Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories

Good stories. I particularly liked Risico. It would make a good movie, it had enough plot, action, and surprising reversal to make an entire movie -- but apparently, unfortunately, they already did that, combining it with an unrelated story and mangling them both. It was interesting how different Fleming Bond is from Movie Bond. I suppose Fleming had to make things a little bit over-the-top and far-fetched to avoid tangling with the Official Secrets Act, and then the movie makers found that fun and just took it further. And further. The Living Daylights and Property of a Lady were also particularly interesting stories, featuring an introspective Bond considering the fate of agents working for the Eastern Bloc: both women of course, show more because Bond. It was enjoyable to read, and I would be up for reading this book again at some point. show less

After having shared seven adventures with 007 in previous novels, you become somewhat inured to Fleming's political incorrectness and you start appreciating the other elements of his writing: the way he can create tension and surprise you; the way he shapes Bond's interior dialogue; the attention to detail beyond the travelogue descriptions - and in the end you begin to like Bond again, even after the misogynistic fiasco that was Goldfinger. It's not that Bond has changed much. He's still thinks and says things that place him squarely in the ranks of the mid-century man; but in this collection, we sense that perhaps his views, however much they are shaped by his times, are not concretized - that Bond has the capacity to turn things over show more in his mind and realize that all may not be as they appear. This idea of deception becomes the theme of the collection (or at least the first five stories):


"From a View to a Kill"
This is the first story in the collection and treats the idea of deception in the most basic and physical of ways. A dispatch courier is ambushed along an isolated highway by another courier wearing the same uniform. Bond, with his ability to sense "the invisible factor" or "the invisible man" - the element of a mission's mystery that had been overlooked by others but turns out to be the key to the mission's success, dresses in two different disguises to figure out what's going on. First, Bond dresses in camo and uncovers a well concealed camp; and later Bond dresses as a dispatch courier himself to lure the would-be perpetrator out.

"For Your Eyes Only"
Set against the changing political climate of the Caribbean as Castro moves against Batista, the story looks at political subterfuge in the grossest criminal way: One of Castro's henchmen, Major Gonzales, goes around Jamaica coercing plantation owners to sell their properties. A political exile, his business transactions are actually incidents of bullying and extortion with violent implications. Major Gonzales and his two sidekicks eventually end up in Vermont (!?) Bond assumes the identity of a game hunter, special attention paid to his clothing and licenses to complete this mission of justice (or revenge depending on one's point of view) and encounters a woman along the way with a similar mission.

"Quantum of Solace"
The eponymous story of the collection, this is the piece that plays as an exposition of social and personal deception in two layers. It is actually a story within a story: Bond attends a rather dull dinner party and afterwards needs to kill about a hour with his host before he can politely leave. An off-chance remark of Bond's initiates a story, as told by the host, about a man who marries an air hostess. The air hostess-wife eventually becomes involved in an indiscreet affair. Her true colors having flown, the first surprise is in what the husband then proceeds to do! The social charades and the personal face the husband tries to maintain play out against the rarefied air of the Service's cliques in Bermuda. The story, which has engaged Bond beyond the hour that decorum had dictated, has a final surprise and teaches Bond a lesson about not making judgements from first impressions.

"Riscio"
The term "riscio" means risky business and ostensibly refers to the smuggling world into which Bond finds himself. Sent to Italy to track down illegal opium shipments, Bond is set up with a contact, Kristatos at a restaurant. The apparent quarry is Alberto "The Dove" Colombo, not only the restaurant's owner, but a major player in contraband shipments. The story evolves out into a question of who to trust: Who are your allies and, who are your enemies?


"The Hildebrand Rarity"
This short, more than even "Quantum of Solace" displays more of Bonds interior dimension than the others. Though not has clever as "QOS," even rather ham-handed in its way, "The Hildebrand Rarity" has Bond thinking about relative morality. Mr. Krest, a wealthy American man who uses his pleasure yacht to collect specimens for the Smithsonian (a tax evasion scheme) hires Bond and Fidele Barbery to track down a rare fish, "The Hildebrand Rarity" in the Caribbean. There is nothing to like about Mr. Krest: He is a mean boor, a sadist, a corrupt businessman, a drunk and overall unscrupulous. And yet, Bond puts up with quite a bit, "eating crow" for four days. Bond equivocates, is uncertain about what to do, questions his smaller actions against larger contexts. What does he really see? What does he really know? What is the right thing to do? In this story, Bond himself might not be the man we have been led to believe he is.


Perhaps "deception" is too broad a theme for spy thriller adventures - after all, espionage is built on subterfuge; and yet with this collection, one can't help but notice the different kinds of deceits being played out very specifically in each story: From the basic physical deceptions of "From a View to a Kill" to the questioning ruminations of Bond in "The Hildebrand Rarity," Fleming skillfully writes in layers about the various kinds of deceptions.


Simon Vance narrates the audiobook edition of Quantum of Solace. Inasmuch as readers and listeners may have become inured to Fleming's provocative passages about social issues through seven novels, listeners have come to expect certain things from Simon Vance in the series as well. He narrates the stories, and wholly creates Bond and M. Though his American and female characters are usually suspect, SV delivered credibly and well in this collection. Mr. Krest ("The Hildebrand Rarity") speaks like Humphrey Bogart and SV does an imitation well enough that the listener understands the vocal inference. Other foreigners (Italians, Jamaicans, etc.) are differentiated from Bond's British accent and while they may not exactly sound native, the characters are well delineated.

Redacted from the original blog review at dog eared copy, Quantum of Solace/For Your Eyes Only; 02/23/2012. show less

Fleming was a more creative writer than most give him credit for and he was never afraid to do something oddball with his famous creation, James Bond. From the first book, Casino Royale, whose plot essentially ends halfway through the book, to The Spy Who Loved Me, which is narrated in the first person by its main female protagonist (to call her a 'Bond girl' is probably sexist) and in which Bond doesn't appear until two thirds of the way through, the books repeatedly play with the spy novel format.

That is seen in Bond's short story outings, collected here. A number of the stories focus on the grittier, day-to-day aspect of Bond's work, but in Octopussy and Quantum of Solace Bond is simply a bystander, an excuse for other characters to show more tell their tales, some of which have nothing to do with spying. These stories are of varying quality, but they show that Bond, and his creator, had plenty of literary invention in them. show less

Whoever holds the Bond novel rights typically republishes the appropriate Fleming novel when a film adaptation comes out—if one is available. When Quantum of Solace came out, the complication was that "Quantum of Solace" was a short story, not a novel, and that it was already part of the collection For Your Eyes Only. In 2008, Penguin solved this issue by taking both Bond collections, For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy & The Living Daylights, and combining them to make Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories. I dutifully picked it up even though I had already read all the contents because it featured a new cover by Richey Fahey matching the design of his gorgeous covers for the previous fourteen books... although show more because Quantum of Solace was only published by Penguin US, and my copies of the previous fourteen were the Penguin UK editions, its height is slightly taller than the other ones, and so it doesn't really match at all. Oh well.

I don't have much to say about this that I didn't about the constituent parts. Fleming was a good short story writer, perhaps a better short story writer than he was a novelist. I read in detail the stories I remembered liking ("From a View to a Kill," "For Your Eyes Only," "Quantum of Solace," "Octopussy," "The Living Daylights"), and liked them again this time around. I didn't waste my own time and only skimmed the ones I remembered not being very into ("Risico," "The Property of a Lady," "007 in New York"). There was one I remembered liking last time but couldn't get into this time ("The Hildebrand Rarity"); I guess because it's kind of complicated and I wasn't in the mood for complicated.

I will dutifully watch the film adaptation even though I know it has nothing to do with this book! I wonder what film fans who picked up this edition in 2008 thought. I wonder if it will be mined for more titles. Possibly: I can't imagine "Risico" or "007 in New York" being used, but "The Property of a Lady" seems Bondian enough, though it would have to have a new plot, as that story's essentials were already used on screen in Octopussy. show less

Ian Fleming wrote some amazing stories about James Bond, and the best of them are collected here. Some of them concern Bond directly, others concern characters around Bond. They're very well written, though there are moments when Fleming's misogynist sadomasochistic streak shines through from time to time.

Review first posted on BookLikes: http://brokentune.booklikes.com/post/800198/james-bond-the-short-stories-for-you...


I picked up a bunch of James Bond books from a second-hand bookstore a few years ago, and as some of you may have noticed, I am reading my way through them.

When I picked up the books I knew all of the films - probably better than anyone really should - but I did not know much about Fleming's writing or the stories that underpinned the movie plots.

Because of that, I was unaware that Quantum of Solace is basically a re-issue of the two collections of short stories that were originally published in the For Your Eyes Only and in Octopussy & The Living Daylights.

So, if any of you out there in the BL universe should be in show more the same situation, here is a brief outline of which stories are contained in which book:

For Your Eyes Only:
From a View to a Kill
For Your Eyes Only
Quantum of Solace
Risico
The Hildebrand Rarity

Octopussy & The Living Daylights:
Octopussy
The Property of a Lady
The Living Daylights

Quantum of Solace:
contains all of the stories listed above and the story "007 in New York"


Some of the stories are instantly forgettable. I have no recollection whatsoever about For Your Eyes Only.
Some of the stories I can remember but mostly because they actually were incorporated into the films. For example Risico provided the basic plot line for For Your Eyes Only. The Living Daylights, the film, does actually base some of its plot on The Living Daylights.

However, I thoroughly enjoyed Octopussy, The Hildebrand Rarity and Quantum of Solace. As far as the films go, despite the titles none of the stories has been worked into a film, yet. So, if you plan on reading any of these, this is going to be different.

And it is the "different" that makes these three stories stand out: All of them are extremely dark. All of them focus on very messed up people. And none of them feature James Bond as the main character. In short they are Bond stories, but they are also delicious, little works of darkness. In fact, they strongly reminded me of some Somerset-Maugham stories but with a more exotic setting. show less

7 good, short stories about my favorite spy, 007! I say 7, because I did not like 2 of them. My other complaint is that the stories in this collection are basically a compilation of "For Your Eyes Only" and "Octopussy". If you already own those two books, as I did, there is no reason to pick this up. As to the stories...

"From a View to a Kill" is a really good read! Super cool rose bush hiding place! And Bond on a motorbike!

"For Your Eyes Only" sees M at his most personal, and dare I say vulnerable? 007 on a mission of revenge! The opening scene of this tale is really strong, and sad. And I love a dangerous girl with a bow!

"Quantum of Solace" is not about Bond at all, so I didn't like it. Well, except for the revenge the jilted show more husband gets. Totally uninspiring read. I disliked almost as much as I did the movie of the same name! And apart from their titles, they are totally different! Except for my disdain for them...

"Risico" is a good, strong story! Two smugglers, Kristatos and Colombo, trying to get 007 to kill their opposite! And raw opium to boot! It appears almost in its entirety as a scene in the movie "For Your Eyes Only"!

Another good story is "The Hildebrand Rarity", the name of a specimen of rare fish, with the very unlikeable "feller", Mr. Milton Krest. I mean really, who on earth calls 007 "Jim"? The opening scene of Bond hunting the sting ray is top notch! The subject of spousal abuse is a bit too casually explored, using the spiny tail of a ray, no less. Despite that, I really liked the who-done-it ending!

"Octopussy" is funny to read, as the story has almost NOTHING to do with the movie of the same name, except that it is the background story of the title character and is recounted by her! But, it's a good short story, with very little of Bond in it. He pays a visit to a Major Dexter Smythe in Jamaica to go over a case from the war. And that visit changes things. Smythe is also on the search for a scorpionfish, and wanting it for an experiment with an octopus. The plot is almost all about Smythe, though it has a personal place in Bond's life, one that is hit upon in the movie "Spectre". I liked the way things turned out at the end.

"The Property of a Lady" is a nice tale, wherein Bond must attend an auction of the Emerald Sphere, a gorgeous, and expensive jewel by Faberge. The goal is to find out who the Russian spy is. It's not a nail bitter, but it is a good read. And it sort of appears in a scene of the movie "Octopussy", though a bit altered.

Another story in this collection is "The Living Daylights", another title that was turned into a movie with the relation to the story only being that it is part of the beginning of the film. Bond acts as a counter-sniper to protect a Soviet defector along the West/East Berlin border. It is Bond vs. Trigger for the life of Agent 272, and again the ending has a nice twist, just like "Octopussy".

"007 in New York" is terrible. Almost as bad as Fleming's writing in "The Spy Who Loved Me". Even as short as it is, don't waste your time. show less