The Collection: The Summer of '65 Affair

Zine
Title:	The Collection: The Summer of '65 Affair
Publisher:	Oddbalz & Mayhem Press
Editor:
Author(s):	LRH Balzer and Patricia Foley
Cover Artist(s):	Warren Oddsson
Illustrator(s):	Warren Oddsson
Date(s):	May 1995, 2008
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Man from UNCLE
Language:	English
External Links:	2nd Edition 2008 cover by Warren Oddsson Archive of Our Own
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1995 front over by Warren Oddsson

1995 back cover, Warren Oddsson

The Collection: The Summer of '65 Affair is a gen 214-page Man from UNCLE anthology by LRH Balzer and Patricia Foley. Covers & illustrations by: Warren Oddsson. It includes the following stories that occur immediately after the events of My Brother's Keeper.

First edition (1995) includes:

• The Rushin' Fool Affair by L.R.H. Balzer
• The Red Retriever Affair by Patricia J. Foley
• Cost Accounting by Patricia J. Foley
• The Eye of the Hurricane Affair by L.R.H. Balzer

Second Edition (2008) available in Print and on CD. All stories by L.R.H. Balzer, including:

• The Rushin' Fool
• The Double Dipping Affair
• Regaining Footing
• White Knight in the Side Pocket
• The Eye of the Hurricane Affair

a 1995 flyer for the series up through v.7

Series

In published order:

• The Dutch Blitz Affair
• The Defector From Leningrad Affair
• The Collection: Year One
• Kolya's Son
• My Brother's Keeper
• The Collection: The Summer of '65 Affair
• The Northern Lights Affair
• Haunted Nights
• The Changeling
• The Time Bomb Affair

Reactions and Reviews

1996

How I spent my Christmas vacation? I read zines. Piles of zines. Maybe read is an exaggeration; I scanned piles of zines[ ...] I also read Kolya's Son and Summer of '65, both UNCLE zines, one a novel the other a collection of long short stories, both straight. I'm not even a really big UNCLE fan, but these were damned good reads. They definitely light the emotional buttons usually associated by my admittedly weird psyche with slash — emotional commitment, physical intimacy (though not sex) between men, father and son relationships, and strong doses of hurt/comfort. What really set the UNCLE stuff apart from the slash was the depth of the stories. I'm not talking relevancy or intellectual depth, but more the completeness of the story.

2000

Summer of 65 is an anthology in a continuing series, of which this zine is one of my favorites. These gen stories with a tantalizing bit of smarm flow together and complement one another nicely.

In "The Rushin' Fool Affair" by L.R.H. Balzer, Illya entertains a mysterious visitor and is left with a difficult decision to make. Based on an intriguing premise, this innovative story depicts the growing trust between Napoleon and Illya.

In "The Red Retriever Affair" by Patricia J. Foley, Illya is sent undercover to his native land on a joint mission with the CIA, an organization suspicious of and hostile to the Soviet agent. Napoleon, relegated to providing backup for his junior partner, finds himself protecting the Russian from their CIA collaborators. This story succeeds admirably in developing the meticulously researched plot while exploring the growing emotional bond between Napoleon and Illya. The characterization throughout is excellent.

"Cost Accounting" by Patricia J. Foley is the sequel to "Red Retriever." It focuses on the interrelationship between Waverly, Solo and Kuryakin when Napoleon's idealism puts him at odds with the pragmatism of his superior and his partner. The evolving relationship between Napoleon and Illya suffers growing pains as they contemplate the rift that has developed between them.

"The Eye of the Hurricane Affair" by L.R.H. Baker (with one scene written by Patricia J. Foley) Continues the storyline. Napoleon and Illya try to come to terms with their personal and philosophical differences in the midst of an emergency mission. The story is a satisfying resolution to the zine as a whole.

2005

[The Red Retriever Affair]: This story is in a way a perfect example of the type of work I criticized in my previous post: Though not purely American, U.N.C.L.E., obviously, appears there as a western organisation; The Soviet Union plays the role of the blood thirsty, merciless warmonger which threatens the future of mankind by its nuclear researchs, so that U.N.C.L.E. has to thwart its perfidious undertakings.

The danger was real. Waverly saw a world poised on the knife edge of nuclear war, on one side a young country, ruled by a younger leader, blinded by the optimism such inexperience feeds. Against them, an ancient country, ruled by corruption, treachery and pessimism. With U.N.C.L.E. perched anxiously to one side, trying to maintain the balance of power. The balance of peace.

"The Red Retriever" is part of Lois Balzer's universe; meaning you must expect to find her peculiar vision of Illya: very young, very bright (not to say the genius of the century), hypersensitive, disturbed enough to make a pretty good psychiatric case and more tormented than a Doestoievsky's character. Of course he is a defector, quite willing to destroy a prominent Research Center in his native land (and the workers inside); Besides he has become an American citizen and since his arrival in the US has been adopted and coddled by an examplary American family, so sweet that honey would taste bitter in comparison.

Now stop the sarcasm! Why must this be read? First because this point of view is very representative of a large area of the MFU fanfiction; because the present text is extremely well written by an author who, in the other part of her work, is one of my very favourites (I really love her "Partners" series); because, taken as an action/adventure tale, it's certainly one of the most thrilling, captivating and moving stories you can find on line.