Take Over (James Bond)

''Take Over'' is an unpublished 1970 James Bond novel purportedly written by Ian Fleming six years after his death. Spy author Donald McCormick believes this "remarkable story" is perhaps Ian Fleming's strangest legacy. In 1970 a retired bank officer and his daughter who have never been identified claimed to have transcribed works from the "great yonder" by deceased authors. None of the works has ever been published.

Plot

Few details are known other than the plot involves "a poisonous gas which will enable its users to dominate the world." Peter Fleming conceded that this was "the sort of preposterous, cosmic story-line which might have occurred to Ian." Traditional Bond elements such as M, Miss Moneypenny and Universal Exports also appear, though the story contains more sex than other Bond novels.

History

Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels, died on 12 August 1964 of a heart attack. His brother Peter Fleming, himself also an author and occasional novelist, was a director of Glidrose Publications, the corporate entity Ian Fleming had established to administer the Bond copyright. Donald McCormick describes Peter Fleming as "level-headed" and "down-to-earth."

In October 1970 a retired 73-year-old bank officer - only identified as "Mr. A." - wrote to Peter Fleming cryptically offering some "unusual" and "very pleasurable" news about Peter's late brother Ian. Mr. A. asked to meet Peter Fleming at the latter's Oxfordshire estate. Peter Fleming reluctantly agreed and so a meeting was set for the following Sunday.

Mr. A. traveled from Hertfordshire with his middle-aged daughter Vera. With them was a 60,000 word manuscript entitled ''Take Over: A James Bond Thriller''.

Mr. A.'s wife - Vera's mother - had died in 1967. In December 1969, when Vera was recovering from an illness, she glanced at her mother's framed photograph on the piano and wished they could still talk. With pen in hand Vera found herself writing - with difficulty - on the writing pad in front of her, "I love you Vera."

Further extrasensory communication ensued. The automatic writing gradually became easier and the handwriting became that of her mother's. According to Vera and her father, Vera's handwriting "had always been rounded, loopy and backward-sloping." Vera had struggled to correct this having been repeatedly told at school that such penmanship was "a sign of bad character". But no matter how often school masters implored her, she could not remedy matters. But whilst transmitting messages from her mother, her own handwriting became sharp, pointed and italic, sloping "steeply forwards" like her mother's.

At first the deceased Mrs. A. began describing life after death to her daughter. Eventually Mrs. A. began dictating new works of fiction by deceased authors who would not let death hamper their literary ambitions. Also in this spiritual consortium were Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells