Original novels
Two dozen original novels were based upon Man from U.N.C.L.E. and published between 1965 and 1968 (for a time, the most of any American-produced television series except for Star Trek, though there have now been more original novels published based upon Alias and Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Freed from the limitations of network television, these novels were generally grittier and more violent than the televised episodes and were very successful.
1. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (a.k.a. The Thousand Coffins Affair) - Michael Avallone
2. The Doomsday Affair - Harry Whittington
3. The Copenhagen Affair - John Oram
4. The Dagger Affair - David McDaniel
5. The Mad Scientist Affair - John T. Phillifent
6. The Vampire Affair - McDaniel
7. The Radioactive Camel Affair - Peter Leslie
8. The Monster Wheel Affair - McDaniel
9. The Diving Dames Affair - Leslie
10. The Assassination Affair - J. Hunter Holly
11. The Invisibility Affair - Buck Coulson and Gene DeWeese (writing as “Thomas Stratton”)
12. The Mind Twisters Affair - “Stratton”
13. The Rainbow Affair - McDaniel
14. The Cross of Gold Affair - Ron Ellik and Fredric Langley (writing as “Fredric Davies”)
15. The Utopia Affair - McDaniel
16. The Splintered Sunglasses Affair - Leslie
17. The Hollow Crown Affair - McDaniel
18. The Unfair Fare Affair - Leslie
19. The Power Cube Affair - Phillifent
20. The Corfu Affair - Phillifent
21. The Thinking Machine Affair - Joel Bernard
22. The Stone Cold Dead in the Market Affair - Oram
23. The Finger in the Sky Affair - Leslie.
Another volume, The Final Affair, also by David McDaniel, was completed but not published. Copies of the manuscript have circulated among fans for decades. Written after the series was cancelled, it was intended to provide a definitive conclusion to Solo and Illya’s adventures. At one time there were plans to publish The Final Affair in a limited deluxe edition, but the project failed. Another book, The Catacombs and Dogma Affair, has been mentioned in some sources, but it isn’t listed as one of the official U.N.C.L.E. novels (it’s possible it might be one of the above volumes, retitled, or it may be the unpublished second U.N.C.L.E.novel by J. Hunter Holly, which has been circulated in mimeographed form among fans). Volumes 10-15 and 17 of the series were only published in the United States.
Two science-fiction novels - Genius Unlimited by John Rackham (a pseudonym used by Phillifent) and The Arsenal Out of Time by McDaniel - appear to be rewrites of “orphaned” U.N.C.L.E novel outlines or manuscripts.
The Rainbow Affair is notable for its thinly-disguised cameo appearances by The Saint, Miss Marple, John Steed, Emma Peel, Tommy Hambledon (at whose flat Solo and Ilya encounter Steed and Peel), Neddie Seagoon, Father Brown, a retired, elderly Sherlock Holmes, and Dr. Fu Manchu. The novel uses the same chapter title format that Leslie Charteris used in his Saint novels. (The title of one of the theatrical versions of UNCLE episodes, The Spy in the Green Hat, is very close to the title of The Man in the Green Hat, one of the “Hambledon” novels by “Manning Coles”.)
Whitman Books also published three hardcover novels aimed at young readers and based upon the series. The first two books break the naming convention “The …. Affair” used by all other U.N.C.L.E. fiction and episodes:
1. The Affair of the Gunrunners’ Gold - Brandon Keith
2. The Affair of the Gentle Saboteur - Brandon Keith
3. The Calcutta Affair - George S. Elrick
A children’s storybook written by Walter Gibson entitled The Coin of El Diablo Affair was also published.
The aforementioned digest magazine based upon Man from U.N.C.L.E. and often featured original novellas that were not published anywhere else. These novellas, published under the house name “Robert Hart Davis,” were actually written by such authors as John Jakes, Dennis Lynds, and Bill Pronzini. There were 24 issues running monthly from February 1966 till January 1968, inclusive.
