The Final Affair (Man from U.N.C.L.E. story by David McDaniel)

You may be looking for one of the two stories in The M.U.N.C.L.E. Book.

Fanfiction
Title:	The Final Affair
Author(s):	David McDaniel
Date(s):	approximately 1971
Length:
Genre(s):	gen
Fandom(s):	Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Relationship(s):
External Links:	online here as a pdf
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The Final Affair is a Man from U.N.C.L.E. novel by David McDaniel. It was to have been the last book in the Ace pro series but never published as such. "The Final Affair" is a bit of an odd duck in that it straddles the line between the "professional" fiction it was intended to be and the fanfiction it eventually became. The "The Final Affair" was never published by Ace Books. One reason posited by fans that it 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 .

It was advertised for sale in several zines in 1979. One ad described it as: "A heretofore unpublished major Man from U.N.C.L.E. novel. Hardcover, currently limited to a 500 copy run. Send SASE for publication date and price to Gavin Claypool."

In 1980, it was also advertised, this time mentioning TPTB's permission: "THE FINAL AFFAIR by David McDaniel, author of six MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. novels, is the posthumous publication of his last U.N.C.L.E. novel, never before published, which was intended to bring the series to its conclusion. MGM has granted permission to print 500 hardcover copies only. Send a s.a.s.e. to Gavin Claypool."

Another ad noted that it was "a posthumous publication of his last novel." It is unlikely that this story was ever published in any sort of semi-formal fashion, much less in this proposed hardcover form. Instead, the fiction was passed around in manuscript form and eventually posted to the internet.

One fan writes: "This "Ace’s Man From U.N.C.L.E. paperback series in the last sixties had twenty-three books before it was ended, David McDaniel’s novels were the best selling of all of them. He had six published and a seventh written that never made it to print, the series being canceled before he turned it in... McDaniels’ seventh novel, THE FINAL AFFAIR, was supposed to wrap up the series. For years, copies of the manuscript have been passed around among fans(I have one). Then it became available as a PDF file on the internet. One wonders if it will ever be converted to the Kindle, although I understand Amazon has finally okayed PDF programming in Kindles."