309-] English Literature
John Gardner
John Gardner
John Edmund Gardner
(born November 20, 1926- died 3 August 2007) was an English spy novelist.
He wrote 16 James
Bond novels from 1981 to 1996.
Contents
1 Biography
2 Bibliography
2.1 Boysie Oakes novels
2.2 Derek Torry novels
2.3 Professor Moriarty novels
2.4 Herbie Kruger novels
2.5 James Bond novels
2.6 The Railton family novels
2.7 Detective Sergeant Suzie Mountford novels
2.8 Other books
Biography
Gardner was born in
Northumbria. He graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge and did
postgraduate study at Oxford. Gardner volunteered for service in the Royal
Marines during World War II. Gardner's father was a clergyman in the Church of
England and encouraged Gardner to follow his example. Gardner was ordained and
served as a priest for seven years before deciding he did not have the proper
vocation and withdrawing from the clergy. He then worked as a journalist and
theatre critic.
In 1964, Gardner
began his novelist career with The Liquidator, in which he created a richly
comic character named Boysie Oakes who inadvertently is mistaken to be a tough,
pitiless man of action and is thereupon recruited into a British spy agency.
Oakes is, in actuality, a devout coward with many other character failings who
wants nothing more than to be left alone and is terrified by the situations
into which he is constantly being forced. The book appeared at the height of
the fictional spy mania and as a send-up of the whole business was an immediate
success. It was made into a movie, and another seven light-hearted novels about
the cowardly Oakes appeared over the next 12 years.
Following the success
of his Oakes books, Gardner continued to write with new characters; Derek
Torry, Herbie Kruger, and the Railton family, which he intended as more serious
works in the spy novel genre. Gardner also wrote three novels (the third of
which was never released due to a dispute with the publisher) using the
character of Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes series.
In 1981, Gardner was
asked to revive Ian Fleming's James Bond series of novels. Between 1981 and
1996, Gardner wrote sixteen James Bond novels. While the books were commercial
successes, Gardner was ambivalent about writing novels with a character he
hadn't created. In 1996 Gardner officially retired from writing Bond novels.
Glidrose Publications quickly chose Raymond Benson to continue the literary
stories of James Bond.
In the late 1990s,
Gardner stopped writing for several years due to a prolonged battle with cancer
and the death of his wife in 1997. Gardner recovered and returned to print in
2001 with a new novel, Day of Absolution, which was widely praised by critics.
Gardner also began a series of books with a new character, Suzie Mountford, a
1930's police detective.
Gardner passed away
in 2007.
Bibliography
Boysie Oakes novels
The Liquidator (1964)
Understrike (1965)
Amber Nine (1966)
Madrigal (1967)
Founder Member (1969)
The Airline Pirates
aka Air Apparent (1970)
Traitor's Exit (1970)
Killer for a Song
(1976)
Derek Torry novels
A Complete State of
Death (1969)
Corner Men (1974)
Professor Moriarty
novels
Return of Moriarty
(1974)
Revenge of Moriarty
(1975)
Herbie Kruger novels
Nostradamus Traitor
(1979)
Garden of Weapons
(1980)
Quiet Dogs (1982)
Maestro (1993)
Confessor (1995)
James Bond novels
Licence Renewed
(1981)
For Special Services
(1982)
Icebreaker (1983)
Role of Honour (1984)
Nobody Lives For Ever
(1986)
No Deals, Mr. Bond
(1987)
Scorpius (1988)
Win, Lose or Die
(1989)
Licence to Kill
(1989) - novelization of a film script
Brokenclaw (1990)
The Man from
Barbarossa (1991) - his favorite of his Bond novels
Death is Forever
(1992)
Never Send Flowers
(1993)
SeaFire (1994)
GoldenEye (1995) -
novelization of a film script
COLD aka Cold Fall
(1996)
The Railton family
novels
Secret Generations
(1985)
The Secret Houses
(1988)
The Secret Families
(1989)
Detective Sergeant
Suzie Mountford novels
Bottled Spider (2002)
The Streets of Town
(2003)
Angels Dining at the
Ritz (2004)
Troubled Midnight
(2005)
No Human Enemy (2007)
Other books
Hideaway (1968) -
short story collection
The Censor (1970)
Every Night's a
Bullfight (1971)
Assassination File
(1974) - short story collection
To Run a Little
Faster (1976)
The Werewolf Trace
(1977)
The Dancing Dodo
(1978)
Golgotha (1980)
The Director (1982)
Flamingo (1983)
