by Mark Simmons | May 7, 2023 | Uncategorized
Is the character of James Bond 007 based on anybody? Many people have been put forward as models. We can be fairly certain what Ian Fleming felt he looked like because he tells us. In Casino Royale his doomed girlfriend, Vesper Lynd, says to Rene Mathis of the French...
by Mark Simmons | Apr 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
‘Thoughts in a DB III.’ In the novel Goldfinger we are told Bond is given the choice of cars ‘from the pool.’ An Aston Martin or a Jaguar 3.4, we are told either of the cars were suitable. Bond opts for the DB III; because it has more gadgets and is ‘battleship grey’...
by Mark Simmons | Apr 21, 2023 | Uncategorized
The Spy stories of Desmond Bagley Lee Child kindly wrote the foreword to my book Alistair MacLean’s War in which he said how he had ‘…loved the patient way MacLean set up a story and sucked me in, slowly with great self confidence.’ So much so he was one of main...
by Mark Simmons | Apr 14, 2023 | Uncategorized
The 007 continuation novels It was on the 12 August 1964 that Ian Fleming died of a massive haemorrhage at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital. Three days later he was buried in the cemetery of the Parish Church of St. James, Sevenhampton, near Highworth in Wiltshire....
by Mark Simmons | Apr 12, 2023 | Uncategorized
New Editions From the Foam of the Sea my first novel published in 2007 and not available for several years is now out in a new edition published by Amazon with their Kdp service https://kdp.amazon.com . Something I have been meaning to do for a long time and proved to...
by Mark Simmons | Mar 26, 2023 | Uncategorized
The name Charles Causley may not immediately spring to mind when considering war poets. Yet of his 270poems fifty were set during or around his war service. Even many of the others were imbued with the dark shadow of war. There is no doubt he was haunted by the...
by Mark Simmons | Mar 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
by Mark Simmons | Mar 20, 2023 | Uncategorized
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. Yet a cover can make a significant difference. Which was the case with my forth book The Battle of Matapan 1941which was published in 2011. The cover was based on the painting of maritime artist Dennis Andrews. Known as...
by Mark Simmons | Feb 22, 2023 | Uncategorized
Away from writing one of my main interests is motoring, motor racing, and model cars. For many years I have been a keen member of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club www.aroc-uk.com and have written several articles for the club magazine Alfa Romeo Driver. There I said away...
by Mark Simmons | Feb 22, 2023 | Uncategorized
That is a question that often comes up when I meet readers at various events. It is often a surprisingly difficult question to answer. As when asked this question it is often naturally about the book I am promoting at the time or even one from my back list. Whereas at...
