Carte Blanche reviews

Ravenstone wrote:

I think they should pay the shorter actors danger money for the resultant cricks in their necks.

I think the tall actors should get bonus money for having to put up with whiny short actors and directors

There are more of us than there are of them.

And our teeth are closer to their balls.

Ravenstone wrote:

Over 6 foot can be a difficult height for an actor. Well, more problematic for the directors, I suppose, having to frame a shot where the leading man is a foot taller than the leading woman.

That's what apple boxes are for (besides apples.)

Shoot, you want a tough height issue for a director? Guy named Richard Bare 'inherited' a western town built TO SCALE for Alan Ladd, who was kinda diminutive. But this was for a series starring Clint Walker, who was 6'7" ... I think the saloon doors probably came to his navel.

Ravenstone wrote:

There are more of us than there are of them.

And our teeth are closer to their balls.

Well, that settles things then, doesn't it! :affraid:

tiffanywint wrote:

Well, that settles things then, doesn't it! :affraid:

How does it go? - "When you grab their hearts, their minds are sure to follow"? ;)

Am about 80 pages in, and enjoying it. Must say I think Deaver's really 'knocked it out of the park' as regards both the villain's name (Severan Hydt) and his 'quirk' (that his obsession with the decay of things - be it bodies or buildings - holds an erotic charge for him). :)

I'm gathering that CB is considerably better than DMC. And I'm coming dangerously close to purchasing this book!

:shock:

Severan Hydt - sounds like a Harry Potter character.

Ed Tom Kowalsky wrote:

I'm gathering that CB is considerably better than DMC. And I'm coming dangerously close to purchasing this book!

:shock:

Buy it, only because its a good read.
You could probably find a hundred things off about it too, which is fair.
I got about 10 things I'd like to bring to Deaver's attention. Being Bond fans, that's what we do.

Had a good time at the Deaver talk/Q & A/book signing the other day. I said that I had heard the Fleming Estate had placed some restrictions on him when writing Carte Blanche and enquired as to what these may have been. He said that he didn't know where I had heard this, stating that they hadn't put any restrictions on him. He said there was one time when after them reading the book they said "Bond would never refuse a Chablis!" This was in reference to when Bond was in Dubai with Felix in the restaurant. He wasn't going to have Bond drink because he had to work. Good on the Fleming Estate for this one! When he signed my book I told him that I thought he had written a great book (of course I didn't mention how I felt Bond lacked personality though), then I asked him about Bond's chauvinism and smoking and whether it was his decision or the Fleming Estate's to leave this out and he said it was his because it was important that Bond was liked by everyone. Personally, I don't think he needs to be liked by everyone. This wouldn't have been Fleming's aim when he created the character. Following this he shook my hand and thanked me for my thoughts. I think he wanted to get rid of me.

It was an enjoyable evening helped along with free martinis, wine and beer. Deaver is a very nice, humorous, down to earth guy.

R.I.P. Amy Winehouse. What a shame. What a waste of a magnificent talent.

Bounine wrote:

then I asked him about Bond's chauvinism and smoking and whether it was his decision or the Fleming Estate's to leave this out and he said it was his because it was important that Bond was liked by everyone.

Thanks for the update. Regarding Deaver's response to your query above, may I simply add this :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Deaver is a lightweigtht. His Bond is too nice and reasonable. I do want more Bond books though, so if Deaver is all we've got - so be it.
For future, it would be nice to find a writer with a little more edge. A little more Fleming like.
Bond wouldn't have a Chablis because he had to "work" Deaver Deaver Deaver, you try at least.


= I will say though that Deaver's little careful streak disinclines me towards reading any of his other titles.

Sharky wrote:

Severan Hydt - sounds like a Harry Potter character.

No more than Karl Stromberg, or indeed, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. ;)

tiffanywint wrote:

Bounine wrote:

then I asked him about Bond's chauvinism and smoking and whether it was his decision or the Fleming Estate's to leave this out and he said it was his because it was important that Bond was liked by everyone.

Thanks for the update. Regarding Deaver's response to your query above, may I simply add this :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Deaver is a lightweigtht. His Bond is too nice and reasonable. I do want more Bond books though, so if Deaver is all we've got - so be it.
For future, it would be nice to find a writer with a little more edge. A little more Fleming like.
Bond wouldn't have a Chablis because he had to "work" Deaver Deaver Deaver, you try at least.


= I will say though that Deaver's little careful streak disinclines me towards reading any of his other titles.

Agreed. We need someone more like Christopher Wood. He doesn't even like Fleming's Bond. He prefers Moore’s interpretation but he still gave us a Bond who is very reminiscent of the original character. The same with Pearson. This was in the 70's but still... I had suspected Deaver had wanted Bond to be liked by everyone as I’m sure many did. We don't need some sensitive new age guy. It's boring. It's bland. He doesn't have to be as chauvinistic as he was in the 50's but he can still have a hint of it as I always felt this was a character trait he had more of than the average man at this time. Even if he is no longer chauvinistic I can still live with this as long as there's no reference to him waxing lyrical about how woman are number one. What his personality is missing which I really hope to see a return of is his cynicism, slight snobbery, coldness, romanticism and aside for the xenophobia everything else I haven't thought of! A good Bond yarn (I bought another of his novels for my parents for Christmas and had him write their name on it instead of mine) but he fell way short with the Bond character. It’s disappointing because I have pretty much given up on the films but the literature is my passion. This is where my hope is still strong. If Deaver just chose to only exercise a little restraint with Bond's REAL personality I'd love him to return to write another! Unfortunately I don't think this will be the case.

He wanted Bond to be LIKED BY EVERYONE?

What is he, some worrying parent who buys their 7 year old girl an iPhone, miniskirt and push-up training bra so they'll be popular on the elementary school playground?

OK its settled. Deaver is a pussy:


Deaver, perusing Bond and Beyond "Damn fan boys!!!!" :evil:

"liked by everyone". Okay, I am so not buying this book. When Fleming's book came, many dismissed it for being violent, sadistic, etc. Come on, "liked by everyone"?

Deaver's desire to make Bond "liked by everyone" squares ill with his earlier assertation that Bond has a "contempt for mindless adherence to conformity." Sounds to me as though Deaver has turned Bond into a mindless adherent of politically correct conformity. I suppose it was too much to hope for anything better or more interesting.

I'm just over half-way through now. A little underwhelmed, but I'll reserve my final judgement.

Ed Tom Kowalsky wrote:

Sounds to me as though Deaver has turned Bond into a mindless adherent of politically correct conformity.

I've gotten that impression. Very mild "spoiler": Bond gets miffed when a white South African uses the term "coloured" to refer to mixed-race people (in a fairly non-derogatory context at that). Bond is a man who has killed in the name of Queen and Country and we're meant to believe that he's that sensitive to people in foreign countries using language that may not be considered PC in Britain?

Deaver is just a lightweight. He aims to please as broad an audience as possible.
We'll never get a real edgy Bond from this guy.
What we get from Deaver is the reasonable government operative with license to kill, when he absolutely must that is. Yawn.

Frankly it's the difference between an artist who produces work that he cares about, and an artist who produces work that he's paid for.

Deaver, like Faulks before him, is an established novelist paid by IFP to write a Bond novel. So it's a sidetrack to writing about what they really want, an easy paycheck and some damn nice royalties. As an employee hired to do a job, he doesn't want to do anything that would rock the boat or upset his employers, so his Bond is a little bland and same-y, even if the book itself has a nice plot.

Whereas when Fleming wrote Bond, that's all there was -- Fleming and Bond. Nobody told Fleming how to write the character or what he could not do. And Fleming wrote Bond as his escape from the rest of his life -- there's a passion in the writing that shows in the quality of the stories. When Fleming got bored with the character, as he did in the lead-up to FRWL, it showed -- such as in the lackluster quality of DAF. But Bond was HIS, and no one else's. Even after EON started making the movies, that didn't mean they could tell Fleming how to write his books.

Yep, that sums things up rather well ^.

CJB wrote:

I'm just over half-way through now. A little underwhelmed, but I'll reserve my final judgement.

Ed Tom Kowalsky wrote:

Sounds to me as though Deaver has turned Bond into a mindless adherent of politically correct conformity.

I've gotten that impression. Very mild "spoiler": Bond gets miffed when a white South African uses the term "coloured" to refer to mixed-race people (in a fairly non-derogatory context at that). Bond is a man who has killed in the name of Queen and Country and we're meant to believe that he's that sensitive to people in foreign countries using language that may not be considered PC in Britain?

I'm not going to waste my money on this tosh. Portraying Bond as a hypersensitive Nancy-boy is parsecs from Fleming's Bond and I won't subsidize the bastardization.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Frankly it's the difference between an artist who produces work that he cares about, and an artist who produces work that he's paid for.

Deaver, like Faulks before him, is an established novelist paid by IFP to write a Bond novel. So it's a sidetrack to writing about what they really want, an easy paycheck and some damn nice royalties. As an employee hired to do a job, he doesn't want to do anything that would rock the boat or upset his employers, so his Bond is a little bland and same-y, even if the book itself has a nice plot.

Whereas when Fleming wrote Bond, that's all there was -- Fleming and Bond. Nobody told Fleming how to write the character or what he could not do. And Fleming wrote Bond as his escape from the rest of his life -- there's a passion in the writing that shows in the quality of the stories. When Fleming got bored with the character, as he did in the lead-up to FRWL, it showed -- such as in the lackluster quality of DAF. But Bond was HIS, and no one else's. Even after EON started making the movies, that didn't mean they could tell Fleming how to write his books.

Yes, that's pretty much it. Deaver sounds like Eon in terms of playing it safe. A real shame. Someone on another forum reckons IFP have scrapped the Project X idea of having different authors write the Bond books which really disappoints me. I am all for the idea of having different authors especially since Deaver's Bond highly disappoints me. As I have said I really enjoyed CB. The only thing I didn't like about it is how Deaver portrayed Bond himself (a major aspect) and the slight lack of description. If it is just going to be Deaver writing these books then we certainly won't be getting a Bond book per year that's for sure. He has two more non Bond books to write first.

He compares writing to a business. In his talk he compared it to making toothpaste for Procter and Gamble. You can't make liver flavoured toothpaste he said as people won't like it. You have to make mint and peppermint flavoured toothpaste. The author claims this principle applies equally to writing and that you have to write what people want to read.

I’m not sure which I prefer, Benson’s tacky fan fiction where we get a Bond more like Fleming’s original conception or Deaver’s well written book that for me is good in most areas except for what is so important – Bond himself.

I just want Bond books, preferably every year. Deaver's effort was adequate. I could write volumes detailing what I don't like but who cares, I still want the books to read. That's always been my atttitude. Gardner, Benson, Deaver, even Faulks were all close enough. I just want Bond books to read, even if they aren't exactly what I want in a Bond book, like that's ever going to happen anyway, unless someone resurrects Fleming. Gardner was the best of the four, I believe. Deaver is adequate.

I think Project X is dead. IFP stopped mentioning it a long time ago. However, I think IFP is still wide open as to who will write the next book. Could be Deaver. Could be someone else. Unfortunately the indecision means we won't get a book next year.

Personally I would just hand the project to Deaver and get on with it. Deaver has made it clear, he's willing and able to continue, so put him to work, I say, and lets see what else he can come up with.

He is a prolific writer. He should be able to churn out both Bond books and his other fare at a regular clip.

Ed Tom Kowalsky wrote:

I'm not going to waste my money on this tosh. Portraying Bond as a hypersensitive Nancy-boy is parsecs from Fleming's Bond and I won't subsidize the bastardization.

Khanners! You are a man of principle!:cheers:

Me - I lack your discipline. I am a Bond addict. I will watch QoS then bitch about it. Then pay to watch it 4 more times and bitch some more. Then buy the blu-ray and bitch some more and then bitch about a 4 year wait for another film.

Same with Deaver. I plunked down my 20 books, enjoyed the read, did my complaining and now I demand some more:

Oh, I'd still prefer Bond books to no Bond books. It would be nice if Deaver would make Bond cynical, critical and let us in on his thought process more though. :)

I would prefer to see another author write the next one but whether this actually happens is another matter entirely. Damn, I wish we could go back to having an adult Bond book per year.