Paperbacks

The Get Smart Paperbacks

Although not as thrilling and as swiftly written as a Robert Ludlum book, the GS paperbacks are entertaining and are the next best thing to an actual Get Smart episode. Most importantly, they're pretty darn nice collectibles. All are out of print and about as easy to get a hold of as a greased seal. The author of all the books is William Johnston and the publisher is Tempo. There is no ISBN as that technology was not available in the late 1960s. Probably the best place to get one of these is through Book Finder. Also, Ebay has the books up for auction quite a bit and Barns & Nobles can also order the book through individual suppliers. The general price fluctuates from $5 to $10 -- quite a bit marked up from the original retail price of 60 cents.

	1. Get Smart (1965) Max trails a robot called Fred and must keep him from falling into the hands of the evil FLAG organization. (What? No Kaos?)		2. Sorry, Chief! (1966) Max must stop the nasty Dr. X from marketing his invisibility serum to the boys at Kaos.
	3. Get Smart Once Again! (1966) 86 & a cryptographer by the name of Peaches Twelvetrees attempt to break Kaos' doomsday plan. Their only problem is that they're being stalked by a rubber faced Kaos agent known as I.M. Noman.		4. Max Smart and the Perilous Pellets (1966) Control has to plant pellets in Kaos installations before Kaos' pellet-planter plants all of Kaos' pellets in Control's installations. The question is: can that sentence be read aloud without a stutter?
	5. Missed It By That Much! (1967) The stench of Brassica-Oleracia-212 ° is wiping out villages everywhere and Max & 99 must put a stop to it before KAOS magician Whitestone puts a stop to them.		6. And Loving It! (1967) Control & KAOS team up in this book to fight hypnotist Guru Optimo. They can all be glad it wasn't the Maharishi -or for that matter, Larry Storch and the rest of the Scared Cows.
	7. Max Smart- The Spy Who Went Out to the Cold (1968) Max & 99 must take absent minded professor Wormser Von Boom to the north pole to protect him from Kaos. As usual, their plans turn to chaos and the group spends more time losing the professor than protecting him. I've found this book to be the best thus far.		8. Max Smart Loses Control (1968) This time with the help of Hymie the robot, 86 & 99 must save the world's swiftest computer from KAOS creeps Ways and Means.
	9.Max Smart and the Ghastly Ghost Affair (1969) Max & 99 are assigned to trail the germ-fearing Kaos assassin Arbuthnot to an assassin seminar in the middle of a ghost town. What they find is the ghost of a crusty old prospector and his mule. For the sake of trivia, Max claims in this book that he has two very blue eyes while the cover features a Max with two very brown eyes.

And Now a Piece of.....

Hardback Heaven!

Yes, the picture at left is indeed scanned crooked. I am not an inept scan-master, but I left this one crooked to show that this book has a little more depth than the average Get Smart TV-Tie-In. It is indeed a hardback edition and is library bound. This particular book was the property of the English department of a certain "Carter High School." Are there more hardback editions of the Get Smart books by William Johnston? Were they used for major research or a master thesis? Is the one I have over due at the library?