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Faulks1

Faulks with a copy of Devil May Care

Sebastian Charles Faulks (born 20th April 1953) is the writer of the James Bond novel (number 36), Devil May Care.

Bibliography[]

Sebastian Faulks worked as a journalist before taking up writing full time in 1991. He is the author of ten books including Charlotte Gray and Birdsong, for which he was voted author of the year by the British Book Awards. Faulks has published eight books in the United States, including the recently released Engleby. He lives in London.

"I do think the basic character has lasted and it is a combination of vulnerability and ruthlessness. That is the key to his appeal as an agent and a human being." - Sebastian Faulks on James Bond Fiction

During May 2006 Sebastian Faulks was approached by Ian Fleming Publications and asked to write a Bond book for Ian Fleming's centenary. Although he initially refused, he was persuaded after he re-read Fleming's novels and the company gave him an article by Fleming in 1962—How to Write a Thriller—which revealed that he wrote each Bond book in only six weeks. Faulks copied elements of Fleming's routine, joking that "In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write 1000 words in the morning, then go snorkelling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another 1000 words in the late afternoon, then more martinis and glamorous women. In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch and the snorkelling."

The novel carried the unusual credit of "Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming" and Faulks described how—using Fleming's article—he had employed the same style as Fleming did in his novels: "it's standard journalistic: no semicolons, few adverbs, few adjectives, short sentences, a lot of verbs, a lot of concrete nouns. These are the tools, and that's literally the style." Faulks also commented that "some people find it perplexing but I think the way that the book has been presented ... is a clever way of showing that it is not my book, although, of course, it is my book." A large part of Devil May Care is set in Persia (now Iran); it was an area Fleming had not previously dealt with in his Bond novels, describing it as "full of thieves and crooks". Faulks said of his choice of location that Fleming "didn't set any of his books there, which is surprising in some ways because Lebanon in the 60s would have made a great setting for a Bond story. But his loss is my gain."

Faulks stated that Devil May Care would be his only Bond book, saying: "One tribute, one centenary, one book", adding "My contract did offer me a second go, but definitely not ... 'Once funny, twice silly, three times a slap', as the nanny saying goes. But I think it would be a good gig for someone to do." He saw his novel as a continuation of the Fleming books, saying "I tried to put the films out of mind", adding that "I prepared in a rather pedantic way by reading all of the books in chronological order and when I got to the end I wrote mine."

  • A Trick of the Light Bodley Head (1984)
  • The Girl at the Lion D'or Hutchinson (1989)
  • A Fool's Alphabet Hutchinson (1992)
  • Birdsong Hutchinson (1993)
  • Charlotte Gray Hutchinson (1998)
  • On Green Dolphin Street (Hutchinson 2001)
  • Human Traces Hutchinson (2005)
  • Engleby Hutchinson (2007)
  • Devil May Care (2008)
  • A Week in December (2009)

Non-fiction

  • The Vintage Book of War Stories (editor with Jorg Hensgen) Vintage (1999)
  • The Fatal Englishman: Three Short Lives (1996)
  • Pistache (an essay collection) Hutchinson (2006)

Praise[]

“In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write a thousand words in the morning, then go snorkeling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another thousand words in the late afternoon, then more martinis and glamorous women. In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch, and the snorkeling.” -- Sebastian Faulks

“He has an ability to write convincingly in whichever period or genre he chooses... .Sebastian couldn’t have written a better book to celebrate Ian’s 100th birthday.” -- Corinne Turner, managing director of Ian Fleming Publications Limited

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