This book is a collection of initially two but now four short stories. It was published the year after Fleming's death and it comprises the remaining work about Bond that hadn't already been published up to that date. It wasn't widely reviewed and hasn't been as analysed as any of his novels, but it has some points of interest and some nice writing in it too. A run at FAC is envisaged after PR. Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 13:00, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• a collection of short stories published posthumously in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 23 June 1966" – only a deliberately perverse reader – e.g. me – could imagine you meant after Cape's death rather than after Fleming's, but the former is what the sentence says.
• "The book originally contained two stories, "Octopussy" and "The Living Daylights", with subsequent editions also including "The Property of a Lady" and then "007 in New York". The stories were first published in different publications, with "Octopussy" first serialised in the Daily Express in October 1965." – too many "with"s here. It's an inelegant construction in any case, and if I may suggest, would read better as something like: The book originally contained two stories, "Octopussy" and "The Living Daylights"; subsequent editions also included "The Property of a Lady" and then "007 in New York". The stories were first published in different publications: "Octopussy" was first serialised in the Daily Express in October 1965.
• "a recipe for scrambled eggs given to him by a friend" – how in God's name can you have a recipe for scambled eggs? You take some eggs (well, I know you don't, you heathen), break them, whisk them lightly and cook them slowly in a pan with a knob of butter. I don't call that a recipe. Has Bond's got some extra, exotic ingredients?

• It's still a recipe, though - a list of ingredients and instructions to turn them into a dish. (I know, it's a little like describing a G&T as a cocktail, but technically, it still is.) - SchroCat (talk) 11:12, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• Hmm. I suppose you're right, though it grieves me to defer to you on egg cookery. Tim riley talk 13:42, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• I am excellent at egg cookery - Mrs SC is always happy with my omelettes or scrambled eggs, even if I can't stand them. Yolks should always be runny! - SchroCat (talk) 14:53, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Tim riley talk 15:45, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

SchroCat, profound apologies. I've just opened my copy of Le Répertoire de la Cuisine (looking for something else entirely) and run across 39 recipes for scrambled eggs, from Archiduchesse (mixed with diced ham and mushrooms, topped with asparagus tips) to Yvette (Garnished with asparagus tips and diced crayfish tails, served in tartlets with a slice of truffle on top with a little thread of Nantua sauce (no, neither do I)). I may extend the WP article on scrambled eggs accordingly – Tim riley talk 12:23, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I looked up the recipe hoping for a brilliant new idea, and Fleming's only addition is chives. Dudley Miles (talk) 12:55, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Elizabeth David's tip of adding an extra yolk to the yolk-and-white mix is very much to the point. Tim riley talk 13:11, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Chives and fines herbes! It may be a small variation, but it still makes it a recipe! - SchroCat (talk) 18:54, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• "with the help of a Oberhauser" – superfluous indefinite article.
• "hunting for a scorpion fish to feed Octopussy" – and who or what is Octopussy? This is the first we've heard of him/her.
• "he sees a female orchestra arrive for rehearsal and leave, taking particular notice of a beautiful blonde cellist" – it is Bond rather than the orchestra who takes notice of her.
• We don't need two blue-links to scrambled eggs in the space of two sentences.
• "The story is told in the manner of "Quantum of Solace"" – for those who have never heard of "Quantum of Solace" and wonder if it is an anagram of "Nut fools macaque", it might be wise to explain what the phrase means and whence it comes.
• "Chancellor and Fleming's biographer Andrew Lycett" – ambiguous: clearer if you make this "Fleming's biographer Andrew Lycett and Chancellor..."
• "Of course Suggia had managed to look elegant" – blue link please! Suggia was one of the 20th century's most celebrated (as well as elegant) cellists and rightly has her own article.
• "According to Fleming's biographer Matthew Parker and Fleming's bibliographer Jon Gilbert ..." – this is a bit galumphing. Perhaps something on the lines of "According to two of Fleming's biographers" – Matthew Parker and Jon Gilbert" – ..."
  • The second is his bibliographer, not biographer. - SchroCat (talk) 21:27, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oops! Mea culpa. All the same, if I misread the second –ographer so may others. I wonder if it would be less susceptible to misreading if recast on the lines of "According to Matthew Parker and Jon Gilbert – respectively a biographer and a bibliographer of Fleming – ...". Tim riley talk 13:42, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
      • Good point and good plan: now adopted. - SchroCat (talk) 14:53, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
• "a traitor within the Secret Service who was—unknowingly and unwittingly—passing low-level information and some misinformation back to the KGB, which they was high-grade intelligence" – I'm a bit baffled by this. How was she a traitor if her passing info to the Soviets was unknowing and unwitting (and what's the difference between those two words?)? And there seems to be a word missing later in the sentence, after "which they..."
• "He sees that Fleming's rich use of detail bring the scenes of the range at Bisley, Berlin and the attempted shooting of the British agent are vivid because of it." – this goes off the rails midway. "Bring" should be "brings" and it is unclear what it brings in any case. Are you saying that it makes the three scenes vivid? And I'm not wild about "sees" here, which reads like an appreciative endorsement.
• "although his fee rose, to 350 guineas" – doesn't tell us much if we don't know what it rose from.
• "how miserably many imitators fail, and how the films" – how the films what?
• " George Dowson of Manchester Evening News, who write" – this is pure Molesworth (and the paper needs a definite article).
• "became that of cello player Kara Milovy" – clunky false title

Hope these few carps and quibbles are of some use. Tim riley talk 16:58, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks Tim, all sorted, except the two where I've left comments. Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 11:39, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Good stuff. You must prod me when you go to FAC of course. Tim riley talk 13:42, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• "the film Octopussy's family". I do not know what is meant by a film's family.
• "007 in New York". I would revise to avoid mentioning the scrambled eggs recipe twice.
• "The rights to Fleming's works were held by Glidrose Productions". Maybe "The rights to Fleming's works were held by the Fleming family-owned Glidrose Productions".
• "The story has Bond as catalyst for a narrative told in flashback, rather than as the main character for action;". You have said this above.
• "Once the mission is completed, with Bond deliberately wounding but not killing the assassin, he demonstrates an attitude of complacency, shrugging off his colleague's complaints about the incident." I am not clear why shrugging off a complaint about not killing is described as complacency.
• "the artist Richard Chopping provided the cover art, although his fee rose, to 350 guineas from 300". Why "although"?
• "in their fascinated poring on things ... remind us that the stuff of the anti-novel needn't necessarily spring from a thought-out aesthetic" I would delete "in their" as it makes the quote ungrammatical.
• "Both are as readable as one might expect, though some ways from Fleming's best form". Does the source have "ways" plural?
• Adaptations section: ""Property of a Lady", was reprinted in Playboy in January 1964, while "Octopussy" was serialised in the March and April 1966 editions of the magazine. The artist Barry Geller used Sean Connery's likeness for the illustrations accompanying "Octopussy"." I do not see how these comments are about adaptations.
• "The character of Oberhauser, from "Octopussy", was used in the 2015 film Spectre as the former legal guardian of Bond in his youth and the father of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, leader of the criminal organisation Spectre." I lose you in this sentence.
• A very good article, but repetitious in one or two places. Dudley Miles (talk) 09:27, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• That's great, thanks Dudley. All dealt with, hopefully satisfactorily. Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 20:14, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]