I’m really looking forward to No Time To Die, the latest instalment in the Bond franchise, but I also wanted to make a teensy contribution of my own to a character I’ve grown up with.
If you’ve read my novel, you’ll already be in the know. But for those who haven’t here are some of the ways I managed to work the world of my favourite spy hero into Changing Trains:
1. A Couchette with a View
The protagonist, Sam, listens to the evocative That Fatal Kiss from A View To A Kill on his overnight train from Paris to Barcelona. It’s a very soulful, chilled, reflective and hopeful moment in the book.
2. From Nice with Love
Madame Gilbert, the landlady of the pension in Nice, insists on calling Sam her little James Bond. She’s one of the most popular characters in the book and was just like that in real life, too.
3. A Diamond is Forever
In Monte Carlo, Sam recalls seeing Shirley Bassey singing a Bond theme at the famous Sporting Club in the principality on TV, while growing up in Scotland.
4. Casino Royale
Sam has a deja vu moment at the world famous Casino de Monte Carlo. Although he’s visiting this place for the first time ever, he feels it is strangely familiar, then realises it’s because he’s seen it in Bond movies. He feels like Bond himself may even be in there at that moment.
5. You Only Live Twice
Sam meets his very own ‘Bond girls’ on the overnight train from Venice to Nice. Being gay doesn’t excuse chivalry, of course, so when Sam Rescues Lucy and Sally on an overnight train from Venice to London, they are more than happy to become his own un-official ‘Bond Girls’.
So there you go. A bit of Bond in a gay themed novel. What’s not to like…?
