Ted Johnstone

Fan
Name:	Ted Johnstone
Alias(es):	his real name was David McDaniel
Type:
Fandoms:	Tolkien, Man from UNCLE, Coventry
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Ted Johnstone was a hyperfan from the 1960s. Among many, many other things, he was the editor of the first Tolkien club journal, I-Palantir, was active in gaming communities (specifically "Coventry" which was supposedly a precursor to Dungeons and Dragons), and was the author (under his real name, David McDaniel) of the Man from UNCLE Tie-in novels.

Man from UNCLE Tie-Novels

Some fans consider these pro novels to be fanfic, so much that McDaniel's novels were recced on Crack Van. From a fan in 2009:

Before the term "fanfiction" was coined, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. had it.

By the time The Man from U.N.C.L.E. came along in the mid-1960s, novelizations of films and tie-in novels for television series were nothing new. I remember my mother reading a YA-type novel based on the western series, Maverick to me when I was about seven.

What was new for U.N.C.L.E. were the authors who were contracted to write them. Ace Books, Inc. was one of the first companies to be signed as a licensee of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. tie-in merchandise at a time when the television series was not doing well in the ratings. Nevertheless, an assistant editor at Ace, the later SF legend, Terry Carr, thought a U.N.C.L.E. inspired novel might successfully cash in on the Bond phenomenon. At first, he hired professional suspense writers like Michael Avallone. Over in the U.K., Ace’s counterpart, Souvenir Press, recruited authors John Oram, Peter Leslie, John T. Phillifent, and Joel Bernard, some of whom were experienced genre writers with scientific backgrounds.

But many of these writers just couldn’t get the ‘feel’ of MFU, so Carr turned to the SF community to recruit talented amateurs ---ie: fans. One of the first and, arguably, the best, was David McDaniel who wrote six published novels and one unpublished for Ace(The Final Affair is still available within the fandom as a zine).

McDaniel became interested in U.N.C.L.E. and was particularly fascinated with the concept of Thrush. He’s the one who came up with “The Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity,” an acronym that the producers began using in interviews.

The editor of the Man from UNCLE books said, "I commissioned him to write those MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. novels because I admired his narrative skills combined with his playfulness; they were *extremely* good for what they were."

He (under the the David McDaniel) sold six of these novelizations: {{Quotation|After second novel, he apparently had made the unpleasant discovery that he was not to become rich from writing U.N.C.L.E. novels... [It was] in his third novel, THE MONSTER WHEEL AFFAIR, in 1967, readers found that the first letter in each chapter title spelled out the message 'A.A. Wyn is a tightwad' which went unnoticed by the publisher of Ace Books, Mr. Wyn." He also dedicated that book to "'Ted Johnstone, for 10 years of unremitting labor which put me where I am today'."

Lee and Barry Gold, who were close personal friends of McDaniel, produced a series of "keys to references" made in the various books, to explain various in-jokes and fannish references that were made.

The last novel, which Johnstone titled, "The Final Affair" was never published by Ace Books. One reason may be because it leapt beyond the constraints of the series by killing off one of the major characters, although it appears it was a combination of McDaniel being several months late in writing it, the television show no longer being aired, and it being overlooked in the turmoil of the publisher losing its president and various people resigning. .

The book is available online.

The Dagger Affair

Many fans count McDaniel’s The Vampire Affair as their favorite, but for me, it’s his first book, The Dagger Affair that’s best. In it, McDaniel is at his creative and light-hearted best exploring a situation in which U.N.C.L.E. and Thrush actually have to work together to defeat a loose cannon nutcase scientist.

Solo and Kuryakin go to San Francisco where they are introduced to the powerful and erudite Thrush chief, Ward Baldwin and his equally fascinating wife, Irene. The Baldwins were based on the real life Dean and Shirley Dickensheet, well known in LASF circles. The characters give McDaniel an opportunity to construct a more elaborate history for Thrush and to present it from an entirely different perspective.

[...]

I’d recommend that anyone writing MFU fanfiction, particularly if it deals with Thrush, to read this witty, clever and thoroughly enjoyable book, the first piece of MFU fanfiction to reach a wide audience.

I have a strong love/hate relationship with this novel.

I love McDaniel's vision of Thrush. Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin are intelligent, charismatic, and even honourable. Their complete lack of compassion for humanity is a far more believable and entertaining version of evil than the standard TV villains. It scares me a little how easily Mrs. Baldwin could recruit me.

However, McDaniel's characterization of both Napoleon and Illya in this particular novel got on my nerves. His Napoleon struck me as a fumbling, clueless incompetent, whose only virtue was his honesty in admitting his partner's genius in all things. At one point, Napoleon detailed a brilliant plan, and I thought, at last, some indication of why he's C.E.A. But no, it was all Illya's idea. Again. I love a strong and brilliant Illya, but I felt that in The Dagger Affair he was Illya Sue. Too perfect to be a human being or an interesting character.

I want to emphasize, however, that I'm not criticizing your decision to recommend this novel. If there was a MfU required reading list, I believe that The Dagger Affair should be included because of McDaniel's compelling version of Thrush. Plus, this novel the groundwork for the cool sequel, which contains what I consider to be the canon version of Thrush Central. I'm just thankful that in McDaniel's later novels, Napoleon and Illya had much more of an equal partnership.

His Napoleon struck me as a fumbling, clueless incompetent

I'm not sure it bothered me all that much but it was McDaniel's first try at it. What sticks in my mind the most was the Baldwin's and the Thrush material. As you say, it's really the best grounding for a good understanding of Thrush.

Although Illya is the enigmatic one, I think Solo is actually more difficult to get right. Early fanfic almost always favored Illya and Solo came off a bumbler even worse than in this book.

Thankfully, for the most part, that's changed now.

The Vampire Affair

When I was a teen and Man From U.N.C.L.E. was originally broadcast, I bought the "tie-in" paperback books at the grocery store. I read the books so many times that I memorized them. The paperback stories were very innocent, but exciting to a young teenage girl like me.

When my daughters grew old enough they also read all the paperbacks and watched the rebroadcasts of the series. Now one of my daughters tapes the show on Amerilife Cable for me. Lately I've been walking down memory lane as my "baby" is turning 21 and my eldest is getting married. So I thought I'd do something a little different in this recommendation and point people to a website that has copied some of the paperbacks so that you can read the stories on-line. (And save the 50 cents a book it cost me.[grin])

One of my favorite stories was "The Vampire Affair" because of its humor and adventure. From the Back Cover

The body had been drained of blood . . . .

In a remote area of the Transylvanian Alps, an U.N.C.L.E. agent had been killed in mysterious circumstances. The man's footprints in the snow led up to the base of the tree where he had been killed, but there were no pursuing tracks, no clues at all as to what doom had overtaken him.

There were only the two small holes in the neck, and a complete absence of blood.

Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin didn't believe in vampires — but as they investigated their fellow-agent's death they were forced again and again to wonder if perhaps the old terrors of the region had more reality than the world would like to think.

I'm very firmly of the opinion that "authorized" books and magazine stories of series are fanfiction. *g* (Thanks for pointing out the site for folks, always gets a few more people to volunteer to type stuff up for me! And reminds me that I need to email the folks who've said they would and haven't sent me stuff yet. *vbg*)