Tag Archives: Book

Pussy Galore Returns to James Bond Series, But is She Still a Lesbian?

You may not have know this, but in the original James Bond books, the infamous Pussy Galore, was a violet-eyed lesbian gangster dreamed up by Ian Fleming for Goldfinger.

This fact was never mentioned in the film – only hinted at when Bond tried to charm her, to which she replies “I’m immune”.

However, now she is set for a reboot in Anthony Horowitz’s new James Bond tale Trigger Mortis.

The Foyle’s War creator unveiled the title, the plot outline and the cover or his new Bond thriller this week. Set in 1957, the story takes place two weeks after the events of Goldfinger, placing Bond in the middle of the Soviet-American Space Race as the US prepares for a critical rocket launch.

As well as bringing back Pussy Galore, Horowitz has also dreamed up a new Bond girl, Jeopardy Lane, as well as a “sadistic, scheming Korean adversary hell-bent on vengeance.”

Pussy Galore last appeared at the end of the 1959 novel Goldfinger, in “nothing but a grey fisherman’s jersey that was decent by half an inch”. She and Bond pair had just been rescued from a life raft after they made it off Goldfinger’s plane.

Pussy asks 007 “not in a gangster’s voice, or a Lesbian’s, but in a girl’s voice, ‘Will you write to me in Sing Sing?’” Bond looks into her “deep blue-violet eyes that were no longer hard, imperious”, and says: “They told me you only liked women.” Pussy replies: “I never met a man before,” and Bond’s mouth “came ruthlessly down on hers”.

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The plot for Trigger Mortis includes Fleming’s own treatment for an un-filmed episode of a television series, Murder on Wheels, in which Bond gets involved in a Formula One race in Germany.

This is thought to be the opening scene of Trigger Mortis.

It was great fun revisiting the most famous Bond girl of all – although she is by no means the only dangerous lady in Trigger MortisI hope fans enjoy it. My aim was to make this the most authentic James Bond novel anyone could have written.”

Lucy Fleming, the niece of Ian Fleming, said

It was almost as if Ian had written [Trigger Mortis] himself. It does feel like a Fleming book. It takes place a couple of weeks after Goldfinger – Pussy’s back, which is fantastic, and we’ve got a particularly good villain in Sin – he’s absolutely horrible, a megalomaniac type, but fascinating as well. Pussy Galore is one of the iconic characters from the films and the books . It will be interesting to see what the public make of that.”

Maria Bello Questions the Labels We Give Ourselves

In November 2013, Bello wrote a column for the “Modern Love” section of The New York Times called “Coming Out as a Modern Family” about her family. For Bello, her “modern family” consists of her beloved son, a close friendship with her ex-husband and a romantic pairing with her long-time friend Claire Munn, whom Maria only realised she was in love with when she was 45 years old.

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The column received thousands of comments, which prompted her to write a book called Whatever…Love is Love: Questioning the Labels We Give Ourselves.

The book allows Bello to explore various aspects of her life. For example, each chapter starts with a question like “Am I a Catholic?” and “Am I LGBT or W?” – The “W” stands for “whatever”. It’s also a book about loving yourself and honouring the real relationships in your life, whether or not they fit the model of what family, friends or lovers are “supposed” to look like. Rejecting that nasty compulsory white-cis-heterosexism that tries to trap women – just find a man, and you’ll be OK.

I raised questions about the meaning of partnership, modern family, and the labels we all carry. I wrote about the people standing by my bedside when I was sick at the time.

They were all my partners in some way, whether I slept in the same bed with them, did homework with them or had a child with them. When I told my son that I had fallen in love with a woman [Clare Munn] who was like a godmother to him, he simply said to me, ‘Whatever, Mom…Love is love’. That statement opened up a door to a larger conversation about how many of the labels we use today are outdated.”

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In a recent interview with on GLAAD: All Access, hosted Claire Pires, actress Maria Bello opened up about her new book. Watch the interview here: