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“May I suggest that Mr. Bond be armed with a revolver?” (1956)
- caconym_ 7y agoThis is wonderful. Details matter in fiction. It's a delicate balance to weave it in without obsessing over it to the detriment of other elements, but you need that texture to anchor the consumer's perspective in a place that seems real. Lots of modern media fail miserably at this, e.g. many of the recent films by J.J. Abrams. I guess it's harder when the product is designed by a committee of people who don't really care in the same kind of way that Mr. Fleming clearly did.
- nicolas_t 7y agoI don't know if it's only because it's a committee or because the person at the top J.J. Abrams doesn't care at all about it (it's also why he has kept overusing lensflare in a lot of his "movies")
- Talanes 7y agoExactly, when you're working at his level the resources and knowledge pool to hire people to obsess over the details. It's either a matter of ego, or he just doesn't value that sort of detail.
- goatinaboat 7y agoAbrams cares about realism and continuity to the extent that in his universes you can see events happening on one planet from another with the naked eye
- ztjio 7y agoIf you haven't read the original novels, they are an absolute treat. Very refreshing. There is great detail, but, almost never more than you absolutely need. It is used to set the pace, so, in the slower moments there will be some fluff details. Ultimately it makes for short novels, really novellas by today's standard. And frankly I love them all the more for that. It's easy to finish one in a single sitting.
- jetrink 7y agoThat sounds like exactly the type of escapism that I need right now. Are the novels meant to be read in order? If not, do you have one or two that would be good to start with?
- dewy 7y agoThey are in order, and Bond evolves based on his experiences in previous books. I would start with the first, Casino Royale and go from there. Bond of the novels is a more complex and less hero-worshipable character than his movie equivalent. My personal favourite is On His Majesty's Secret Service - I also loved the short story A Quantum of Solace (which has nothing to do with the movie of the same name). And while I personally enjoy the novels, I will say that some of them have not stood up to the test of time as well as others, and now read as very dated. Not discouraging you from reading them, just be forewarned!
- logical_proof 7y agoOHMSS is also my favorite. Out of curiosity which would you say have not aged well? Dr. No has some issues racially as I recall but not that I can think of as outright offensive. I ask because I want to know what I have missed (sometimes the blinders are up and you don’t see what you should).
- ztjio 7y agoThe published order of the books is not chronological order, but, I believe unless an author explicitly says so, one should always read their books in published order. The way to look at them is they are glimpses into Bond's past. A few of them are several stories, in fact. That being said, the first published is also Bond's first mission so no harm in starting with Casino Royale either way.
- mysterydip 7y agoHow do you feel about the ones written post-Fleming? I have a couple compilations from Raymond Benson but have not found time to finish them yet. Was curious how the Bond others wrote compared, as I haven't read the originals yet.
- RandomBacon 7y agoInteresting. Revolvers would be good for a spy as they don't eject shell casings, however they are quite loud, which led me to ponder: are there suppressors for revolvers? I did a quick search, and the first result was very interesting! https://www.guns.com/news/2019/08/08/gun-question-can-you-put-a-silencer-on-a-revolver https://www.guns.com/news/2019/08/08/gun-question-can-you-pu... Edit: more interesting pictures https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/06/15/why-cant-revolvers-be-suppressed-or-can-they/ https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/06/15/why-cant-revo...
- SamPatt 7y agoSuppressors don't make any weapon quiet enough to be useful for hiding the sound of firing up close, as movies portray spies doing. It's more about protecting your own hearing.
- avhon1 7y agoThere are exceptions to every generalization, and this exception is pretty cool. The Welrod MkIIA is a semiautomatic pistol, designed for covert operations and assassinations, that is genuinely movie-quiet. Ian McCollum (Forgotten Weapons) has an excellent video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d12AjvEsaHg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d12AjvEsaHg "When it's properly set up, this is as close as you get to an actual `silent gun`. You can, by all accounts, be within about 15 feet of this thing and not recognize that a firearm has discharged."
- pachico 7y agoI recognized the name because of some video games I played in the past.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- reitzensteinm 7y agoNote that it's still 122dB. That's quiet for a firearm, which is normally 140dB or more, but still louder than a car horn. I think the proper way to read the quote is that you'll definitely hear the sound, but it won't necessarily be obvious that it has come from a firearm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welrod https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welrod https://www.chem.purdue.edu/chemsafety/Training/PPETrain/dblevels.htm https://www.chem.purdue.edu/chemsafety/Training/PPETrain/dbl...
- ebg13 7y agoIt would have been nice if they'd included the original letter and not just the first paragraph of it.
- avhon1 7y agoThe article starts with a scan of the entire letter. You need to enable javascript for the image to load.
- sapphire_tomb 7y agoNo, the article starts with a scan of the reply.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- chriselles 7y agoInteresting read. The Walther PP series was a good future focused “fashionista” choice for Bond in film. But I do think for the Bond character from the book, as well as the reality of the 50’s-60’s period, a small revolver would haves suited for both close range discrete carry self-defence, as well as offensive assassination. From a more gritty/realistic viewpoint, targeted killings in a number of places around the world in the period often relied on revolvers due to their simplicity and reliability. Ammunition failure was more common then, revolvers allowed the user the ability to sequence thru a stoppage/misfire. Close combat stoppage drills then for semi-automatic pistols were not nearly as refined as today.
- dingaling 7y ago> The Walther PP series was a good future focused “fashionista” choice for Bond in film. Interesting opinion given that the PP dates from 1929! And of course the simplified PPK was a favourite of the Gestapo.
- mellavora 7y agoYes, the PP series were police guns, and the Gestapo were police. It was also one of the first double-action semi-automatic pistol, making it popular with police forces the world over in the years after WWII, including (at least according to one source) the CIA MAJ BOOTHROYD Walther PPK. 7.65mm with a delivery like a brick through a plate-glass window. Takes a Brausch silencer, with little reduction in muzzle velocity. The American CIA swear by them.
- pps43 7y agoRevolvers may look simple, but they have lots of small internal parts. More than a typical semi-auto. And they are not reliable in practice. Especially considering that most semi-auto malfunctions can be cleared in a second with tap-rack, but revolver malfunction tend to lock it up for good.
- Merad 7y ago> And they are not reliable in practice. I'm curious what you mean by this. I agree that when a revolver experiences a mechanical malfunction it's usually serious and the gun is probably done until a gunsmith takes it apart. But that type of malfunction is extremely rare.
- linksnapzz 7y agoIIRC, in the later (non-Fleming) books, MI6 forces Bond to trade his PPK for an HK VP70 after a critical misfire. Also, in the same book, it is revealed that Bond keeps a Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum revolver(!) in the glove box of his modified Saab 900(!!)
- namdnay 7y agoI had a Saab 900 turbo, I loved it! Now I can say I drove a Bond Car
- semi-extrinsic 7y agoThe 900 turbo was a genuine cool car back then. Among famous owners you find tennis legend and fashion icon Bjorn Borg (left in this picture): https://images.svd.se/v2/images/272d7d06-9b1e-4825-a13e-1f2646047e81?fit=crop&h=427&q=80&upscale=true&w=640&s=3933bb3bb8c3972eed99b3c6338ad3f5d8465c4f https://images.svd.se/v2/images/272d7d06-9b1e-4825-a13e-1f26...
- mongol 7y agoAs well as Ingemar Stenmark...
- sgt 7y agoSpeaking of Saab 900 Turbo. I saw one the other day when re-watching the movie Heat (1995), visible during the infamous street battle. Well worth a watch, if not just for the Saab.
- Rebelgecko 7y agoIt's adorable that Ian Fleming responds as if James Bond is a real person
- dfcowell 7y agoI’ve found this to be a common trait amongst most authors I reach out to when commenting on the specifics of their work.
- Talanes 7y agoAnd then you have Alan Moore, who takes it a step further and actually sees his characters.
- quelltext 7y agoReally? Often they say things like "he prefers...", etc. in some sense speaking for their character not hypothetically but as if they were close to a real person that "does" things rather than "would do". However pretending to be personally acquainted with the character is a step higher, I feel. How common is that?
- quelltext 7y agoWhat surprised me most is that he presented himself as the biographer of James Bond, as if he were real. I wasn't aware of that history.
- ztjio 7y agoIt's a writer's technique somewhat similar to method actors who take on the character's persona as their own for the duration of a play or filming. It's almost like attempting to evoke in yourself a synthetic form of dissociative identity disorder to allow a "real" personality to live and grown independently of you while you interact with and guide it towards the outcome you're hoping for. Pretty much as far from "kill your darlings" as one can get, tbh.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago> Pretty much as far from "kill your darlings" as one can get, tbh. Forking your own thinking process to have a secondary personality execute in parallel sounds as close to "killing your darlings" as possible, given that personality would presumably have their own favorite expressions and tropes.
- ak39 7y agoAt first read, I really thought Ian Fleming was being sarcastic in his letter!
- rbanffy 7y agoIf a spy needs to be armed, they already failed.
- touktouk 7y agoWould that mean that any assassination done with a weapon is a failure?
- brazzy 7y agoNo, it would mean that spies don't do assassinations. The primary job of a spy is to gather classified information, ideally without anyone noticing. Dead bodies tend to be noticed.
- sgt 7y agoBond was more of an assassin AND spy. A spassassin.
- sizzzzlerz 7y agoActually, in all the Bond movies, I don't recall him ever having a mission to spy per your definition. Spies are typically used in situations between countries and many of Bonds foes clearly weren't countries, e.g., Goldfinger, Dr. No, Drax. They were just super criminals without allegiance to any country. The closest classic spy movie I recall was From Russia With Love but even that involved SPECTRE more than Russian.
- ocdtrekkie 7y agoI mean, fundamentally the spy thriller spy does anything a given country needs done in another country that would otherwise be considered illegal or an act of war, if the provenance of the order was known.
- TeMPOraL 7y agoI would think the primary job of a spy is to be a manager (a handler) of a bunch of traitors (including unwitting ones) in the enemy country. Any eventual assassinations would be best done through the hands of one of those subordinates.
- cafard 7y agoThere was something I read--probably via HN--some years ago that suggested that the PPK wasn't that satisfactory an arm.
- noir_lord 7y agoWhen Princess Anne was nearly kidnapped her bodyguards Walther PPK jammed at an unfortunate moment. After that it was withdrawn from service, in the bond novels that followed they pulled it an replaced it with something else (FN1903 iirc).
- mellavora 7y agoI can hit bullseyes at 25m with mine fairly reliably. The first trigger pull is a bit hard (if it isn't cocked), but after that it is smooth. Reliable way to safely lower the trigger is also a bonus. Quality and finish are as good as any of my pythons. Field stripping is super easy, the trigger guard is a lever which lets you just pull the slide right off. What's not to love?
- gravitas 7y agoThe article has an update pointing at a BBC article with a video interview: "Time Out - The Guns of James Bond" https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/time-out--the-guns-of-james-bond https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/time-out--the-guns-of-james-bo... The video above can't be played in my country (BBC restrictions), I found a copy of it on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJuEs3aMvOk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJuEs3aMvOk
- exabrial 7y agoThe ppk is an amazingly reliable firearm. Because it's a blowback design, it's very immune to limp wrist failures, in contrast to most semi-automatic pistols that delay ejection until chamber pressures go down. This limits you to .38ACP but the trade-off is increased reliability while maintaining a small package. These firearms can also be miniaturized, for instance, my Bersa Thunder cc fits into my front pocket and is quite a nice EDC (we have constitutional concealed carry in Kansas).
- sithadmin 7y ago>This limits you to .38ACP FWIW, I don't think PPKs have ever been chambered for .38ACP; most PPKs these days are chambered in .380 Auto, though there are older variants chambered for .32ACP, a modern variant chambered for .22LR, and a few other oddball variants that use other cartridges.
- RickJWagner 7y agoPerhaps Bond could spend a day or two with Dirty Harry. Calahan could show him a thing or two about revolvers.