INTRODUCTION

Towards the end of 1995, Peter Janson-Smith, Ian Fleming’s literary agent at Glidrose Publications, telephoned Raymond Benson and asked him if he’d take a stab at writing a James Bond novel since John Gardner had decided to step down. He accepted having already been established within the world of James Bond. In 1984 the acclaimed The James Bond Bedside Companion was published featuring plot summaries of the then-current James Bond films and novels including continuation novels written by Kingsley Amis and John Gardner. The book was updated and re-released in 1988. Benson also adapted A View to a Kill and Goldfinger in 1985 and 1986 respectfully as computer games. He also wrote the role-playing game You Only Live Twice II: Back of Beyond. Additionally, prior to the release of Zero Minus Ten, which is Benson’s first ever novel, the 007 short story “Blast from the Past” was published in the January 1997 issue of Playboy. The first four chapters of Zero Minus Ten were written between November 1995 and March 1996 on spec before he was given a contract to continue. The remainder of the book was written during the summer of 1996 and completed by November of the same year. Benson began working on his second novel, The Facts of Death in October 1996.

Raymond Benson’s original title for the book was No Tears For Hong Kong, but it was rejected by the publishers and Glidrose. Later the head of Putnam came up with the title Zero Minus Two. The number was later changed to “Ten” to reflect the story better. Benson’s title became the final chapter title of the novel.

According to Raymond Benson, as far as character continuity was concerned, he had been given free lease by Ian Fleming Publications (then Glidrose Publications) to follow or ignore other continuation authors as he saw fit. Benson took a middle or the road approach to this. While Ian Fleming’s novels are strictly canon, Gardner’s novels are not strictly followed, though there are some aspects that are carried over. For instance, in Gardner’s Win, Lose or Die Bond is promoted to Captain. This aspect does not carry over and in Benson’s novels Bond is a Commander once again with no explanation. Some of Gardner’s original recurring characters are also not present including Ann Reilly (Q’ute) who by the end of Gardner’s era had taken over Q Branch from Major Boothroyd. Once again Benson ignores this and features Major Boothroyd with no explanation. Some of Gardner’s changes do remain, however. Benson’s Bond continues to smoke cigarettes from H. Simmons of Burlington Arcade, which was first introduced in Gardner’s For Special Services (1982). Additionally, the Bond girls, Fredericka von Grüsse (Never Send Flowers / SeaFire), Harriet Horner (Scorpius), and Easy St. John (Death is Forever) are all mentioned. Further novels by Benson also retain some aspects of Gardner’s series though there is equally just as much that he ignores.

Some aspects of the films also carry over into Benson’s continuation. M, for instance, is not Sir Miles Messervy, but the female M that was first introduced in the film GoldenEye (1995), although Gardner also introduced this character in his novelization of that film and briefly mentioned the female M at end of his his next novel, COLD. This would imply that the novelization of GoldenEye takes place after COLD since Messervy was still M throughout most of this book. Benson has remarked that he was told to make M a woman in order to sync up the literary series with the films. In Benson’s novels Bond also reverts back to using his trusty Walther PPK, claiming he had switched to other guns (notably the ASP in Gardner’s later novels), but felt that it was time he used it again. The follow up to Zero Minus Ten, the novelization to Tomorrow Never Dies has Bond switching to the Walther P99. This remains Bond’s main weapon throughout Benson’s novels, although Bond still uses the PPK when appropriate due to its compact size.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

As the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from the British to the People’s Republic of China nears, Bond is given ten days to investigate a series of terrorist attacks taking place that could disrupt the fragile handover and cause the breakout of a large-scale war. Simultaneously a nuclear bomb is test detonated in the Australian outback. In Hong Kong, Bond suspects and is led to a wealthy British shipping magnate, Guy Thackeray, who he catches cheating at mahjong at a casino in Macau. Later, after cheating the cheater and winning a large sum of Thackeray’s money, Bond attends a press conference where Thackeray announces that he is selling his company, EurAsia Enterprises to the Chinese, secretly due to a long-forgotten legal document that grants the descendants of Li Wei Tam ownership of the company if the British were to ever lose control of Hong Kong. Because the descendants were claimed to have abandoned China, General Wong of the People’s Republic of China claims the document on behalf of the government and forces Thackeray out. Immediately following the announcement Thackeray is killed in a car bomb by an unknown assassin after numerous previous attempts that claimed the lives of the entire board of directors at EurAsia Enterprises as well as several employees.

Through his Hong Kong contact, T.Y. Woo, Bond also investigates Li Xu Nan, the Triad head of the Dragon Wing society and the rightful descendant of Li Wei Tam. Li’s identity as the Triad head is supposed to be a secret, though after Bond involves a hostess, Sunni Pei, 007 is forced to protect her from numerous Triads for breaking an oath of secrecy. When she is finally captured, Bond makes a deal, off the record, to go to Guangzhou and retrieve the long-forgotten document from General Wong that will give Li Xu Nan ownership of EurAsia Enterprises upon the exchange at midnight on July 1, 1997. Through Li’s contacts, Bond successfully travels and meets General Wong in Guangzhou under the guise of a solicitor from England. Bond’s cover is later blown and T.Y. Woo who followed Bond is executed. Bond avenges his friend’s death by killing General Wong and stealing the document, which he hand delivers to Li Xu Nan and retrieves Sunni Pei.

With Li Xu Nan in Bond’s debt, Bond uses Li’s contacts to go to Australia to investigate EurAsia Enterprises and find a link between it and the nuclear blast. As it turns out Thackeray is very much alive and has been mining unreported uranium in Australia to make his own nuclear bomb, which he plans to detonate in Hong Kong at the moment the handover takes place in retaliation for the loss of his family’s legacy. Returning to Hong Kong, Bond, Li Xu Nan, and a Captain with the Royal Navy track down Thackeray’s nuclear bomb and defused it. The battle claims the lives of Li Xu Nan as well as Thackeray’s, who is drowned by Bond in the harbor.

COVERS