Former James Bond author creates female heroine in "The Black Stiletto"

Raymond Benson is no stranger to writing action heroes. As the author of several James Bond thrillers, he's written high-octane adventures for one of the most iconic characters in books and movies. After concluding his run with 007 in the anthology "Choice of Weapons," he moved on to create his own heroine, a mysterious woman named "The Black Stiletto."

Taking place in the 1950's, "The Black Stiletto" is a pulp-noir-adventure along the lines of "The Shadow" or "The Spider", but featuring a femme fatale who could hold her own with any of these pulp legends. With two books already published, and another on the way, Benson took time from his busy schedule to tell Geek To Me readers where the idea for The Black Stiletto came from; why he thinks female heroines are finally catching on; and what his expectations are for the new James Bond movie "Skyfall":

Geek To Me: Tell us a bit about The Black Stiletto, where did the idea of creating this heroine first come from?

Raymond Benson: In early 2009 my manager Peter Miller and I were having lunch, and he told
me I should come up with something that women would like, because the bigger percentage of readers are women.  I facetiously said, "How about a female superhero?" because of the success of the recent Marvel and DC movies.  We both laughed and then he stopped, pointed at me, and said, "That's actually not a bad idea."  I thought about it a lot and considered that if I did create such a character, I wanted her to be as realistic as possible.  "Mad Men" was admittedly an influence; I wanted to set the story in the late 50s/early 60s.  At the same time I had a different story brewing in my head about a grown son taking care of his mother withAlzheimer's, and he discovers some dramatic secret about her past.  So I combined the two ideas and it clicked.  And women do seem to like it, and men, too!

RB: Because it's about time?  Seriously, why shouldn't female protagonists be as popular as males?  I spent seven years writing testosterone-fueled James Bond novels.  After that gig ended in 2002, I went on to write my own suspense thrillers, and nearly all of them feature female protagonists.  I don't know why that is, other than that I found them to be more compelling characters.  Most of them are moms.  I'll let the psychoanalysts figure out why I'm comfortable writing women characters... maybe it's because I'm such a fan of Ingmar Bergman and Woody Allen, both of whom wrote terrific roles for women.
RB: As I mentioned, the brilliant TV series "Mad Men" was hot, and the retro thing was in vogue.  I lived through it, too, albeit at a very young age, so I could relate.  And given the fact that the Black Stiletto series consists of two parallel stories--one in the present and one in the past--it made sense chronologically for Judy's story to be told in that time period.  I also envisioned her as something of a "female version of the Shadow."  Her vigilantism works best in an era before cell phones and computers.
RB: Sure, knowing what to wear! (smiles) Actually that's true, the clothes and make-up and girls-only stuff that men know nothing about are the hard parts, but my wife and other readers vet my manuscripts to make sure I get that right.  As for everything else, the task is no different from writing any other character.  Authors often create characters who are different races and genders from themselves.  It's part of the job.
RB: Well, that's probably a true assessment--that it wouldn't have been done with a male character--but in this case I wonder if creating that back story for Lara Croft was even necessary.  I don't know a lot about Lara Croft except that she's really Angelina Jolie. (smiles) As for the Black Stiletto, she is a survivor of an assault, but this is essential to her mindset of becoming a vigilante that fights social injustice.  Given the setting, the time period, and the situation in which the assault occurred (Judy was almost fourteen), it's entirely realistic and probable.
RB: The seven years I spent as the Bond author was a roller-coaster.  I was on a much larger world stage.  I was also working for the franchise's keepers, so the character was never mine.  You're given the protagonist, Bond is set; the biggest challenge is coming up with the villains and their plots because they have to be original.  Ian Fleming once said he didn't mind if his plots were "improbable" as long as they weren't "impossible."  I thoroughly enjoyed writing Bond; I traveled the globe and met a lot of interesting people, but I can't say it wasn't a tremendous amount of hard work.

RB: I've gotten to where I simply don't have expectations; I just go to the theater when the film opens and enjoy myself.

RB: All of them, of course.
RB: The third book is finished and it will be published by Oceanview in April 2013.  I'm working on the fourth now.  The film and TV rights were acquired recently and of course it would be lovely if something happened in that regard.  I just hope that the series continues to be discovered by new readers.

RB: Here are the primary sites: 
www.facebook.com/AuthorRaymondBenson
@RaymondBenson
www.raymondbenson.com
www.theblackstiletto.net

Note that on the official Black Stiletto page, users can download a free teaser short story and a "Black Stiletto Song."

G2M: Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!

ELLIOTT SERRANO IS A REDEYE SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR AND 27TH IN LINE TO TAKE OVER IN THE ROLE OF 'Q' FOR THE JAMES BOND MOVIES.

FOLLOW ELLIOTT ON TWITTER!