Rare Ian Fleming story features a Londoner named Bone, Caffery Bone

By Hillel Italie

“James Bond” creator Ian Fleming didn’t need to write about Cold War intrigue to consider the ways people scheme against each other. “The Shameful Dream,” a rare Fleming work published this week, is a short story about a Londoner named Bone, Caffery Bone.

Fleming’s protagonist is the literary editor of Our World, a periodical “designed to bring power and social advancement to Lord Ower,” its owner. Bone has been summoned to spend Saturday evening with Lord and Lady Ower, transported to them in a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce. Bone suspects, with a feeling of “inevitable doom,” that he is to meet the same fate of so many employed by Lord Ower — removed from his job and soon forgotten.

“For Lord Ower sacked everyone sooner or later, harshly if they belonged to no union or with a fat check if they did and were in a position to hit back,” Fleming