The Man with the Golden Gun (novel)

The Man with the Golden Gun is the twelfth and final novel written by Ian Fleming, featuring the fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond.^[1] It was published posthumously in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape, in 1965. Despite being stylistically different from and less detailed than Fleming's other works,^[2] it was a bestseller for four months.^[3]

The novel was adapted in 1966 as a comic strip in the Daily Express newspaper, and in 1974 as the ninth film in the EON Productions James Bond series with Roger Moore playing bond.

A year since James Bond disappeared during a mission in Japan, he is presumed dead. Then, a man claiming to be Bond appears in London and demands to meet M. After much scrutinising and interrogation, the man's identity is confirmed, but during his debriefing interview with M, Bond tries to kill him with a cyanide pistol; the attempt fails. The British Secret Service soon learns that after attacking Blofeld's castle in Japan, Bond suffered a head injury and subsequent amnesia. Having lived as a Japanese fisherman for several months, Bond travelled north into the Soviet Union to learn his true identity. While there, he was brainwashed and assigned to kill M on returning to England.

Now deprogrammed, Bond is eager to prove his worth as a member of the 00 section before retiring. M assigns him to Jamaica to locate, gain the confidence of, and finally kill Francisco "Pistols" Scaramanga, an assassin known as "the man with the golden gun" (because of his golden revolver) who is believed to have killed several secret agents.

In mid-assignment, Bond, who has managed to become Scaramanga's temporary personal assistant under the name of Mark Hazard, learns that Scaramanga is involved with a syndicate of American gangsters and the KGB, who are planning several schemes including the destabilisation of Western interests in the Caribbean's sugar industry, running drugs into America, smuggling women from Mexico into America, and launching casinos in Jamaica. Initially unaware of Bond's presence in Jamaica, is Felix Leiter who has been recalled to duty by the CIA and assigned to Scaramanga's hotel staff.

Bond kills Scaramanga during a train journey, with the assistance of Felix Leiter and his former secretary, Mary Goodnight, while Leiter kills Scaramanga's gangster allies. In the process of all this, both Bond and Leiter are badly wounded, but they survive. Bond is offered a knighthood. Bond already has CMG for past and present services to Britain, so he refuses it.

• James Bond - A British Secret Service agent. He is assigned to track and kill KGB's assassin Francisco 'Pistols' Scaramanga.

• M - The head of the British Secret Service who sends Bond on his mission. He is frequently helped by his secretary Miss Moneypenny and Chief of Staff Bill Tanner. For the first time his full name, Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, is revealed.

• Francisco Scaramanga - "The man with the Golden Gun" is an assassin employed by KGB, he is so known because he uses a gold-plated revolver. He has killed British Secret Service agents (and CIA case officers).

• Felix Leiter - An agent of the CIA. He is sent to spy on Scaramanga by posing as a hotel manager.

• Mary Goodnight - James Bond's secretary, enlisted for assistance when he is sent to the Caribbean to find Scaramanga.

The Sunday Telegraph praised the novel, saying "Fleming keeps you riveted."^[4]

The novel has been a controversial, speculative subject since its publication in 1965, the year after Ian Fleming died. Supposedly, since Fleming died before completing the final draft manuscript, the novel was edited and finished by other writers before its publication. Kingsley Amis often has received credit for either completing or editing The Man with the Golden Gun, but that has been denied by several sources, including Andrew Lycett in the biography Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond, claiming Fleming had finished it and that it was subsequently read and edited only by William Plomer, Fleming's editor. John Cork, the co-author of James Bond: The Legacy (and producer of the documentaries included to the Special Edition DVDs of the James Bond films) also claims that Fleming had finished it and that he, Cork, saw the original, unedited typescript ^[5]— although he admits Amis had read it and had offered ideas that went unimplemented. The introduction to the Titan Books reprint edition of the Colonel Sun comic strip explicitly describes the Golden Gun manuscript as unfinished at Fleming's death, crediting Plomer with polishing it to publication standard; also, the book supports Cork's account that Amis's involvement was restricted to unimplemented manuscript suggestions.

That Fleming reportedly was writing another James Bond novel or short story at the time of his death (excerpts from which can be found in John Pearson's The Life of Ian Fleming) adds credence to the idea that Fleming felt the novel was finished; however, these fragments may pre-date his writing of The Man with the Golden Gun. After the novel's release, the New Statesman called it "a sadly empty tale, empty of the interests and effects that for better or worse, Ian Fleming made his own."^[5]

In 1974, EON Productions made a film based on the novel. In the film, Mary Goodnight is kidnapped, and also provides comic relief. The characters Nick-Nack, Andrea Anders and Hai Fat were added. Bond's attempt to kill M at the novel's beginning, was excluded from the film. Also, the film's story is not anti-Communist and has nothing to do with the sugar industry as stated in the novel.

The novel was adapted as a daily comic strip which was published in the British Daily Express newspaper and syndicated around the world. The adaptation ran from January 10 to September 10, 1966. The adaptation was written by Jim Lawrence and illustrated by Yaroslav Horak.^[6] The strip was reprinted by Titan Books in the early 1990s and again in 2004 as part of The Man with the Golden Gun anthology that also includes The Living Daylights.^[7]

The following are the publications of The Man with the Golden Gun.^[8]

Hardcover

• London, Jonathan Cape, First British edition: 1st printing: April 1, 1965, 2nd printing: May 1965, 3rd printing: June 1965.
• London: Jonathan Cape. 4th printing: 1971;
• London: Jonathan Cape. 5th printing: 1974;
• London: Jonathan Cape. 6th printing: 1979.
• England: Viking/Penguin 4 April 2002. ISBN 0-670-91040-6

Paperback

• London: Pan Books, 1st printing: 1966; 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th printings: 1967; 6th and 7th printings: 1968; 8th printing: 1969.
• London: Pan Books, 9th printing: 1970; 10th printing: 1972; 11th and 12th printings: 1973.
• London: Pan. 13th printing: 1974; 14th printing: 1976. ISBN 0-330-10527-2
• St. Albans [Hertford]: Triad/Panther. 1st printing: 1978. ISBN 0-586-04522-8
• London: Triad/Granada. 2nd printing: 1980; 3rd printing: 1982. ISBN 0-586-04522-8
• London: Triad/Granada 4th printing: 1983. ISBN 0-586-04522-8
• London: Triad/Panther/Granada. 5th printing: 1984. ISBN 0-586-04522-8
• Sevenoaks [Kent]: Coronet. 1st printing: February 1989. ISBN 0-340-42571-7
• Sevenoaks [Kent]: Coronet. 4th printing ISBN 0-340-42571-7
• London: Penguin. 4 April 2002. ISBN 0-14-100289-1
• Somerset [England]: Transaction. Large print edition. September 1999. ISBN 0765806541
• England: Nelson Thomes. Children’s edition. 1st printing: December 1976. ISBN 0-7487-0354-3

• Ian Fleming bibliography of first editions