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#3 Reading 007: Moonraker
When the mysterious millionaire Hugo Drax is suspected of cheating at Bridge in his gentleman’s club, M asks James Bond to find out how he is doing it. Drax is responsible for building Britain’s most advanced nuclear missile and M and the British establishment are keen to avoid a scandal that might humiliate Drax. Later,… Read more
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#2 Reading 007: Live and Let Die
The 18th Century pirate Captain Morgan left a vast amount of treasure in the Caribbean. James Bond has been tasked with finding who is dripping the gold doubloons into the US economy. His quest quickly reunites him with Felix Leiter and leads them to The Big Man in Harlem and the beautiful Solitaire, a tarot… Read more
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#1 Do Not Keep Silent: Locations
I thought I’d write a series of short posts about some of the locations that feature in Do Not Keep Silent. The first is The Fringe Club, which has been active for 40 years, offering artists a place to showcase their work without any kind of selection process. It’s a non-profit arts organisation. This makes… Read more
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#1 Reading 007: Casino Royale
After reading Kim Sherwood’s expansion of the Bond novels, I’ve decided to read all the original Ian Fleming novels in order while I wait for the third book in her trilogy to come out. The first is Casino Royale. Weighing in at less than 50,000 words, by some standards it could be considered a novella.… Read more
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21st century double 0 agents
In Kim Sherwood’s expansion of Ian Fleming’s world, Double 0 agents have received either a Twenty-First Century update or rebranding, depending on which reviewers you read online. (One Goodreads reviewer even accused her of being a self-confessed feminist, but I wonder why anyone should ‘confess’ to being a feminist.) James Bond has been missing for… Read more
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10 Great Books set in Hong Kong
Before, during and after I wrote Do Not Keep Silent, a book set in Hong Kong, I read a lot of fiction set there. This list highlights my favourites, in no particular order except the first, which is my favourite. 1. Do Not Keep Silent by Anthony Addis (obviously!) Set immediately before, during and after… Read more