Octopussy & The Living Daylights: Discover two of the most beloved James Bond stories (James Bond 007, 14)

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Instead, I started on Agatha Christie mysteries and Perry Rhodan sci-fi serials and read dozens of them. The collection consisted of two short stories--the title piece and "The Living Daylights"; a third story, "The Property of a Lady," was added for the book's paperback incarnation. A brief tale in which Bond muses about New York City and his favourite recipe for scrambled eggs, he is on a quick mission to the titular city to warn a female MI6 employee that her new boyfriend is a KGB agent. Join our mailing list and we'll keep you up to date with all the news on Ian Fleming's works and legacy, including exclusive events, special editions and exciting competitions. The topics chosen by Fleming were familiar ground for him to cover, with hidden gold, tropical fish and the wartime exploits of commandos all coming from elements of his past.

The first, Octopussy, starring Roger Moore as James Bond, was released in 1983 as the thirteenth film in the series and provided the back story for the film Octopussy's family, while "The Property of a Lady" was more closely adapted for an auction sequence in the film. Before his death, Ian Fleming reportedly had intended to compile a second book of short stories in the same vein as For Your Eyes Only. I cannot remember if the movie version of this story had anything to do with Cold War Berlin, but it does include Bond encountering a blonde Cello player, which was in the movie.Though I beg to ask - can you have a "short story collection" when said collection includes only two stories? This is to Ian Fleming’s Bond stories as Coda is to Led Zeppelin – a thin collection of what’s left after it’s over. The story has an interesting double flashback structure, and the section in which Smythe reflects on those crimes is a fascinating one. Rather than put James Bond front and center, he is a catalyst of the plot, but the focus is one another character.

I have a hard time believing Bond's leisure reading material is a cheap soft-core porn-bondage paperback. The Living Daylights has a much more serious tone throughout and I actually loved Bond in this piece more than the other short stories and even the previous two books that I read in the series. This Vintage edition includes an introduction by Sam Leith, who not only explains what he owes to Bond (his life, no less) but also delves into what these short stories tell about who Bond is (and who or what he’s not).Frankly I don't think I'd enjoy a full length novel with these sorts of stories, but at these lengths, they really work well.