|
|
The Avengers: Fiction and Non-fiction Books
| The original television series generated a series of eleven fiction books, written by authors who, as usual, seemed to have little understanding of the show.
Fiction for The New Avengers was confined to adaptions of episodes. |
|
The Avengers also generated quite a few non-fiction books, on the history of the series. A comprehensive guide to those books will follow in February, 2008!
Fiction Books
(All books below with photos of their covers are in The Thunder Child's Library.)
Books featuring Steed and Cathy Gale
The Avengers, by Douglas Enefer. 1963. Consul Books. Featuring John Steed and Cathy Gale.
Books featuring Steed and Emma Peel/Tara King
 |
Deadline, by Patrick Macnee and Peter Leslie
Titan Books
1965
Back cover
An original novel, featuring the characters John Steed and Emma Peel from the cult 60s TV series.
Someone is tampering with speeches reported in the continental editions of British newspapers: antagonizing other nations and causing anti-British riots abroad. John Steed and Emma Peel are called in to go undercover at The Courier newspaper in Fleet Street. Their mission: to identify and track down the Brotherhood, a band of neo-fascist ruthless criminals who will stop at nothing - not even murder - to bring down the Government and seize power.
Opening paragraph
"I never heard of anything so damned silly in all my life," the pink-faced man in the hairnet exploded. "What d'you think about it, Jeffrey? Don't you think it's the most ridiculous thing you ever heard of, eh?"
|
 |
Dead Duck, by Patrick Macnee and Peter Leslie
Titan Books
1966
Back cover
An original novel, featuring the characters John Steed and Emma Peel from the cult 60s TV series.
When Steed and Mrs. Peel witness a sudden death at a neighboring table in a five star restaurant, they become involved in a bizarre puzzle: why are people dropping dead after eating duck? And what is the connection between a doctor, a gamekeeper and a painter? Their investigation leads them to a ruthless conspiracy, and a plot being hatched in the wilds of the East Anglian marshes.
Opening paragraph
Throughout the morning, the tramp sat in the shelter of a blackthorn bush, facing the high storm-beach cutting off the view of the sea on the far side of the road. Behind him, tall reeds clattered and bent in a wind gusting inshore from the East. |
 |
The Floating Game, by John Garforth
A Berkley Medallion Book
1967
Back cover
While Emma Peel is preparing to depart for the United States as the bride of a gorgeous female Russian Spy...
John Steed is tracking down the toughest Mafia gangster who ever graced the shores of Britain to overthrow Her Majesty's Government...
You see, someone is attempting to underminde the British government by means of a fiendish Oriental brainwashing technique on high-ranking civil servants, and Steed and Mrs. Peel find that all clues lead to a joint Mafia-Russian plot, which, naturally, must be stopped at all costs!
Opening paragraph
He wanted to look decent when they found him. No point in being found dead in underpants. He hoped he wouldn't be sick either... Sir Arthur delected a floppy bow tie with restrained flecks of mauve across it, and then spent a tedious four minutes tying it. He smiled wryly--yes, wryly, that was the word, as he reflected that he wouldn't need to struggle with ties again.
|
 |
The Laugh Was on Lazarus, by John Garforth
A Berkley Medallion Book
1967
Back cover
What is the world coming to when...
- Men are raised from the dead
- to become loathsome zombies
- commanded to trap John Steed and Emma Peel in the Highgate Mausoleum
- only to end up being stabbed to deagh by the umbrella-wielding Mrs. Peel?
What does it all add up to -- this unorthodox melange of transplanted brains, jellied hearts and homicidal seductresses? The answer is -- a h orrifying plot against the Pentagon, which will be H-bombed unless certain diabolical forces are stopped at once!
Opening paragraph
I didn't mean to kill the man. But I lose control sometimes. I go wild, smash up my playthings and spit at the crowds. They they take me off to the sanatorium and I'm petted for a few days. I suppose I'm not really safe. Bust since I killed that man they've kept me behind bars, and they've decided to kill me as well.
[The narrator is a test chimpanzee.]
|
 |
The Passing of Gloria Munday, by John Garforth
A Berkley Medallion Book
1967
Back cover
Can Emma Peel further her career as a lady spy by becoming a top pop singer idolized by millions...?
There was more to singer Gloria Munday's death th an simply murder, and so Steed puts Mrs. Peel on the job. Luckily she can belt out a song with bazazz, because by stepping into Gloria Munday's shoes she can find out a thing or two.
Only she doesn't count on taking a nine-hour swim in the deep blue sea with an unscrupulous sadist at her heels while Steed is locked behind stout prison bars.
Opening paragraph
John Steed's racing triumph at Le Mans in 1929 was a fantasy, and he forgot about it as he stamped on the brakes and hauled the massive Speed Six over to the right-hand side of the road. A white wraith like a girl had flickered in his telescopic headlights twenty-five yards ahead. Steed hooted irritably and swerved, but the girl ran forward onto his bonnet. So now he was two wheels in the ditch.
|
 |
Heil Harris, by John Garforth
A Berkley Medallion Book
1967
Back cover
Is Hitler really dead? Or is he about to celebrate his 78th birthday, while living in exile in Hertfordshire?
John Steed is more than puzzled by the identity of an old man who calls himself Herr Harris, and is involved in the practice of strange, mystic rites in the Herts countryside. But Steed finds, to his shocked surprise, an even greater danger in in store, for...
Emma Peel is about to become dictator of Great Britain!
Opening paragraph
"I first met Adaolph Hitler when I was a young captain in 1945. He was dead. M.I. 5 had wanted a man in Berlin when the Russian army battered its way into the ruined city. Himmler and Goering had already sued for peace, but the Allies were set on destroying Germany once and for all." Steed looked at the phrase "once and for all," then crossed it out. "I arrived in Berlin on the morning of April 30th in time to witness Hitler's final act of vengeance carried out by the S.S. - the flooding of th eundesbahn. It was an act of vengeance against his own people and I watched in dismay." Horor? Aghast? "I watched in indescribable amazement. If a man could do this to his own people than the barbarity of the Russian soldiers was humane and the concentration camp I had seen a week earlier at Belsen was just. War was manly and the world was insane. Hitler was only a stateman doing his job.
|
 |
The Afrit Affair, by Keith Laumer
A Berkley Medallion Book
1967
Back cover
John Steed received the first warning message wrapped in a piece of kippered herring.
"I will strike when and where I desire." The Afrit
The second was squeezed out of a tube of toothpaste.
"The Afrit strikes. Try and stop him!"
Stranger and stranger things begin to appear: giant footprints of a monster, murderous flying anvils, one-eared corpses, ticking bombs in the baement. Steed and Emma Peel hasten to discover the Afrit's identity - before he made his final strike...
Opening paragraph
"Crises," John Steed said, pouring tea into Emma Peel's cup, "aren't what they used to be. The old spirit of brinkmanship seems to be waning. Consider the current Peace Conference, for example. After convening at the urgent demand of the Afro-Asian powers, all of whom insisted that the alternative was instant Armageddon, there hasn't been a really spirited threat of war by a third-rate member in over twenty-four hours."
|
 |
The Drowned Queen, by Keith Laumer
A Berkley Medallion Book
1967
Back cover
Can even The Avengers prevent sabotage on the maiden voyage of the "Atlantic Queen," the first submarine luxury liner?
As cover for this assignment, British agent John Steed is ship's dancing instructor, while his beautiful new partner Tara King, travels as ship's physiotherapist.
Surrounded by suspicious characters, such as the so-called magician's assistant, Miss Goldspangle, the ill-fated Mr. Funfinger, and that boomng battle-ax Mrs. Thwaite-Funderpump, Steed and Tara make their hazardous way thorugh various red herrings - and scaly green mermen -
Straight into the jaws of death!
Opening paragraph
There was a sense of alien hostility about the wide, featureless glass-slab door, as though beyond it lay mysteries mere man was never meant to fathom.
|
 |
The Gold Bomb, by Keith Laumer
A Berkley Medallion Book
1967
Back cover
All signs point to the strong probability that somewhere in Merrie Old England, someone, for some purpose unknown (but certainly criminal) is building himself an atom bomb!
Obviously, it's a sitation that requires the immediate attention of The Avengers - John Steed and Tara King - and they promptly swing into action.
The two search everywhere for clues - from jeweler's shops to a gypsy encampment - at one point the elegant Steed even descends from his stately Bentley to career about the countryside all day on a bicycle!
Time is running out. Can the Avengers find this maniac before he or she blows up half of England?
Opening paragraph
"I came as quickly as I could, Major," Tara King said breathlessly as she ran up the steep steps of the great, grim building, "Do you have any idea what it's all about?"
[She's talking to John Steed.]
|
 |
The Magnetic Man, by Norman Daniels
A Berkley Medallion Book
1967
Back cover
Super-agent John Steed goes to Hong Kong to pick up a suitcase filled with valuable papers. Steed is in Hong Kong less than an hour when he's knocked unconscious, and the contents of the case are mysteriously switched - to a h uge sum of money!
Back goes Steed to London. There, he and Tara King set to work baiting a trap for the owners of the fantastic forunte foisted off on him - a trap that almost snaps shut on The Avengers themselves!
Opening paragraph
"But I arrived only forty minutes ago," John Steed said indignantly. "I've flown from London to Hong kong, more than halfway around the world, and you hand me this...this outsized suitcase to take back immediately."
|
 |
Moon Express, by Norman Daniels
A Berkley Medallion Book
1967
Back cover
A trip to the Moon?
That's exactly what someone is offering: a trip to the moon, and a chance to select for oneself a large slice of lunar real estate!
Breathes there a man, woman or child with sould so dead they wouldn't jump at such an opportunity? Or who would quibble over the cost? (One would expect it to be astronomical.)
One thing is certain: Her Majesty's government isn't behid this hush-hush project. Who is?
Nothing will do but for John Steed and Tara King to get themselves invited to participate in this expensive venture, unmask the organizers, and find out precisely what they are up to.
It's The Avengers all the way - even when it means the Moon!
Opening paragraph
She entered the Commisioner's office in stately manner, quite indignant and inclined to sputter. She was a plumpish woman of about fifty, wearing a crumpled tweed suit and flower-laden hat, somewhat dated. The combination was not harmonious, but if she was aware of it, she was certainly unconcerned. Her shoe heels were provided with steel inserts to improve the wearing qualities and she made a loud clicking noise with each step. She clicked her way to the Commissioner's desk.
|
The New Avengers
 |
The New Avengers: House of Cards, by Peter Cave
A Berkley Book
1976
Back cover
Code name: House of Cards
Subject: Assassination
Target: One John Steed
Assigned to rescue a Soviet defector, the impeccable Steed, the voluptuous Purdey and the dashing Gambit find themselves targeted in a nightmare deep agent plot: 12 Soviet "sleepers," narco-programmed for terror and triggered by a torn deck of cards, marching like zombies on British Intelligence with orders to kill.
Opening paragraph: Foreword
John . Kennedy was dead. Lee Harvey Oswald was dead. Jack Ruby sat, as silent as a zombie in his prison cell, revealing nothing. Soon he too would be dead and with him would die the answer to the mystery that would baffle the world.
Opening paragraph: Chapter 1
"Well, how do I look?"
Purdey swept into the room with a grand gesture, twirling a multi-colored kaftan about her lithe body and inviting Steed's inspection.
|
|
The New Avengers: The Eage's Nest, by John Carter
A Berkley Book
1976
Back cover
Code name: Eagle's Nest
Subject: The "Survivor"
Target: Rise of the Fourth Reich!
Held captive by a sadistic order of "monks" on a remote scottish island, Steed and his alluring partner Purdey witness a terrifying experiment: the cryogenic resurrection of a Dictator in deep-freeze, the dread "Survivor" of the Luftwaffe's last flight...
Opening paragraph
John Steed allowed hmself a grimace of annoyance as he put the telephone receiver back on the hook. It was a small luxury to allow himself in his disappointment at the call. There came moments when even the coolest of men might momentarily lose their cool and this was one of them. But it was a luxury to be indulged only in private and then only on the rarest of occasions. His eyes wandered regretfully to the sunny view from his study window, then back to the almost empty leather-topped desk - and the small pile of files on one corner of it.
|
To Catch A Rat
Fighting Men
The Cybernauts
 |
The New Avengers: Hostage, by Peter Cave
A Berkley Book
1977
Back cover
Why is everyone in Security suddenly concerned about the possible outcome of a fight to the death between Gambit and John Steed?
Who is leaking vital secrets from inside one of the most heavily guarded estabishments within the Department? When the clues finally point, without a shadow of a doubt, to oneman, it is Gambit who gets the order: Kill John Steed on sight. Only Purdey can clear up the web of mystery and reveal why Steed has stolen important defense secrets. And Purdey is missing.
Opening paragraph: Prologue
Steed entered his drawing room proudly, adjusting the lapels of his jacket. He was rigged out in full Diplomatic attire, complete with SAsh and Order.
Opening paragraph: Chapter 1
A lot had happened in three days. A lot of confusing, worrying things. Gambit was tense, his nerves stretched out like piano wires, forced to play a discordant concerto inside his head. Physically, he was equally battered. His body ached in every muscle, and the torture was still not yet over. There was more to come, for the final confrontation had still to be faced.
|
 |
Click on the icons for new features in The Thunder Child.
Radiation Theater: 1950s Sci Fi Movies Discussion Boards
The Sand Rock Sentinel: Ripped From the Headlines of 1950s Sci Fi Films
|
 |
|
Learn more or
Buy Now
Learn more or
Buy Now
|
