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“What’s keeping you awake?” James Bond’s battles with sleep
“What’s keeping you awake?” James Bond’s battles with sleep

What if we reframed the whole of the Bond franchise as the story of a man just trying to get a good night’s rest? Lifelong insomniac David Lowbridge-Ellis gets under the covers with 007 to explore when he sleeps, if he’s really the early riser he claims to be and why we should be concerned about his dreams.

Debate over? On Her Majesty’s Secret Service IS a Christmas film
Debate over? On Her Majesty’s Secret Service IS a Christmas film

It’s fun to debate the extent to which action movies like Die Hard and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service are ‘Christmas films’. But, in my mind, there is no debate. They are unequivocally Christmas films because they embody the ambivalence of the season: darkness mixed with light; sadness with joy; looking death in the face and, ultimately, choosing to live.

Keeping 007 alive
Keeping 007 alive

Mark Edlitz’s stunning new book contains interviews with every living author who has penned a Bond novel, from Raymond Benson to Kim Sherwood. It also contains special interviews with the son of John Gardner and Ian Fleming Publication Limited's Managing Director Corinne Turner. The cover art is by Sean Longmore, the illustrations are by Pat Carbajal, the foreword is by three time Bond scribe Bruce Feirstein and the afterword is by me.

“An alternative action hero”
“An alternative action hero”

David was featured on German’s biggest TV channel, ZDF, talking about how James Bond provided him with an alternative role model when he was growing up, especially compared with the supposedly hypermasculine action heroes of 70s and 80s cinema.

Licence To Queer covers queer aspects of Bond books, video games and more. Search here for your favourite titles and characters or find content related to particular queer identities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, etc).

Marcus Marcus

OSS117: The Spy Who (Covertly) Loved Them All

On the page, Agent 117 pre-dates 007 by several years. In the noughties he was brought back to the screen by a team who would go on to win Best Picture at the Oscars. As well as poking affectionate fun at the Bond character (especially his sexuality), the films have a serious side, satirising outdated attitudes. Will the upcoming third film maintain the same winning balance of comedy and social commentary?

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