The Last Temptation of Bond

you can't stop it. everyone's expendable, James. everyone's replaceable. even you. especially you. In a penetrating, violent, sexy, and often hilarious apocalypse, a world-famous superspy meets his demise at the hands of an audacious, painstaking poet. Kimmy Beach fuses popular culture and narrative poetry to astonishing effect in this, her fifth book. Feasting on the tropes, traps, and types of the James Bond mythos and doubling back on the incendiary narrative of Nikos Kazantzakis' The Last Temptation of Christ, Beach and her cast of loved-and-left Bond Girls dismantle the man and his mysteries. Fans of Beach's tenacious poetry and readers seeking redemption in explosive narrative and fearless wit will love The Last Temptation of Bond. Poet Kimmy Beach has succeeded where every Bond villain has failed: to kill 007. Front Flap: Kimmy Beach's The Last Temptation of Bond is a frisky and erudite romp into the world of pop culture icon, James Bond. As 007 comes to terms with his own mortality, the women in his life (and there are many), circle in for the kill. Parodies of pop culture have long been Beach's trademark territory, but what sets The Last Temptation of Bond apart from her previous work is the ease with which she straddles the perceived divide between contemporary pop culture and modernist literature. Raunchy and irreverent, The Last Temptation of Bond will appeal to the rabble and the literary aesthetes. Back Cover: Quote 1: Especially You you can't stop it. everyone's expendable, James. everyone's replaceable. even you. especially you. Quote 2: Making a Vesper Martini for You you pull me to you. I feel the Walther P99 under your dinner jacket. (damn it, I always have a bruise there.) you take my mouth. I taste lemon and dry gin, the precursor to your leaving. the edges of your jacket brush me as you turn to go, the screen door banging behind you. I lock the door, pour myself another, watch The Spy Who Loved Me. looking for the real you. Back Flap: Kimmy Beach is the author of four collections of poetry. Her second, Alarum Within: theatre poems has twice been adapted as a stage play. Kimmy has served as Writer in Residence for the Writers Guild of Alberta, the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild, and the Parkland Regional Library. Her work has appeared widely in journals across Canada and in the UK. She lives in Red Deer. Visit her online at www.kimmybeach.com. Other books by Kimmy Beach: Nice Day for Murder: poems for James Cagney, Alarum Within: theatre poems, fake Paul, in Cars. "Essentially Beach takes away the main thing that's made Bond films international hits for five decades - the vicarious jolt of escapist adventure they provide for our ho-hum lives. So how does Bond cope with this smothering dose of reality?. Readers will have to peruse The Last Temptation of Bond, an imaginative pastiche of poetry, prose and playwriting, to see whether the one-time spy gets his action-packed life back." Lana Michelin, Red Deer Advocate, March 15, 2013 "[Kimmy Beach] has a tremendous skill at drawing readers into whatever world she is creating - we see the characters, we hear them and our senses are starkly aware of their surroundings. Readers truly feel close to what's going on. Honestly, there is little that can compare with her boldness as an author and creativity as an artist. Each word feels like it has been carefully chosen, but at the same time the text clips along with a completely natural feel." Mark Weber, Red Deer Express, April 10, 2013 "The poet's fifth collection is an exploration of [James Bond's] essence, the alchemical composition of his fictional (and physical) allure. The Last Temptation of Bond, however, is far more than an erotic exploration of a beloved character; it is also an examination of the limits of that character, the points at which Bond might become fractured and undone. Beach explores Bond at his most vulnerable, at moments of self-doubt, loathing, failure, and fear (the same way Scorsese treats Chri