CommanderBond.net

On the CBn main page...

'The Ultimate James Bond Fan Book' Coming In May

[sub]New book on the 007 movies, due for release on 30 May 2006[/sub]

'The Ultimate James Bond Fan Book' Pushed To September

[sub]New book on the 007 movies, due for release on 30 September 2006[/sub]

'The Ultimate James Bond Fan Book' Released In US Bookstores

[sub]Due for 30 September release from amazon[/sub]

'The Ultimate James Bond Fan Book' Now Shipping

[sub]Order now from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk[/sub]

Great news, time to make room for another book.

Well, my Bond bookcase is mighty full... but I'll have to put in a pre-order anyway...

It sounds like this is going to be a book of opinions more than anything. I'll have to hold off on this'un.

Quite; opinions I may or may not agree with I can get for free on here.

I agree - it sounds like it could be highly subjective. But if it adds something new to the world of Bond-dom, it is to be welcomed.

Sounds a bit rubbish to be honest. The only list book worth having on this subject is 'The Bond files'. Wouldn't mind seeing an update on that, incidentally.

Yes, "Most Evil Villains", "Worst Songs"...

Okay, we are entitled to opinons - and this is what keeps CBN going - but is a series of lists based, presumably, on the author's opinion an excuse for yet another book on the films? Aren't there enough already regurgitating the same info? (I haven't bought the last few after looking in bookshops and seeing the same old stuff again).

This book MIGHT turn out to have something new... but not based on the info available at the moment, sorry.

Do you mean "The Rough Guide to James Bond"? Seems to me more of a "list book" than "The Bond Files".

Both books are excellent, and I expect there'll be an update of "The Bond Files" towards the end of this year (the last edition was released in late 2002, I believe, with a semi-accurate bit on the then-forthcoming DIE ANOTHER DAY), with entries on CASINO ROYALE, the Higsons and whatever else.

One thing that irks me about Bond books "of opinions" (although I concede that they creep into all books, to a certain extent, and I object to them chiefly when I disagree with them!) is that the opinions are always the same. "The Man With the Golden Gun was the weakest so far of the Eon films" ... "You Only Live Twice was a botched version of Fleming's superb novel" (as though audiences would have responded favourably to a faithful adaptation) ... "A View to a Kill represents the series on its last legs" (no it doesn't, there are a couple of Bonds that are far worse) ... "Dalton was the living embodiment of the character in Fleming's novels" (was he?) ... and so on.

Deborah Lipp has done a fine job on the book and many people will enjoy reading it.

I expect that's true, but query whether it adds anything terribly new or unavailable elsewhere. Perhaps that'll become clear in due course.

Well, I put it on preorder. Been a while since I got a Bond book, opinions or not, I always enjoy reading up on James Bond

Thanks for the review, guys.

In terms of opinions, oh, yes, many. One thing I do in the book that I hope is unique is I go back and forth with opinions. That is, I present both sides of most big arguments. It is the only book that I know of, for example, that publishes the infamous Admiral Hargreaves argument, and while I express my opinion, I also present both sides in detail. For the movie reviews, I always give a fair shake to opinions in opposition to mine. I talk a lot about how fans have their passions and their disagreements, and I present that.

It annoys me no end when I read a Bond book that presents opinions as fact, especially when they disagree with me! I hate reading that Kara Milovy is the worst Bond girl. I set out to change that. Every opinion of mine is labeled as an opinion, and then it is balanced with opposite opinions. Now, I give my own opinions more weight, but, for example, while singing the praises of Kara, I also say 'lots of fans hate her, they point out this and that, they dislike this scene and that scene.' So I think it's pretty lively; more a discussion than a slap in the face.

Here's some factual data (not opinions) that's in the book that I think is unique:

• Extensive survey data (compiled by me) on favorite and least-favorite films, actors, and Bond girls.
• A list of every Oscar winner associated with Bond movies, as well as every Oscar nomination for a Bond movie
• Trivia and goofs for each film (I go for the unique here)
• Information derived from extreme zoom, not previously available until more recent DVD technology (reading text of documents on-screen and so on)
• A chapter on DAD, which most books don't have
• A speculative chapter on CR (cast, speculation about the future, etc.)
• A list of every gadget in every film, including all the gadgets seen in the Q lab but never used in the field
• A list of every feature of every gadget-laden car driven by Bond
• Lists are cross-referenced two ways. I've always been annoyed to have to flip through every film in a reference book if looking up a villain or a girl or whatever. So I present the cast per film, but also have other lists in their own chapter, so that all the major data is sorted both ways.
• # of deaths per film, # Bond kills per film, # of explosions per film
• Play-by-play breakdown of every chemin de fer/baccarat game in a Bond film (and the rules for baccarat, and the difference between baccarat and chemy)
• Everything Bond eats and drinks
• All the duplicate roles per actor (i.e. Charles Gray, Maud Adams, Joe Don Baker) including bit players
• Every appearance of Bond, M, and Moneypenny in uniform.
• lots more

I didn't think another movie review book was interesting in and of itself. I thought a combination of opinion and trivia and something of the flavor of a board like CBn was very interesting, and so that's what I created. Of course, not everyone will like it. But I think I've created something unique.

Kara (Deborah Lipp)

This post has been edited by Kara Milovy: 20 March 2006 - 17:38