David Nickle

This took me longer to read than I expected, because I love Bond—both the movie version, and the literary version, which is the focus of this collection.

I will say this started out strong with an interesting and enigmatic opening story, followed by the best story of the collection as the second, by Robert J. Wiersema. I won't blow it, but I will say that, with his story, Wiersma effectively rewrote the entire reason for Bond's service in one neat little story.

After that, I found the book settled into a reasonably predictable rhythm of Bond stories, occasionally feeling like they broke from canon a little too often, or at least contradicted themselves from story to story (Bond is set financially for retirement / Bond doesn't have enough money, Bond easily recalls the women he's been with / Bond sees all women the same, etc.). For the most part, however, the stories were well-written, and engaging.

The second standout came toward the end of the book with Ian Rogers' story where he posits a bleak future for Bond. Again, really took a chance here, much like Wiersema, but it paid off.

Overall, if you love Bond, you'll definitely find some fun stuff in here.… (meer)

Damn! How much fun was that?

This is my first time reading David Nickle. I've heard him talk on two or three occasions, and always found him funny, intelligent, and interesting to listen to, but there are times when that doesn't translate to the page.

No worry of that here.

These stories. These stories, man. They run the range from horror to science fiction, from thriller to...I don't know...insightful drama? Really, there's only two terms that could serve as a link through all of them, as they're all so incredibly different from each other, and those two words would be dark and unsettling.

And I use both those words in the best possible way.

Seriously, I enjoyed the hell out of this collection. I must now go and find more of his stuff to read. Nickle kicks ass.… (meer)