I think that the short stories of For Your Eyes Only were a refreshing addition to the Bond series. Each story was enjoyably short and made for good light reading. It provided a nice change of pace to a series full of books that follow the same page count and rhythm story after story. ( )

Five James Bond short stories I never new existed. All were written well and showed more of the human and extremely sexist Bond. ( )

For Your Eyes Only is a collection of James Bond short stories by Ian Fleming. It was first published by Jonathan Cape on April 11, 1960. It marked a change of pace for Ian Fleming, who previously had written only full-length novels featuring James Bond.

The collection contains five short stories "From a View to a Kill", "For Your Eyes Only", "Quantum of Solace", "Risico", and "The Hildebrand Rarity".

The title story of the collection lent its name to the 12th official James Bond film in the EON Productions series, For Your Eyes Only. Released in 1981, it was the fifth film to star Roger Moore as the British Secret Service agent, Commander James Bond. The film used elements and characters from the short stories "For Your Eyes Only" and "Risico" from this collection. "From a View To a Kill" lent its title (but no characters or plot elements) to the 14th Bond film, A View to a Kill (1985). Plot elements from "The Hildebrand Rarity" were incorporated in the 16th Bond film, Licence to Kill (1989). "Quantum of Solace" was used as the title for the twenty-second Bond film.[1]

The title of the collection is derived from a piece of jargon often used in government circles with regards to classified information. An "Eyes Only" notification indicates either a) the information contained is for the knowledge of authorised readers only; b) information contained is not to be discussed with anyone; or both of these.

Contents [hide]
1 Publication overview
2 "From a View to a Kill"
2.1 Characters in "From a View to a Kill"
3 "For Your Eyes Only"
3.1 Characters in "For Your Eyes Only"
4 "Quantum of Solace"
4.1 Characters in "Quantum of Solace"
5 "Risico"
5.1 Characters in "Risico"
6 "The Hildebrand Rarity"
6.1 Characters in "The Hildebrand Rarity"
7 Comic strip adaptations
8 Publication history
8.1 Compilation
9 Footnotes


[edit] Publication overview
In 1958 CBS made an offer to Ian Fleming to write 32 episodes over a two year period for a television show based on the James Bond character. This deal came about after the success of the 1954 television episode adaptation of Casino Royale on the CBS television series Climax!. Fleming agreed to the deal and began to write three outlines for the series; however, CBS later dropped the idea. Henry Chancellor's book, James Bond: The Man and His World claims that the deal was for 13 episodes, and that Fleming had written seven; a compilation of original and reused stories from his already published novels at the time.

In 1959 Fleming gathered his outlines and novelised them for a collection he originally titled "The Rough with the Smooth". The title was changed for publication to For Your Eyes Only and was also published with the subtitle "Five Secret Occasions in the Life of James Bond". In America the subtitle was changed to "Five Secret Exploits of James Bond". In later editions, the subtitle was dropped. The story "For Your Eyes Only" was originally written as the third episode in the James Bond TV series, first titled "Man's Work", later "Rough Justice" and "Death Leaves an Echo" before finally settling on "For Your Eyes Only". "Risico" (originally spelled "Risiko") and "From a View to a Kill" were two other stories from the aborted CBS television series.

Out of the five short stories included in the book, two were added in addition to the outlines Fleming had previously written for the proposed television series. The first, "The Hildebrand Rarity", was first published in Playboy in March 1960. It provided the character of Milton Krest for the 1989 Bond film Licence to Kill. In the story Krest uses a stingray's tail to whip his wife, an idea that reappears in the film Licence to Kill, though in that film the weapon is brandished by the main villain, Franz Sanchez, against his unfaithful girlfriend. The second story, "Quantum of Solace" was an experimental piece Fleming had previously written for the May 1959 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The short story has no secret agent elements. Its title was used for the 22nd Bond film released in 2008, although that film used none of the plot elements from the short story.

[edit] "From a View to a Kill"
"From a View to a Kill" sees Bond investigating the murder of a dispatch-rider from SHAPE (central command of NATO in Europe, then located in Versailles) to his base, Station F, in Saint-Germain, France. Since Bond was already in Paris, M sends Bond to assist in the investigation in any way he can. To unravel the mystery Bond disguises himself as a dispatch-rider and follows the same journey as the previous rider to Station F. As expected, the assassin attempts to kill Bond, however, Bond is ready and ends up killing the assassin. He then uncovers the assassin's hidden base of operations.

The title is taken from a version of the words to a traditional hunting song, "D'ye ken John Peel?": "From a find to a check, from a check to a view,/ From a view to a kill in the morning". The title "From a View to a Kill" was later used for the 1985 Bond film A View to a Kill, starring Roger Moore. Originally, the film was to be titled the same as the short story, and was named as the title of the next Bond film at the end of the closing credits of Octopussy, but was changed just prior to release. The title, plus the fact that part of the film takes place in France, is where any similarity between the short story and the film end.

"From a View to a Kill" was initially intended to be the backstory for Hugo Drax, the villain of Moonraker. The similar story would have taken place during World War II and featured Drax as the motorcycle assassin who crashes his bike and is taken to an American field hospital. Later the hospital is bombed leaving Drax with amnesia and a disfigured face.[2]

The title may derive from a line in the traditional English hunting song "John Peel", "From a view to a death in the morning", the first part of which was used by Anthony Powell as a title for a book in his sequence A Dance to the Music of Time.

[edit] Characters in "From a View to a Kill"
James Bond
Mary Ann Russell
Colonel Schreíber

[edit] "For Your Eyes Only"
"For Your Eyes Only" begins with the murder of a Jamaican couple that had refused to sell their estate to Herr von Hammerstein, a former Gestapo officer who is the chief of counterintelligence for the Cuban secret service. When they refuse they are killed by two Cuban hitmen at the direction of Major Gonzales, all three of whom work for von Hammerstein. The Havelocks turn out to be close friends of M, who served as the groom's best man during their wedding in 1925. M subsequently gives Bond a voluntary assignment, "off-book" from sanctioned Secret Service duties, to sneak into Vermont via Canada, track down von Hammerstein at his estate at Echo Lake, and prevent further harm to the Havelocks' only daughter by any means necessary. When Bond arrives on the scene, however, he finds the Havelocks' daughter, Judy, intends to carry out her own mission of revenge. Judy kills von Hammerstein from 100 yards by shooting him in the back with a bow and arrow at the exact moment he dives into a lake. A shootout then occurs between Bond and Major Gonzales and the two Cuban gunmen. Bond kills all of them.

Many of the details of this story are used in the film For Your Eyes Only, including the fact that a couple named Havelock are murdered by a hitman named Gonzalez. In the film, though, the daughter's name is Melina and the murder takes place in Greece. Melina Havelock does take her revenge in the film very much as Judy Havelock does in the story, but the subject of Melina's crossbow assassination is Gonzalez and he is killed while jumping into his swimming pool – a rather startling sequence on screen, just as it is on the page.

[edit] Characters in "For Your Eyes Only"
James Bond
M
Judy Havelock
Major Gonzales
Herr von Hammerstein

[edit] "Quantum of Solace"
"Quantum of Solace" is not a spy story and James Bond appears only in the background. Told in the style of W Somerset Maugham, the tale has Bond in Nassau, Bahamas after completing a routine assignment and attending a dinner party at the Government House with a group of socialites that he finds boring.

Bond makes a remark after dinner when the other guests have left in order to stimulate conversation, about always having thought it would be nice to marry an air hostess. This solicits a careful reply from the elderly Governor of The Bahamas who tells 007 the story of a relationship between a former civil servant he calls Philip Masters, stationed in Bermuda, and air hostess Rhoda Llewellyn. After meeting aboard a flight to London the two eventually married but after a time Rhoda became unhappy with her life as the wife of a minor civil servant of limited means. She then began a long open affair with the eldest son of a rich Bermudian family. As a result Masters' work deteriorated and he suffered a nervous breakdown. After recovering he was given a break from Bermuda by the governor and sent on an assignment to Washington to negotiate fishing rights with the US. At the same time the governor's wife had a talk with Rhoda just as her affair ended. Masters returned a few months later determined to end his marriage; he divided their home into two sections, one half for each of them, and refuses to have anything to do with her in private, although he and Rhoda continued to appear as a happy couple in public. Masters eventually returned alone to the UK, leaving Rhoda penniless with unpaid debts and stranded in Bermuda, a cruel act which he would have been incapable of carrying out just a few months earlier. However, despite the success of his plan to take revenge on his unfaithful wife, Masters never recovered emotionally, nor recaptured any spark of vitality. The governor goes on to tell Bond how after a time Rhoda married a rich Canadian and seems to be happy. When Bond remarks that she hardly deserved her good fortune, the governor says that Masters had always been rather weak, and that perhaps Fate chose Rhoda as its instrument to teach him a lesson. The governor then reveals that the dinner companions whom Bond found so boring were in fact Rhoda and her rich Canadian husband. Bond then tells the governor that Rhoda was much more interesting than he had thought.

While the story does not include action elements, as other Fleming tales do, it attempts to posit that Bond's adventures pale in comparison with real life drama. Bond reflects that the lives of the people he often passes somewhat superficial judgements upon can in fact hide poignant episodes.

Quantum of Solace was chosen as the title of the 22nd Bond movie, although it only shares the story's title, and nothing else.[3]

[edit] Characters in "Quantum of Solace"
James Bond
Rhoda Llewellyn
"Philip Masters" (a false name used by the Governor to refer to the man in his anecdote)
Governor

[edit] "Risico"
In "Risico", James Bond is sent by M to investigate a drug smuggling operation based out of Italy that is pumping narcotics into England. M instructs Bond to get in touch with a CIA informant, Kristatos, who in turn tells Bond that a man named Enrico Colombo is behind the racket. When Bond sets out to find more information on Colombo, he is captured by him and brought aboard Colombo's ship, the Colombina. Colombo then informs Bond that Kristatos is actually the one in charge of the drug smuggling operation and that he is being backed by the Russians. Colombo agrees to help Bond by providing information about things "as long as none of it comes back to Italy," and Bond agrees to help Colombo eliminate Kristatos — who had set up Colombo as the target of Bond's investigation. Bond, Colombo and his men sail the Colombina to Santa Maria when Kristatos's men are loading another shipment of drugs. Bond, Colombo, and the crew of the Colombina attack ship and adjascent warehouse and discover Kristatos inside the warehouse. Kristatos tries to escape but is killed by Bond.

The characters of Colombo and Kristatos, and the initial confusion as to which one was really the target of Bond's investigation, are central to the plot of the film For Your Eyes Only. The morning raid on Kristatos' warehouse serves as a central action sequence in the film, as well.

[edit] Characters in "Risico"
James Bond
M
Enrico Colombo
Aristotle Kristatos
Lisl Baum

[edit] "The Hildebrand Rarity"
In "The Hildebrand Rarity", Bond is on an assignment in the Seychelles Islands. Through Fidele Barbey, his influential and well-connected local contact, Bond meets an uncouth American millionaire named Milton Krest who challenges the two to aid him in the search for a rare fish named "The Hildebrand Rarity" that he wants to collect for scientific purposes — and, it turns out, to justify the tax-exempt status of his yacht (the Wavekrest) and the Krest Foundation.

Bond, Barbey, Krest and his English-born fifth wife, Elizabeth, set off aboard the Wavekrest in search of the fish. During the journey Bond learns that Milton verbally and physically abuses everyone around him, especially his wife, whom he punishes with the use of a stingray tail he dubs "The Corrector". Krest punishes his wife at least once while the group is on their way to the atoll where the fish is expected to be found.

Krest finds the Hildebrand Rarity and kills it, along with many other fish, by pouring poison into the water instead of trying to catch it in a net.

After finding and killing the Hildebrand Rarity, the party returns to the Wavekrest and sets sail for port. Along the way Krest gets very drunk, insults Bond and Barbey, and also schedules another appointment for his wife with "The Corrector".

Krest sees Bond talking to his wife shortly afterwards and tells Bond that all he has to do is blow his whistle and the yacht's crewmen will throw Bond overboard and then run the yacht over him while attempting to "save" him.

Later that same night Bond hears Mr. Krest choking and goes on deck to find that Krest has been murdered — apparently by having the rare fish stuffed down his throat so that he suffocated. So as not to be entangled in an investigation for the murder of Krest, Bond throws Krest overboard and cleans up the scene of the crime, making it look as though Krest fell overboard after one of the ropes holding his hammock broke.

The following day, after the Wavekrest has reached port, it is assumed by every one that Krest fell overboard after his hammock rope broke. Bond investigates both Barbey and Mrs. Krest and finds reasons to suspect both of them. His suspicions lean toward Mrs. Krest, whom he suspects murdered her husband in an act of revenge for the way in which he had treated her.

However, when Mrs. Krest invites Bond to sail with her aboard the Wavekrest to Mombassa, his next destination, he accepts her invitation, although apparently with some reservations.

Milton Krest, the Wavekrest, "The Corrector", and his "foundation" were used in the 1989 Bond film Licence to Kill.

[edit] Characters in "The Hildebrand Rarity"
James Bond
Milton Krest
Fidele Barbey
Elizabeth Krest

Full review: http://realmofryan.blogspot.com/2008/... ( )

Part of the reason I read For Your Eyes Only at this time was because I read that the Bond money making, er I mean the film making bunch are using one of the five short stories contained within for the next Bond Epic. Quantum of Solace is a nice, ironic piece of writing, but I can't wait to see what the Broccoli machine makes of it. Bond is only a very small part of it, a non-participant if you will. Somehow I don't see Mr. Craig as a non-participant in anything. ( )