Shaken, not stirred  Good a writer as Sebastian Faulks is,
bringing Ian Fleming's hero back to life is a task that might
daunt even James Bond himself.   • Jump to comments ()  His word
was his Bond: Lt-Cdr Patrick Dalzel-Job, the true-life original
of Ian Fleming's hero.  My first reaction on hearing the news
that Sebastian Faulks had been asked by the Ian Fleming estate
to write a fresh James Bond novel was the same as any thriller
writer. Why didn't they ask someone who handles twisty plots,
high body counts and fetishistic gun lore in their novels?
Someone like me. The last time they tried to get all literary,
look what happened. We got Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis, a kind
of Lucky Jim Bond.  My second reaction? Thank the Lord they
didn't ask me. What a poisoned chalice. I have had a small taste
of the whirlwind Sebastian will reap. My next novel features
Lawrence of Arabia, another iconic Englishman, and I have
already experienced the disapproval of devotees when I told them
my TEL wouldn't be buggered b