Brian James Smith reviews Bond, Queer Bond (2026) av Mark O’Connell

By: Brian James Smith

Published:
2026-05-31

Bond, Queer Bond, Mark O'Connell, book, review

In this ambitious, potentially complex, often moving and highly engrossing book, Mark O’Connell skilfully guides the reader through the lives of the queer talents that have played a pivotal role in the world of Bond, and beyond. ‘It encapsulates,’ says O’Connell, ‘the LGBTQ figures, creatives, artists, moments, fights, politics, and allies that have fed into the history of James Bond.’ It is this nuanced and inclusive approach that gives the book its broad appeal.

The book is structurally clever, delivering an opening chapter ‘pre-title sequence’ exploring both The Trials Of Oscar Wilde (1960) and Cubby Broccoli. Foregoing the typical introduction, Mark O’Connell uses his second chapter, ‘Opening Titles’, to provide the necessary context for his story. Bond, Queer Bond, explains the author, ‘is more about real textures, decisions, people, and sexualities rather than cultural paradigms, subjective coding and gender theories.’ He emphasises that ‘history is not history if it does not include all of us,’ and observes that ‘some of the best stalwarts of censoring queer relevance are other queer people.’ A case in point is William Plomer, Ian Fleming’s editor at Jonathan Cape publishers who ‘perfected various public veneers and versions of themselves.’

Bond is in O’Connell’s DNA. His grandfather was Cubby Broccoli’s chauffeur. He also has a previous Bond book to his credit (and one of my favourites), Catching Bullets: Memoirs Of A Bond Fan (2012). O’Connell is the master of his subject. He combines the literary and cinematic history of Bond with adjacent real-world events, skilfully uniting a diverse cast of characters to create an endlessly captivating exploration of the LGBTQ realm within the world of 007. Notable figures associated with Bond, such as Richard Chopping, Lionel Bart, Peter Hunt and Tom Ford, along with characters like Pussy Galore, Wint & Kidd and Q, are just a few of the individuals who contribute to this narrative.

O’Connell’s meticulous research introduces a wealth of new information. I was particularly drawn to the wonderfully titled chapter ‘May Day by The Bay’, probably because the much-maligned A View to a Kill (1985) remains one of my favourites. This San Francisco-set disquisition reveals a new facet of Fleming’s history, highlighting his friendship with a notable journalist from the San Francisco Chronicle, who decades later has Mayor Dianne Feinstein and A View To A Kill in his crosshairs. Feinstein’s advocacy for San Francisco as a location for the fourteenth EON Production unfolds against the historical backdrop of the City Hall murders of Harvey Milk and then-Mayor Moscone, the White Night Riots (in response to the perpetrator’s lenient sentence) and the developing AIDS crisis. This is an intricate feat of storytelling. Throughout O’Connell writes with clarity and élan.

There are lovely design touches. The illustrations accompanying each chapter title, and the author’s prolific use of his own photography throughout the book - including an eight-page colour section – further enhances its originality. The Bond books and movies are all the richer for what the author describes as the ‘queer DNA of a cultural icon.’

Bond, Queer Bond serves as an enjoyable and inspiring tribute to those individuals to whom we, and James Bond, are greatly indebted.

Review by Brian James Smith. Copyright © 2026 From Sweden with Love. All rights reserved.

Editor's Note:
Order Bond, Queer Bond by Mark O’Connell from Amazon UK or Amazon.com.

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Brian James Smith reviews Bond, Queer Bond (2026) av Mark O’Connell

Bond, Queer Bond serves as an enjoyable and inspiring tribute to those individuals to whom we, and James Bond, are greatly indebted.

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