Bread and Butter work- Raymond Benson interview

In 1997 writer, Raymond Benson, a life long Bond fan and author of The James Bond Bedside Companion was given the keys to 007's Aston Martin or was it the Bentley or the Saab? Selected by Glidrose Publications, now know as Ian Fleming Publications selected him to continue the James Bond series after John Gardner retired from the series after fourteen novels.

The Archive, bound by the official secrets act, sat down for a Q%A session with the writer.


TA - How did you initially get the gig for the Bond books?

RB: That's a long and complicated story, but in brief... when I was researching THE JAMES BOND BEDSIDE COMPANION in the early 80s, I went to England and met members of Ian Fleming's family, the people who ran Glidrose Publications (now called Ian Fleming Publications), and many of Fleming's friends and colleagues. We got along well, and when the book was published in 1984, they were pleased. We stayed in touch and I did a few oddjobs (no pun intended) for them in the late 80s and early 90s. When Gardner announced his retirement from the gig in late 1995, Glidrose asked me if I'd be interested. I had to come up with a plot outline on spec. Once that was approved, I had to write the first four chapters on spec. When all that was approved, I got the contract. How did I feel about it? Thrilled, scared, incredulous...!

TA: What was your original introduction to 007?


RB: It was the films-- my father took me to see GOLDFINGER when I was nine. A few months later came the double bill of DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, and six months later THUNDERBALL was released. So within about 14 months, I had seen the first four films on the big screen at a very impressionable age. During that same period, I began reading the books, even though they were considered "adult"... by the time I was 11 or 12, I had read all the Fleming books. I re-read them again when I was older...and have re-read them a couple of times since. So I guess you could say the films were the catalyst, but I discovered the books at roughly the same time.


TA: You wrote six successful original Bond books as well as three novelizations based on the then current films. Why did you end it all? Was it your choice or the publishers?

RB: The publishers (US and UK) had nothing to do with it, they would have liked to have had more. At the turn of the millennium, the board of directors at Ian Fleming Publications changed hands (they are not the publishers, they are the rights holders). The new regime wanted to go in a different direction from churning out a Bond novel every year that was, for the most part, ignored by the general population and sold only to a niche audience. At the same time, after seven years of "Bondage" I was feeling the fatigue and had a desire to do some other things. So it was mutual, more or less, although I perhaps would have come back after a break if they'd wanted. But the new board stopped the adult novels altogether They spent a couple of years re-launching the original Fleming books (for the 50th anniversary of CASINO ROYALE) with Penguin. Then they began the "Young Bond" series by Charlie Higson, and then the "Moneypenny Diaries" series by Kate Westbrook/Samantha Weinberg. They waited eight years before commissioning a new adult Bond novel and it was only the one by Sebastian Faulks for the 100th anniversary of Fleming's birth, so there was a massive amount of promotion behind it.


TA: You were also responsible for the novel tie-ins of the last three Pierce Brosnan films. Did you do a set visit to write these?

RB: did on the first two; the third wasn't necessary. I didn't get see any filming; on both occasions the first unit was abroad on location. I simply went to Pinewood Studios in England to look at the sets, some of the costumes and props, and talk with some of the designers to clear up some aspects in the screenplays. You read a screenplay and you're often not sure what something *looks* like, so you have to see it in person. (An example of this was the stealth sub in TND that shot a torpedo with a chain attached so that they could be pulled out of the targeted ship.)

TA: How stringent were the guidelines you were given for writing the Bonds?

RB: I was told NOT to attempt to mimic his style of writing. I was to write "British" with the UK spellings, and make sure Brits talked like Brits and used proper terminology (and IFP and the British publisher helped edit the books to that extent). My directive at the time was also to attempt to blend elements from the books with elements of the current films, so my books were more cinematic with more action and gadgetry than what had come before. But I did try to keep Fleming's character intact, with all his vices. I guess you could say I was capturing the spirit of the early books, but certainly not the style. In a modern setting (also a directive) that would have been impossible.

TA: What was the initial appeal of Bond for you?

RB: The initial appeal was due to time and place-- the swinging 60s. Everything coming out of England then was considered "cool"-- you had the Beatles, you had Bond, you had Swinging London, the British Invasion.... it was all part of the package. At the same time there was the Kennedy mystique that played on America (and the world) at the same time that Bond was coming in. Add to that the Cold War, and you had a formula for success. Bond was the first anti-hero in cinema--he was a guy who was obviously on the "good" side but he could be "bad" as well. The films had a major impact on pop culture--I would go so far to say that "Goldfinger" was the most influential film of the 60s on pop culture. The films kept a quality control going, producing pictures audiences wanted to see, and now EON is the most successful long-running production company making one series in history. The books began as mainly a British phenomenon, bringing to the UK a hero in the post-war depression of the 50s, when the UK had all but lost its empire. Bond was someone on top again. And yes, he was a guy every man wanted to be, and the man every woman wanted to be with. And I forget who said it, too.

TA: How much say did you have on the titles of your Bond books?

RB: That was the one aspect that everyone has a hand in--me, Ian Fleming Publications, the US publisher, the UK publisher, and their respective marketing people! It was always a nightmare! I would usually start out with a "working title". Only after the book was finished would the haggling begin. The same thing happened with John Gardner. Once a title was in the hat, *everyone* had to agree on it. Sometimes every faction but one liked a title, but because that one didn't like it, we had to start over. Of my six original Bond books, only one retained my title, and that was NEVER DREAM OF DYING. The others were coined by either the UK or US publisher, or maybe IFP.

TA: Really? Then I wonder who was responsible for the truly awful Bond title, No Deals, Mr Bond?

RB: Not sure about that one! I know John ( John Gardner the author of No Deals, Mr Bond) hated it.

TA: You've also wrote several novels based on the computer games, Metal Gear Solid. Tell us about these?

RB: Prior to that, I wrote two novels based on the computer game TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL, using the pseudonym "David Michaels" (the publisher's in-house pseudonym for all Tom Clancy spin-offs based on the Ubisoft videogames). I got that gig because it was the same American publisher that did my Bond novels. These were to be entirely original stories, using the characters from the games. I was contracted to write the first two, which I did, and then moved on. Since then, other "David Michaels" have written more books in the series. Sometime after that, I was approached by a different publisher to do METAL GEAR SOLID. Apparently Hideo Kojima (the designer of the game) in Japan liked my books and I was on the short list of authors he wanted. After an initial proposal/negotiation, I got the job to do two books, strictly based on the first two videogames. I suppose one of my specialties now is what we in the business call "tie-in work". In fact, I am a founding member of writers' organization called The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. It consists of authors who have done novelizations, tie-ins, and the like.


TA: And you're also responsible for the next GabriEl Hunt from Hard-Case.

RB: This was Charles Ardai's brainchild (he is founder and editor of Hard Case Crime). The conception was for a series featuring the character Gabriel Hunt, but each book would be written by him. In actuality, a different author would write each book, so on the title page it's "by Gabriel Hunt as told to ________". I've done the sixth and final one, HUNT THROUGH NAPOLEON'S WEB, which should come out in August 2010. I suppose if they're a success then there will be more, but at the moment there are only six.


TA: Back to your Bond novels. You created the organisation, The Union. Was this because you were unable to use SPECTRE?

RB: I could have used SPECTRE in the books (as Gardner did) but I knew that EON Productions (the filmmakers) would never touch them if SPECTRE was in them. I wanted a villainous organization, so I created a more blue-collar group organized more like a mafia.

TA: Finally thank you for your time in answering these questions. And please tell us about any future projects.

RB:Besides the Gabriel Hunt book coming out in 2010, I'll also have my second Bond anthology the same summer, entitled CHOICE OF WEAPONS, which will contain the other three novels and two short stories. (THE UNION TRILOGY came out a year ago, with three novels and one short story). I still work on original novels, such as SWEETIE'S DIAMONDS, EVIL HOURS, FACE BLIND, A HARD DAY'S DEATH, and DARK SIDE OF THE MORGUE, which have all come out since I stopped doing Bond. I've been keeping busy with a couple of ghostwriting projects (always good bread and butter work for a writer!) and I have a new novel on submission to publishers.



FIND RAYMOND ON THE WEB HERE
TOGETHER WITH DETAILS OF ALL OF HIS WORK INCLUDING THE BOND SERIES.