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Licence To Queer
Keeping 007 alive
Keeping 007 alive

Mark Edlitz’s stunning new book contains interviews with every living author who has penned a Bond novel, from Raymond Benson to Kim Sherwood. It also contains special interviews with the son of John Gardner and Ian Fleming Publication Limited's Managing Director Corinne Turner. The cover art is by Sean Longmore, the illustrations are by Pat Carbajal, the foreword is by three time Bond scribe Bruce Feirstein and the afterword is by me.

“An alternative action hero”
“An alternative action hero”

David was featured on German’s biggest TV channel, ZDF, talking about how James Bond provided him with an alternative role model when he was growing up, especially compared with the supposedly hypermasculine action heroes of 70s and 80s cinema.

Uncovering the Bond art of Michael Gillette
Uncovering the Bond art of Michael Gillette

Michael Gillette’s art is nothing short of beloved by Bond fans. His gorgeous new hardback covers are the culmination of six years of work. He tells the full story here for the first time in this in-depth interview…

Secrets of the Spy Bar
Secrets of the Spy Bar

If I was to tell you that there is a Bond-themed speakeasy bar hidden beneath Whitehall in rooms frequented by intelligence officers during the Second World War, possibly Ian Fleming too, would you accuse me of joking? How about if I added that the bar has an Aston Martin DB5 actually installed into the wall? Well, I never joke about my favourite bars, 007 fans.

Licence To Queer covers queer aspects of Bond books, video games and more. Search here for your favourite titles and characters or find content related to particular queer identities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, etc).

David Lowbridge-Ellis David Lowbridge-Ellis

Queer re-view: Dr. No

You would think that a film which opens with three men pretending to be blind would alert us to the need to look at things differently. But six decades of straight-washing has obscured quite how queer Bond’s beginnings were - and still are to this day. It’s high time we took the blinkers off: Bond was born this way.

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David Lowbridge-Ellis David Lowbridge-Ellis

Queer re-view: Octopussy

It’s not just the zeros that are double in Octopussy, a film queerly obsessed with doppelgängers. We see double when it comes to Fabergé eggs, identical knife-throwers, uncanny clowns and female cult members who share more than a passing resemblance. And let’s not forget Double-0 Seven himself of course. But it’s the titular character’s lesbian utopia that steals the show.

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