Colonel Sun by
Kingsley AmisSir Kingsley William Amis, CBE was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, various short stories, radio and television scripts, along with works of social and literary criticism...
, is the first
James BondJames Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
continuation novel published after
Ian FlemingIan Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
's death in 1964;
Glidrose ProductionsIan Fleming Publications is the production company formerly known as both Glidrose Productions Limited and Glidrose Publications Limited, named after its founders John Gliddon and Norman Rose...
used the collective
pseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"Robert Markham", for British novelist
Kingsley AmisSir Kingsley William Amis, CBE was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, various short stories, radio and television scripts, along with works of social and literary criticism...
, with the intent of so publishing other novels by different writers. Previously, Amis had written the literary study
The James Bond DossierThe James Bond Dossier , by Kingsley Amis, is a critical analysis of the James Bond novels. Amis dedicated the book to friend and background collaborator, the poet and historian Robert Conquest...
, and the humorous
The Book of BondThe Book of Bond or, Every Man His Own 007 is a book by Kingsley Amis which was first published by Jonathan Cape in 1965. For this work, Amis used the pseudonym Lt.-Col. William Tanner...
(under the William Tanner pseudonym), and was rumoured at one time to be the editor and ghost writer of
The Man with the Golden GunThe Man with the Golden Gun is the twelfth novel of Ian Fleming's James Bond series of books. It was first published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on 1 April 1965, eight months after the author's death. The novel was not as detailed or polished as the others in the series, leading to poor but polite...
, Fleming's final novel (this has since been debunked).
Discounting
Christopher WoodChristopher Wood is an English screenwriter and novelist best known under the pseudonym 'Timothy Lea' for the Confessions series of novels and films. Under his own name, he adapted two James Bond novels for the screen: The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker .Wood has written many novels...
's two screenplay novelisations, and the novel
James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 , by John Pearson, is a fictional biography of James Bond; Pearson also wrote the biography The Life of Ian Fleming ....
(
1973The year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...
), by
John PearsonJohn Pearson is a writer best associated with James Bond creator Ian Fleming.Pearson was Fleming's assistant at the London Sunday Times and would go on to write the first biography of Ian Fleming, 1966's The Life of Ian Fleming....
,
Colonel Sun was the last, new novel in the Fleming
canonIn the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
's original
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
time (the 1950s and the 1960s), until
Licence RenewedLicence Renewed , first published in 1981, is the first novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. It was the first proper James Bond novel since Kingsley Amis's Colonel Sun in 1968...
(1981), by
John GardnerJohn Edmund Gardner was an English spy novelist, most notably for the James Bond series.-Early life:Gardner was born in Seaton Delaval, Northumberland. He graduated from St John's College, Cambridge and did postgraduate study at Oxford...
, who, like
Raymond BensonRaymond Benson is an American author best known for being the official author of the adult James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. Benson was born in Midland, Texas and graduated from Permian High School in Odessa in 1973...
, updated the character to the 1980s and to the post–Cold War 21st century respectively, until publication of
Devil May CareDevil May Care is the thirty-sixth original James Bond novel. Written by Sebastian Faulks , it was published on 28 May 2008, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ian Fleming, creator of Bond.-Background:...
(2008), by
Sebastian Faulks-Early life:Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 in Donnington, Berkshire to Peter Faulks and Pamela . Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks, is his older brother. He was educated at Elstree School, Reading and went on to Wellington College, Berkshire...
, which occurs in the late 1960s.
The introduction to the
Titan BooksTitan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
2005 reprint of the
Colonel Sun comic strip confirms that during the late 1970s, Amis asked
EON ProductionsEon Productions is a film production company known for producing the James Bond film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom...
to adapt it as a Bond film; he was told
Harry SaltzmanHarry Saltzman was a Canadian theatre and film producer best known for his mega-gamble which resulted in his co-producing the James Bond film series with Albert R...
(series co-producer till 1974) had "blackballed"
Colonel Sun, because Glidrose had rejected publication of
Per Fine OuncePer Fine Ounce is the title of an unpublished novel by Geoffrey Jenkins featuring Ian Fleming's James Bond. It was completed circa 1966 and is considered a "lost" novel by fans of James Bond because it was actually commissioned by Glidrose Productions, the official publishers of James Bond...
, a Bond continuation novel that he (Saltzman) had championed, despite not owning the franchise after
The Man with the Golden GunThe Man with the Golden Gun is the ninth spy film in the James Bond series and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
(1974). Still,
Colonel Sun, yielded Bond film elements: the Greek setting of
For Your Eyes OnlyFor Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum...
(1981); M's kidnapping in
The World Is Not EnoughThe World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth spy film in the James Bond film series, and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Michael Apted, with the original story and screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein. It...
(1999); and the name
Colonel Tan-Sun MoonSir Gustav Graves is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond film Die Another Day, played by Toby Stephens...
, the North Korean villain in
Die Another DayDie Another Day is the 20th spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and last film to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond; it is also the last Bond film of the original timeline with the series being rebooted with Casino Royale...
(2002).
Plot summary
When Secret Service chief,
MM is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. The head of MI6 and Bond's superior, M has been portrayed by three actors in the official Bond film series: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and since 1995 by Judi Dench. Background =Ian Fleming...
, is violently kidnapped from his house, and James Bond is nearly captured also when he visits M, he follows the clues to Vrakonisi, a
GreekGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
AegeanThe Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
island, where he, and Ariadne Alexandrou, a Greek Communist agent, plan to rescue M. Meanwhile they must thwart the complex military-political plans of
People's Liberation ArmyThe People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
Colonel Sun.
Sun is sent to sabotage a
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
détenteDétente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
conference (of which the Soviets are hosts) and blame
Great BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, causing World War III. Bond meets Soviet agents there, and they realise a third party is behind this, and there is a traitor in the organisation. All the agents except Ariadne are killed in an attack, but the leader encourages Bond and Ariadne to work together. However another Soviet, when told about the attack by Ariadne, thinks Bond is lying and plans to capture him. Ariadne perusades a friend of her father to help them by saying a former Nazi, Von Ritcher, is working with them. Bond is nearly captured by a Soviet agent, but is saved by the Greek sailor. He gets to the island, although is unfortunately knocked out by one of Sun's men. He is then told a mortar will be used by Ritcher to destoy the conference. Bond will be tortured by Sun, before his inevitable demise. Then he and M will be found dead next to the weapon with forged orders. It will look like one of them got careless and dropped a bomb. Bond is tied to a chair in a cellar, and Sun tortures him brutally, until one of the girls at the house is ordered by Sun to caress Bond fondly as one of his greatest pleasures is of women. However she cuts one hand free and provides him with a knife. She tells Sun that Bond is dead, and when examined Bond stabs Sun. He then frees the Greek sailor, and opens a door to a room where two of the girls are, one of which is in league with Sun and called Doni. Bond and the sailor defeat the guard. Doni is then bound and the other girl gags her. Bond stops Von Ritcher, who is unable to escape. However Sun has survived and kills the girl who helped Bond. Bond follows the trail of blood and dodges a mortar Sun throws. Sun says he was misled, and seems to beg for a quick end, which results in Bond stabbing him again. The Soviets thank Bond for saving their conference, and Bond tells Ariadne he has one day before he gets back.
Comic strip adaptation
Colonel Sun is the only non-Fleming Bond novel adapted as a
comic stripA comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
by the
Daily ExpressThe Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
newspaper, and syndicated worldwide. It was published from 1 December 1969 to 20 August 1970, adapted by Jim Lawrence and drawn by
Yaroslav HorakYaroslav Horak is a Russian born, Australian based illustrator and comics artist, best known for his work on the newspaper comic strip, James Bond.-Biography:...
, with the notable difference, between novel and comic strip, that the villain, Colonel Sun, is a
SPECTRESPECTRE is a fictional global terrorist organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games...
agent in the latter. In December 2005,
Titan BooksTitan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
reprinted
Colonel Sun, and included
River of Death, another, original James Bond comic strip story published before the
Colonel Sun strip in 1969.
Publication history
- UK first hardback edition: March 28, 1968 Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
- U.S. first hardback edition: May 1968 Harper & Row
- UK first paperback edition: 1970 Pan Books
Pan Books is an imprint which first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers owned by German publishers, Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group....
- U.S. first paperback edition: May 1968 Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
Source
- "The Genesis of Colonel Sun" in James Bond 007: Colonel Sun. London: Titan Books, 2005; np.
See also
- Per Fine Ounce
Per Fine Ounce is the title of an unpublished novel by Geoffrey Jenkins featuring Ian Fleming's James Bond. It was completed circa 1966 and is considered a "lost" novel by fans of James Bond because it was actually commissioned by Glidrose Productions, the official publishers of James Bond...
, an unpublished James Bond novel that some sources suggest was to have been published under the Robert Markham pseudonym.