Copyright Men's Journal
She may have been pining for James Bond in the various films, but a new official 007 adventure, the famous character of Miss Moneypenny, is hooking up not with Bond himself, but instead, with one character you might never expect: Q. In a new James Bond spinoff novel, Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan, it is revealed that the gadget-master Q, whose real name is Major Boothroyd, had a romantic liaison with Moneypenny, unknown to James Bond. “Q, of course, is not a womaniser, but nobody is divorced from the practicalities of life, or their emotions,” Khan explained in an interview with The Radio Times. Entertainment The Next James Bond Installment Has Finally Confirmed a Title and Release Date Ryan Britt What is Quantum of Menace? Should readers imagine Ben Whishaw getting cozy with Naomie Harris, the most recent Q and Moneypenny from the films? Or what about a romance between Desmond Llewelyn and Lois Maxwell from the majority of the classic films? Khan makes it clear that this new book version of Q is perhaps a blend of both. “My Q is in his 50s – he’s not Llewelyn, he’s a bit younger than that,” Khan explained in the Radio Times interview. “So he can do a bit more action if necessary, but also, at the same time, he’s clued up on modern tech and cyber security and all of those things the way that Ben Whishaw.” Quantum of Menace will focus on the story of Q as he leaves MI6 and investigates the murder of a childhood friend in his hometown of Wickstone-on-Water. Khan makes it clear that this new story isn’t strictly a spy book, and is more of a mystery in line with the popular series Thursday Murder Club or Slow Horses. And yet, like Kim Sherwood’s Double O books, this still comes from the world of James Bond. (Of note, in Sherwood’s books, Q has been replaced by a massive A.I., and Moneypenny is basically running MI6.) Clearly, Quantum of Menace will bring things very much down-to-earth in a classic whodunnit fashion. Entertainment James Bond 26: Everything We Know About the Next 007 Film So Far Ryan Britt Reacher Creator Lee Child Has Praised Quantum of Menace Although the author and creator of Reacher, Lee Child, has expressed decidedly mixed feelings about James Bond in the past, and even turned down the offer to write a new series of Bond books at one point. That said, Child has thrown his support behind the Khan’s new Q mystery series. For Quantum of Menace, Child has provided a blurb that reads: “Pay attention 007…this is the story we always wanted…Fast, wise, funny, suspenseful, and highly recommended.”
