Now pay attention, 007. Eyes only. The latest issue of the popular and glossy British sci-fi and fantasy magazine Infinity explores how the James Bond continuation novel Colonel Sun filtered into the EON Bond movies.
In an article penned by Barry McCann, the new issue looks back at the Bond books written by other authors after the death of Ian Fleming, including Colonel Sun by Robert Markham (Kingsley Amis) (pictured).
When the Bond creator tragically passed away in August, 1964, many 007 fans naturally assumed that this would be the end of the literary James Bond. But Glidrose Publications Ltd, the company who handled the publication rights to the 007 novels, were soon thinking about how the most famous fictional spy in the world could somehow continue his adventures in book form.
The man they turned to was already a big admirer of the Fleming novels. The successful author, literary critic and former academic Kingsley Amis had submitted a detailed critical analysis of the Bond novels to Jonathan Cape in 1965, entitled The James Bond Dossier. As McCann points out, given his in-depth knowledge of the Bond novels, Amis was thus asked by Fleming’s brother and Glidrose director, Peter Fleming, to examine Ian’s final full novel, The Man With The Golden Gun, to assess whether it was suitable to be published and whether any modifications were required. Amis made a number of recommendations, including some alterations to the plot.
Although Glidrose did not take up Amis’s suggestions, they later turned back to him in 1967 to pen the first official ‘continuation’ Bond novel, the arrangement being that he would write under the pseudonym ‘Robert Markham’, with the name perhaps being used by other ‘continuation’ authors in the future. The result, of course, was Colonel Sun, published by Jonathan Cape in March, 1968. The storyline to the novel takes place shortly after the events of The Man With The Golden Gun. Although Amis’s Bond novel met with mixed reviews, it still sold very well.
What the Infinity article then provides is an exploration of the extent to which the novel, although never filmed by EON, was nevertheless cherry-picked for ideas by the Bond producers for their franchise. For The World Is Not Enough (1999), for example, the producers borrowed the plot device of ‘M’ being kidnapped by the villain, which was arguably straight out of Amis’s Colonel Sun. Moreover, for Die Another Day (2002), the producers apparently planned to go even further by actually having Colonel Sun Liang-tan as the main bad guy (but this time recast as a Korean), although the plan was dropped when Ian Fleming Publications (formerly Glidrose) asked for an extra royalty for use of the name. As McCann notes, arguably the most blatant ‘borrow’ from Colonel Sun, however, came in Spectre (2015), where the torture scene from the novel was adapted for a sequence with Blofeld. This time, though, the producers did acknowledge this in the end credits to the movie.
There is plenty of detail in McCann’s article, and Infinity maintains its usual high standard of glossy stills and nice images. The latest issue of Infinity, no. 84, 2025, is on sale now at all good retailers, at UK £4.99 , CAN $15.99, and U.S. $12.00.
Did You Know?
Interestingly, when the question of possible Bond continuation authors arose after Fleming’s death, Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman suggested that the South African thriller writer Geoffrey Jenkins, a journalist friend of Fleming’s from way back, be given the job. Jenkins had said that he and Fleming had once discussed an idea for a Bond novel set in South Africa and involving gold smuggling. Given Saltzman’s enthusiasm, Glidrose granted Jenkins permission to write the novel, which Jenkins entitled Per Fine Ounce. As part of the deal, the film rights would automatically go to EON. However, Glidrose rejected the finished novel, as it was deemed to be not up to standard. They then turned to Amis.
