In the late 1990s, Raymond Benson, who at the time was the official novelist of the James Bond literary franchise, became the first author since Bond's creator, Ian Fleming, to write officially sanctioned short stories featuring the superspy.
During his tenure as Bond novelist (1997-2002), Benson wrote three short stories. Just before his sudden departure from writing Bond novels at the start of 2003, Benson had indicated his intention to write more short pieces and publish a short story collection along the lines of Fleming's For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy and the Living Daylights. This, however, appears unlikely to come to pass for the time being.
As a result, to date these three stories remain the only pieces of James Bond literature that have never officially been published in Great Britain, and one of the stories, "Live at Five", is considered the rarest James Bond story of all.
Plot summaries and publication details
"Blast from the Past"
First publication: Playboy, January 1997 issue. In publication order, this follows COLD and precedes Zero Minus Ten. Benson has acknowledged that Playboy cut 1/3 of the story for space reasons.
The first Bond story published by Benson, "Blast from the Past" is a direct sequel to Fleming's You Only Live Twice and appears to exist outside the timeline of either Benson's or John Gardner's other Bond stories.
Bond receives a message, apparently from James Suzuki, his son (Suzuki's mother is Kissy Suzuki from You Only Live Twice) asking him to come to New York City on a matter of urgency. When Bond arrives, he finds his son murdered. With the aid of an SIS agent, he learns that James was killed in revenge by Irma Bunt, the onetime companion of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and a woman who Bond assumed had died alongside Blofeld (again in You Only Live Twice).
James Suzuki, Bond's son, is not a character from Fleming's original book. The idea of Kissy having Bond's offspring was, in fact, introduced in the comic strip adaptation of You Only Live Twice. A later book, James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 expanded upon this and gave Bond's son a name. Benson's short story continues the premise established by the faux-biography.
"Midsummer Night's Doom"
First publication: Playboy, January 1999 issue. In publication order, this follows The Facts of Death and precedes High Time to Kill.
In a special story commissioned to help celebrate Playboy's 45th anniversary, Bond is assigned to attend a party at Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, California where Ministry of Defence secrets are expected to be sold to a representative of the Russian Mafia.
While there, Bond meets Hefner who is aware of his mission and who actually provides Bond with several gadgets a la Q. Bond also has time to enjoy a quick romance with real-life Playmate Lisa Dergan , flirt with other Playmates, and rub elbows with the likes of actor Robert Culp and singer Mel Torme.
Dergan has the distinction of being, to date, the only real person ever to be awarded the status of Bond Girl. (Several other Playmates are referenced by name in this story, but Dergan is clearly Bond's girl of choice on this adventure.)
Some sources give this story the erroneous title "A Midsummer Night's Doom", since the title is a play on William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
"Live at Five"
First publication: TV Guide (American edition), November 13-19, 1999. In publication order, this follows the novelization of The World Is Not Enough and precedes Doubleshot.
Published the week The World Is Not Enough arrived in movie theaters in America, "Live at Five" is the shortest of all James Bond stories, even shorter than Fleming's previous record-holder "007 in New York". Running only a couple of thousand words, if that, it is a trifle in which Bond, en route to a date with a female TV news reporter, recalls how he once helped a Russian figure skating champion defect in full view of TV cameras.
Due to the fact that this issue of TV Guide was only available in the United States for a short period of time, and the story has, to date, never been reprinted elsewhere, "Live at Five" is expected to continue to be the hardest-to-find Bond story for some time to come. (By comparsion, the two issues of Playboy listed above are readily available through the collector's market and in used book stores, and the magazine has distribution in Britain, although that's not the same as the stories being published in that country. There is a collectors' market for back issues of TV Guide, and the Bond issue is considered particularly collectable, but this market rarely extends beyond the U.S.)
Last updated: 05-15-2005 22:25:58
