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This is the final Bond book to be put through PR on its way to FAC. It's been extensively rewritten recently and all comments are welcome. Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 11:16, 1 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The collection contains five short stories: "From a View to a Kill", "For Your Eyes Only", "Quantum of Solace", "Risico" and "The Hildebrand Rarity". A comma before "and"?
Fleming's biographer Andrew Lycett noted that at the time Fleming was writing both the television scripts, Since "Fleming" has been mentioned in the previous sentence, it can be rephrased as:
His biographer Andrew Lycett noted that at the time Fleming was writing both the television scripts,...
The cultural Umberto Eco identifies Can Umberto Eco be briefly introduced in a more concise way rather than just as "the cultural"?
Publication history
For Your Eyes Only was published on 11 April 1960 in the UK as a hardcover edition by publishers Jonathan Cape; "the" should be introduced before "publishers" to avoid a false title.
Since its initial publication the book has been re-issued in hardback and paperback editions, translated into several languages and, as at 2025, has never been out of print. "As of" instead of "as at" before "2025"?
@SchroCat Two more points, please. The plot section, otherwise, is well written.
Plot- Quantum of Solace
The Governor then tells Bond the story of a relationship between a former civil servant, Philip Masters and air hostess Rhoda Llewellyn. This sentence could be rephrased as :
The Governor then tells Bond the story of a relationship between a former civil servant, Philip Masters, and Rhoda Llewellyn, an air hostess. The revised version avoids the false title ("air hostess Rhonda Llewellyn").
Also, since being an air hostess is quite a common and well-known occupation, could it be de-linked here?
You have linked M in the plot summaries of From A View to Kill and For Your Eyes Only, but not in the Risisco. You might as well de-link her in the second short story (i.e. For Your Eyes Only) since all the plot summaries are in the same section and linking M twice as such might constitute duplicate linking.
When Bond arrives on the scene, he finds the Havelocks' daughter, Judy, who intends to carry out her own mission of revenge with a bow and arrow. @SchroCat Could you please clarify the meaning of this sentence as I am yet to read the actual story? Does it mean that he went to find Judy or that he met Judy for the first time in that scene? MSincccc (talk) 10:13, 2 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) As it says, he finds her there. If they had arranged to meet previously, the summary would have introduced her earlier and explained the pre-arrangement. (BTW, Please stop pinging me: I have the page watchlisted, so don't need a ping too). SchroCat (talk) 10:20, 2 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
In For Your Eyes Only, Von Hammerstein is a former Gestapo officer, while the RCMP officer, Colonel Johns, served with the British under Montgomery in the Eighth Army.
In "For Your Eyes Only" the idea of revenge is looked at from a number of angles:...
Bond's approach to killing is also dissected in "For Your Eyes Only",...
is a theme in "The Hildebrand Rarity".
Decline re-appears in "Quantum of Solace" with the ambassador,...
In "For Your Eyes Only" the British residents...
The above are all cases of the specific short story's name been mentioned to discuss the themes depicted in it. Only in the first instance, has the title of the story been kept in italics whereas in the rest of the cases it is enclosed within a "...". Could every mention of the titles be switched to italics or within "...", as you prefer? It will be more consistent to do so. MSincccc (talk) 10:46, 2 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I suppose the above change can be made. Either all the titles in the section can be in italics or enclosed in quotation marks. I look forward to your response. Regards. MSincccc (talk) 11:56, 2 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Yes. I asked you to stop pinging me, so why did you do so again only two hours later? I will deal with the comments once I am ready to, not at your command. - SchroCat (talk) 13:02, 2 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry for the inconveniences caused to you by me. I am at an age when I can get impatient and might ask questions which might irritate others, all of whom are older than me. I hope that you understand. I will be more careful with my pings and revisions in the future. Regards. MSincccc (talk) 13:21, 2 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
"while plot elements from "The Hildebrand Rarity" were used" – this "while" is not too temporal, but I'd still favour a plain "and" here.
"Bond learns that Milton verbally and physically abuses everyone" – we're suddenly on first-name terms – oughtn't he to be Krest here?
"Mrs. Krest, but is unsure which is responsible" – full stop wanted?
"In mid 1958" – a hyphen would be good here.
"his friend and neighbour Noël Coward, whose property was to be called Blue Harbour, before he named it Firefly" – that isn't right. Coward had built Blue Harbour in 1949 and remained its owner for the rest of his life (Lesley, p. 265). He then built a second house nearby, called Firefly, where he lived when in Jamaica (and where he died and is buried – Hoare, p. 517). In his will Coward left Blue Harbour to his secretary, Cole Lesley, (who subsequently sold it) and Firefly to his partner, Graham Payn. Payn decided to give the house to the Jamaican Heritage Trust in 1978 (Hoare, p. 519).
"a real-life police inspector, who Fleming turned into the story's civil servant" – "whom", please.
"the Lido peninsula" – I don't know that I'd call the Lido a peninsula – it's an island (with, it's true, a peninsula at each end, but it's an island just the same).
"Death in Venice, which was set on the Lido" – perhaps "is set" rather than "was set"?
"aids the story moving between the various locations" – not quite sure what you mean here. Is it aiding the story to move or aiding it as it moves?
"with Francis Iles writing in The Guardian, that the structure was "better than the novels" – the "with" construction never strikes me as all that stylish. "...suited Bond: Francis Iles wrote..." might be smoother. And I'd lose the comma.
"occasionally there seem to be echoes of Ashenden" – a blue link to Ashenden: Or the British Agent would help here (and perhaps even in footnote c as well).
"Writing in The New York Times, Anthony Boucher—described by a Fleming biographer, John Pearson considered" – this sentence seems to stray out of control. Are there a closing parenthetic dash and some words missing between Pearson and considered?
"Writing in The Spectator, Cyril Ray, writing under the pseudonym" – two lots of "writing" – you could safely lose the first.
"by a hit man, although it names the hitman as Gonzalez" – two words or one?