The Dick Whittington Affair

Zine
Title:	The Dick Whittington Affair
Publisher:	NorthCoast Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Liza Jones
Cover Artist(s):	Liza Jones
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	1997
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Man from U.N.C.L.E
Language:	English
External Links:	flyer here
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cover by Liza Jones

The Dick Whittington Affair is a 80-page gen Man from UNCLE novel by Liza Jones.

Summary

From the publisher: "Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin are on courier duty to London. But who is the courier? What should have been a straightforward delivery, turns into a mad race around Hampstead and Highgate. There, the heroes run into all kinds of odd people, some good, some very, very bad, and some just minding their own business. Perhaps the oddest meeting of all, is Illya Kuryakin's encounter with Dick Whittington and his legend."

Reactions and Reviews

In her first venture into published fanfic writing, Liza Jones produced a well-crafted, multi-layered gen story. The novella is formatted like a television episode in four subtitled acts. An overlay of an internal memo on the first page serves as the prologue and sets the tone of urgency and danger, which supports the seemingly Machiavellian behavior of Mr. Waverly.

The surface plot is a spy vs. spy conflict, set sometime after "The Project Strigas Affair" of Season One. If Napoleon and Illya are just on a milk run, however, why are THRUSH agents popping out at every turn?

Jones, who lives in Henly-on-Thames in England, used her home-court advantage to capture the international flavor of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." Readers are treated to deftly blended local color while Illya suddenly finds himself out in the cold, wondering who can be trusted.

While the affair spins out of control for Illya, the surface story becomes a springboard for exploring issues of trust within the Command itself.

Napoleon fully understands that allegiance to the U.N.C.L.E. often puts Section II agents in harm's way, but now he finds himself questioning Mr. Waverly's tactics. Does the end really justify the means? As Napoleon races against time to salvage the mission and, hopefully, his partner, he cannot escape the realization that loyalty to the Command and Mr. Waverly may well cost him Illya's trust.

U.N.C.L.E. agents are resourceful, however, and Illya is not altogether on his own as he eludes one THRUSH snare only to fall prey to another. A variety of innocents are caught up into the plot. Who is the mysterious Mr. Jampoi, who keeps encountering Illya in situations the agent cannot explain? And how is it that Dick Whittington, Lord Mayor of London in the Middle Ages, guides the path for a Cold War warrior in the twentieth century?

Suspense and conflict are skillfully woven into portrayals of Kuryakin, Solo, and Waverly that will ring true for MFU fans. Spy gimmick aficionados will enjoy the employment of "File 90 paper" as a plot device. "The Dick Whittington Affair" goes a long way towards explaining Illya's mistrust of doctors, and he certainly has his reasons!