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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).
The name’s Leflour, Jill Leflour
Growing up in rural France, Jill created a James Bond persona to try to process his gender dysphoria. Now out as a trans gay man, living and working in London, Jill attended the premiere of No Time To Die and has been processing his feelings about the film ever since. We talked about why James Bond means so much to us as queer people, why we see things others overlook and how our partners accommodate our Bond obsessions.
Queer re-view: No Time To Die
James Bond is dead! But only in a literal sense. With classical parallels aplenty, No Time To Die secures Bond’s place in the pantheon of queer heroes, making a myth out of 007 by turning him into a being we recognise as human - whoever we might be.
(Gold)finger food - and lots lots more
Friend of Licence To Queer, Edward Biddulph (author of Licence To Cook) takes us on a guided tour through the somewhat gluttonous Goldfinger. Be warned: the multifarious delights are mouthwatering and sometimes messy. Better bring the napkins.
Salud! The end of an era!
In the time between Spectre and No Time To Die coming out, a lot has happened. For Sam Rogers, this included his own coming out. Here he reflects on what the film means to him as a gay man and a Bond fan in general.
Book Review: Fashioning James Bond by Dr Llewella Chapman
This indispensable book opens up the closet on six decades of Bond clothing. Like Bond with his fashion choices, Dr Chapman bends the rules, refusing to confine herself to a single gender. For once, it’s not merely the men’s garments garnering all of the attention.
“I'm going to tell you a story about a man. His name is Bond, James Bond.”
Given recent onscreen events, how could an uncle could resist introducing his five year old niece to James Bond? We only managed 15 minutes of Octopussy before the cats provided a sweeter distraction. Even so, the pre-title sequence left her wanting more of Moore, so we'll try again in another year or two.
That or the priesthood: Bond’s queer calling
In the world of Bond, religion is often portrayed as being as hollow as a diamond smuggler’s Bible. But questioning an institution does not necessarily preclude believing in it. Queer Christian Kathleen Jowitt uncovers deep connections between religion and 007, revealing that a monk and a hitman might have more in common that we might think.
No Crying Shame
No Time To Die has prompted discussion about what is and isn't "Bond", and has provoked emotional responses from fans and sceptics alike. In this unflinchingly honest and beautiful piece, Craig Gent reflects on his childhood relationship to 007 and how Daniel Craig's final bow has given him the Bond he longed for all along.
I wanna take Craig to a gay bar - here’s why
How are we supposed to feel about Daniel Craig’s ‘revelation’ that he prefers gay bars to straight equivalents? Why are some appalled while others are applauding? Why is this even a story anymore?
Book Review: No Time To Die - The Making of The Film by Mark Salisbury
There are Making Of books and there are Making Of books. This is the latter.
No Time To Die ‘off the cuff’
No Time To Die is a deeply, magnificently queer film, so it will take me some time to pull together my thoughts and polish them into a queer re-view. However, this is the rough first draft - in podcast form.
The 'Golden Age' of James Bond books - that defining era when Ian Fleming delivered a title a year - is a period rightly bathed in the reverential glow. Fleming’s run is the undisputed gold standard, the foundation upon which the entire modern espionage thriller was built. But we should not let literary history overshadow the fact that we are currently living through a uniquely bright period: the Diamond Age of Bond fiction.