1969, I too was a 17-year-old Bond fan and Ian Fleming aficionado. I was a high-school drop waiting eagerly for the U.S. Navy to call me up.

Bond Is Back, In William Boyd's New Novel 'Solo'

ABC News offers a piece on the William Boyd's new continuation novel featuring Ian Fleming's iconic character, James Bond.

William Boyd has left James Bond stirred, if not shaken.

The British writer has taken on the fictional spy in "Solo," a new 007 novel that balances fidelity to Ian Fleming's iconic character with subtle changes.

 

Bond fans will find much they recognize, along with some surprises — one of which is that in Boyd's mind, James Bond looks like Daniel Day-Lewis.

 

Boyd says Fleming once described the spy as "looking like the American singer-songwriter Hoagy Carmichael. Daniel Day-Lewis looks like Hoagy Carmichael."

 

"Solo" is set in 1969, and takes the suave British spy from London's plush Dorchester Hotel to a war-ravaged West African country and on to Washington on a perilous lone mission.

 

Boyd steers Bond away from his big-screen action-hero image and back toward the complex and conflicted character of Fleming's novels.

 

"Even though he's this handsome superspy, when you read the books you realize that he's haunted," Boyd told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

 

"He's not a cartoon character. Fleming gave him all his traits, his tastes, his likes and dislikes — and his complexes. Bond has a dark side. He's troubled sometimes. He weeps quite easily. And he makes mistakes. That's what's so interesting about him."  

 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

 

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/bond-back-20365908 

 

Note: I agree that a younger Daniel Day-Lewis fits Ian Fleming's description of the Bond character, certainly far better than Daniel Craig, but at 54, he is perhaps a bit too old to slap on the Walther PPK.

Still, he is a great actor and I'd like to see him portray Bond.

 

Also, Vesper Lynd in the novel Casino Royale tells Rene Mathis that Bond resembles Hoagy Carmichael, and he tells Bond. Bond later looks in the mirror and mutters to himself, "Not much Hoagy Carmichael there."  

Solo, Part Two: More Of William Boyd On His New James Bond Continuation Novel

The James Bond web site Mi6 offers part two of the conversation between the latest James Bond continuation author, William Boyd, and the Times literary editor, Erica Wagner.

EW - How was your process of writing different, having to create characters from scratch?

WB - It is slightly different, but that was the advantage of re-reading the books, because there is a phenomenal amount of information there, which most people have forgotten about. Fleming tells you a huge amount about Bond: From his inner thoughts; his softest emotions to his most savage; his background, where he lives. Bond's flat is in Chelsea, in Wellington Square, which is about two hundred yards from where I live, which was another bonus. Fleming's mother lived in Chelsea. So, getting all that information allowed me to make Bond seem real in my mind. But then, of course, I had to invent a villain and various antagonists. I had to come up with two very interesting women for him to meet and have a relationship with. So, there was a lot of invention to be done, not just plotting - my plots are always very elaborate and complicated, so I had to construct a very elaborate and complicated plot - but I had to populate that world with creatures of my imagination, not just the ones that Fleming had.

There is "M" and there is a brief Moneypenny moment, but otherwise, they're all mine. So, it is ninety-five percent imagination, I would say, and then all this information that Fleming provides for you.

 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

 

http://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/literary_solo_william_boyd_preview_interview2.php3?t=&s=&id=03488

 

And you can read part one via the below link:

 

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/04/solo-william-boyd-on-his-new-james-bond.html 

Solo: William Boyd On His New James Bond Novel

The James Bond web site MI6 offers a piece on William Boyd, the latest author to write about Ian Fleming's iconic character James Bond.  

MI6 reports from The London Book Fair, where William Boyd, author of the new Bond continuation novel 'Solo', was 'author of the day' and was interviewed by Erica Wagner, Literary Editor of The Times.

... I think what is apparent, as soon as I started thinking about the book was that everybody thinks about Bond in terms of the films, inevitably, because they're so successful. Fleming died in 1964 but the latest Bond film came out just last year. So, Bond in the popular imagination is a celluloid Bond. Because of the nature of the medium and because of the nature of the film franchise, the difference between the cinematic Bond and the literary Bond is marked. I re-read every Bond novel and Bond short story in chronological order before I started writing my own, and Fleming gives you a massive amount of information about Bond: His inner life; his back story; his education; his likes; his dislikes; his phobias; his passions. So, as a character in a novel, there's this incredible richness, whereas in a film - because film is photography - it's very hard to be subjective. So, you see Bond, you see what he gets up to, but I feel that you just don't know him at all. The literary Bond is a far more complex and nuanced creature than even a brilliant actor like Daniel Craig can portray.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/literary_solo_william_boyd_preview_interview1.php3?t=&s=&id=03484

You can also read the Ian Fleming Publications' press release on the publication of William Boyd's Solo via the below link:

http://www.mi6-hq.com/news/index.php?itemid=10879