The Flower Power Affair

Fanfiction
Title:	The Flower Power Affair
Author(s):	Jean Graham
Date(s):	1994
Length:
Genre:
Fandom:	Man from U.N.C.L.E.
External Links:	online here
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The Flower Power Affairis a Man from U.N.C.L.E. story by Jean Graham.

It was published in the zines Incognito, The Kuryakin File #13, and is online.

Summary

"While undercover in Greenwich Village as free-loving hippies, will our heroes trip up or trip out?"

Reactions and Reviews

It almost goes without saying that I'm a huge fan of Jean's work. She writes plausible, perfectly paced and engaging plots with some really fun OCs. Her Napoleon and Illya are the cool, dryly witty professionals with a quietly thoughtful streak. She evokes the time period so well; you definitely won't find misplaced attempts at "groovy" slang here! The series itself was ambivalent towards the flower power youth that largely made up its fan base; although the extensive rounds of appearances by the actors and flood of print promotion sought to secure their devotion, the portrayal of youth in the episodes is less than flattering - just look at "Cap and Gown." But for all their follies, these idealists are not simple innocents, as Illya learn.

This story is heaps of fun. It gleefully embraces the 'undercover-as-a-gay-couple' theme, and livens it up with an entertaining cast of hippy youngsters, mind-altering drugs galore, Illya's hilarious attempts at beat poetry, and cheeky banter between the two agents.

Poor Napoleon, accustomed to tuxedos and martinis, is the fish out of water as he grapples with Illya's bisexuality, their too-cosy sleeping arrangements, the absence of cufflinks and ties in his new wardrobe, and the preparations required to make chicken salad. Not to mention a Thrush plot to brainwash young people and an annoying rival for Illya's affections. And the missing hair oil.

Illya, on the other hand, has a whale of a time.