James Bond has disappeared. And not anywhere, in Barcelona. This is the premise with which Doble o Nada (Roca Editorial), the new novel set in the Bond universe that arrives in bookstores this Thursday. The signature for the first time a woman, Kim Sherwood. Keep this name because she is going to give a lot to talk about. Ian Fleming’s estate commissioned him to write a trilogy and gave him the opportunity to join other writers who have been part of the saga, such as Kingsley Amis, William Boyd, Sebastian Faulks and Anthony Horowitz.
“I learned from my agent that the family was looking for a new author to continue the stories. I couldn’t believe it because this was something I had always dreamed of. So I decided to write to them and I attached a school project that I did at the age of 13 and in which I talked about an author who deeply inspired me. Obviously, I chose Ian Fleming. In addition, I proposed new ideas to continue the saga and they ended up hiring me to create a trilogy ”, he tells La Vanguardia.
The author has been walking through the streets of the Catalan capital since last Wednesday. Anyone could think that she does it for mere leisure. But the author anticipates that, as in this book, “the city will appear again in the future.” In this first book, the reader will find places as well known as Park Güell, the Fira de Montjuïc, the magic fountain or the streets of Poblesec.
“I chose Barcelona as the setting because it seemed important to me that the disappearance of such an iconic character take place in a place that is at least as iconic. I love this mixture of modernist architecture with mid-20th century architecture. It’s ironic though because Ian Fleming hated modernism. In any case, I wrote the novel during confinement. I have always been passionate about continental Europe and the fact of not being able to leave a tiny island made me dream of European squares. And so, I mentally traveled with my characters up to here, ”he confesses.
It had the place, but the characters were missing. And it is that the writer explains that the Fleming family asked her to fulfill a single condition: to create new characters. This is how Johanna Harwood, Sid Bashir and Joseph Dryden are born, agents 003, 009 and 004, respectively. And a challenge: writing a James Bond novel without James Bond. “It is present throughout the entire novel. Agent 007 has disappeared and his colleagues try to find his whereabouts. He is talked about all the time, but he is not the main protagonist since I thought it would be difficult to introduce new characters if he was involved. I like to think that his shadow hovers over the novel without overshadowing these new protagonists.
But will he appear again in the following novels? “If I answer this, I’ll have to kill you,” admits the author with a laugh, although she admits that she has been clear about the plot for a long time. Almost almost since she first entered the universe of agents 00. “It was her with the Pierce Brosnan movies, at the age of ten. A scene in which she jumped from the Millennium Dome building in London stuck with me. He rolls down the dome, falls to the ground, and walks off like nothing happened. She fascinated me and that’s when I knew I wanted to be like him.”
The author confesses that there are several people who, throughout her 33 years, have assured her that being a fan of James Bond and a feminist is a complete contradiction. “I tell them that it is not like that, that it is perfectly compatible to be both. I understand that they tell me because of the concept of a Bond girl and some misogynistic gestures of the agent himself, especially in the past. But I must say that even the Bond girls are fascinating and very powerful characters that have been played in the cinema by great actresses, such as Ursula Andress or Honor Blackman. They all have their own plans and goals and end up becoming allies of Bond. And for Fleming to create this kind of female character who, beyond her beauty, is really complex and drives the story, was something new and one that none of his contemporaries had even attempted.”
With everything, he advances, “I wanted to go one step further. Not only create powerful female characters, but heroines with whom readers can see themselves reflected. I don’t want to undermine the Bond girls with this. But the reality is that most of us, when we read the books and watch the movies, want to be the agent and not the Bond girl. We want to rescue and not be rescued.”
The truth is that there are many women who are part of the saga. Johanna Harwood, who precisely gives her name to one of the new agents, 003, co-wrote the first two films. The producer Barbara Broccoli who was at the head of the entire film project from the beginning. And then all the women who have been in charge of costume design, equally iconic, over the years. “The Bond universe has always included very capable women in leading roles and I am proud to become a part of them,” she admits.
Another aspect to highlight is the author’s intention to talk about current crises and problems. “The biggest challenge is not writing a Bond novel without Bond, but choosing who would be the villain. When reading Fleming’s novels, you realize that the author talks about the threats of his time, be they ideological, like communism, or real, like the fear of the atomic bomb. His writing was tremendously political and I wanted to do the same to continue his legacy. I thought about what is the greatest current threat to humanity and came to the conclusion that climate change. Therefore, much of the plot revolves around it.
Although the author claims to have her lips sealed as far as the future of the trilogy is concerned, she does admit one small concern, the death of Elizabeth II. “The monarch and the Bond character have an important connection throughout the story. He is an agent licensed to kill and in the service of the Queen. He may seem silly but he is not at all. I remember being at a presentation ceremony for my book in its English version this September. When I came down from the stage, the Queen was dead. I didn’t find out until a reader told me at a book signing and told me that she was the last person to write to Her Majesty’s Secret Service about her. I hadn’t considered it and I honestly don’t know how this is going to influence my books. I think everyone, including myself, will have to wait to find out.”