Fleming's heirs

Did Fleming have any literary successors? An author (or a book even) that carried spy fantasy forward after him?

There's a book called Kiss Kiss Bang Bang about the era of British spy thrillers that kicked off with Casino Royale. I was listening to an interview with Mike Ripley, the author, and the interviewer pointed out how interesting it was that in spite of all Fleming's imitators in the wake of the success of Bond during the 60s, spy fiction has since been dominated by the tradition of Le Carre and Deighton. There isn't a 21st century spy fantasy.

Their theory was that spy fantasy is incredible difficult to write. Part of it being the requirement for a more active imagination, another part knowing a hell of a lot about everything -- places, food, scuba diving, etc. -- much more than your audience does, in order to tether the fantasy to a more concrete reality.

Ripley said he reckons the last notable spy fantasy was James Munro's The Innocent Bystanders from 1969.

Can you guys think of any works in the tradition of Fleming that are worth reading? Did he leave no heirs? What are you theories as to why?

I have my own thoughts but I will hang back for a bit. I'm more interested in what you all have.

I have no thoughts on this matter as, truthfully, I've read very little spy fiction outside of Bond, but am also interested in any recommendations from those who have.

I know they're aimed at a younger readership, but would Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books count? I daresay they helped Horowitz get chosen as a Bond continuation author.

Yes the Rider books count in ways though they have nods to LeCarre and Deighton with Rider starting out as an unwilling agent.

I'd agree that for spy literature most writers usually follow in the grounded realism type. Outside of Bond you have to move into adventure novels which are even fewer and farther between.

Before John Gardner took on Bond he wrote a series of books that helped him get the gig.

The Liquidator series featured Brian Ian 'Boysie' Oakes, a cowardly Lothario recruited to the Secret Service due to a mistake on the part of his recruiter.

Gardner replicated the 'Fleming sweep' quite well in these stories, which involved espionage, sex, danger, sex, bonkers plots, sex... you get the picture. His eight novels and two short story collections appeared between 1965 - 75, and can still be found (occasionally) in finer used-book stores. Simon Gardner has been working for years to bring them back into print.

Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm bears no similarity to the four Dean Martin movies of the sixties. Helm is a cross between 007 and Philip Marlowe or Mike Hammer. Most of the stories take place in the southern states and Mexico, although there have been side trips to the Bahamas, Canada, Scotland and Scandinavia. These began in 1960 and ran until the early 90s.

As for anything newer, Somerset and Boots are right - there's really nothing to compare. Even film Bond has become gritty, introspective and 'realistic', which is not what he was ever meant to be.

CJB wrote:

I've read very little spy fiction outside of Bond, but am also interested in any recommendations from those who have.

I think this is the crux of the matter. There is little overlap between Fleming's stuff and the genre. If Fleming was your introduction to spy fiction, and you love it, you're likely to be disappointed by every recommendation.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

I know they're aimed at a younger readership, but would Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books count? I daresay they helped Horowitz get chosen as a Bond continuation author.

That's probably a good rec, and worth exploring. I forgot those existed, to be honest. I read the first one when I was aged into the target audience back when, but I couldn't tell you what it was even about aside from some kid getting recruited to be a spy. The impression left over in my head was that it was more a Hollywood style script as a book -- maybe I was just thinking of Spy Kids -- but I know others would have a better idea.

One of the works I was thinking to mention were the Charlie Higson "Young Bond" novels. Those more than any other continuation novels seem to capture the adventure style of Fleming and really honor the world he created.

AMC Hornet wrote:

The Liquidator series featured Brian Ian 'Boysie' Oakes, a cowardly Lothario recruited to the Secret Service due to a mistake on the part of his recruiter.

I haven't read that series, yet, but I'd heard it was a good send up of Bond. Which is how the Fleming estate got around to asking him to become the continuation author, is that right? I have the first in my 'to order' queue on some used book site.

On Helm, I had no idea those books were not as the films. I figured it was probably like Modesty Blaise but coming in somewhere between Marlowe and Hammer sounds like it misses the Fleming mark on the other side.

hegottheboot wrote:

I'd agree that for spy literature most writers usually follow in the grounded realism type. Outside of Bond you have to move into adventure novels which are even fewer and farther between.

I think you've hit the nail, there, hegottheboot. I feel that the experience of going from Fleming to Le Carre, Deighton, Gardner, even that James Munro novel is way more jarring than going from Fleming to the classic adventure writers -- Verne, Haggard, Conan Doyle. And who the hell is writing adventure stories these days?

Somerset wrote:

There isn't a 21st century spy fantasy.

Supposedly the yet-to-be-published novel Argylle will do to the spy genre what Ian Fleming did back in the 50s. That's according to director Matthew Vaughn (of Kingsmen fame) who read an early manuscript of it and will soon adapt it with Henry Cavill as the lead. Cavill is apparently signed on for 3 movies, so Argylle will be at least a trilogy.

But whether it's 'spy fantasy' remains to be seen.

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/matthew-vaughan-argylle-film-henry-cavill-1235014809/

Somerset wrote:

CJB wrote:

I've read very little spy fiction outside of Bond, but am also interested in any recommendations from those who have.

I think this is the crux of the matter. There is little overlap between Fleming's stuff and the genre. If Fleming was your introduction to spy fiction, and you love it, you're likely to be disappointed by every recommendation.  

Not necessarily. I've certainly enjoyed many espionage-themed films that are tonally completely different from Bond. I recognise that Bond is basically a pulp character and a manifestation of Fleming's fantasies of himself, men he knew in the war etc. and not a realistic depiction of an intelligence agent.

I've meant to read non-Bond Gardner and the Matt Helms for years. Need to get around to doing that. Boysie Oakes seems like the reason why Gardner got the job.

I did take the plunge into classic pulp storytelling with the entire Zorro canon (couldn't stop they're so magical) and am avidly collecting The Shadow reprints (has there been any modern book or comic that HASN'T stolen from the Knight of Darkness?). I'd like to tackle the Fu Manchu novels in spite of the terrible racism. The actual storytelling and plotting Rohmer did was groundbreaking and seems to have been a huge influence on Fleming who read them avidly growing up.
Next would be finally diving into Buchan, Bulldog Drummond and the like.

The closest anyone comes to adventure now would be an author sort of hitting the right pulpy thriller notes which some of the big names can occasionally yet rarely do.

The Alex Rider books were Horowitz doing a young Bond knockoff with elements of Deighton/LeCarre reluctant spy and some rather well done snakepits, villains, villain plots with the freshness coming from the spy hero still being a teen and grappling with ever more adult scenarios. I haven't read the latest one from a year or two ago but think they have good moments in them that have more
Bondian qualities than anything we've seen officially in ages and thus he had been my choice for Bond author since 2004 or so. The Stormbreaker movie they did was atrocious and I've ignored the new streaming series version.
I don't think the books hold up to extreme scrutiny as you can clearly see when something is a lift from Fleming or films etc. The later books usually have good setups but don't feel as cohesive as the earlier ones. Then again the plots are almost always good ones that aren't from more commonly used elements.
His two Sherlock Holmes books while not perfect are probably the best non-Conan Doyle Holmes pieces I've read...ever.


If Fleming had a literary heir it's Christopher Wood. No one else has come as close to his tone.

I found Wood indulged in too many similes, but I admit JBTSWLM was superior to JBAM. Had a better script to start with and I liked the way Wood wrote the novelization as if it was the book that the film script was based on, rather than vice versa. Moonraker - like Gardner's and Benson's second efforts - was like a job to just be gotten done and over with.

In response to Somerset's 'Who's writing adventure fiction these days?', it came to my mind that Doctor Who novels that are not adaptations of the TV stories still appear on a pretty regular basis. But of course the Doctor is a sci-fi/fantasy character.

I liked the MR novelization and especially the extra bits on the station where there's 2001 nods, the bits of Bond observing Drax's plans in action-but crucially the Drax background where he developed his scheme as a means of combating overpopulation. That's the great untouched idea that Nicholas Meyer came up with in his proposal during the TND writer's room conference that EON threw out immediately as too political.

I wouldn't say Gardner and Benson #2 are businesslike but will admit as I get older the Bensons slip down lower and lower with rereading. They were a necessary burst of energy and do a good job with plot Macguffins, Fleming nods and Bond's internal character. I still enjoy rereading them as I go through the series but his best was High Time To Kill. It was very revealing when he admitted he was directed by IFP to write with the current Brosnan films in mind.
For Special Services is probably my favorite Gardner overall but has its own issues. It was the first Gardner Bond I read though.