The Psychoterrestrial Theory: I will be appearing as a guest on Project: Archivist...

Erik Stitt, blogger, thinker and author of The Psychoterrestrial Phenomenon. Are You The Trickster? upcoming guest appearance:The Psychoterrestrial Theory: I will be appearing as a guest on Project: Archivist...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From Ghost Hunting Theories: Most Notable Paranormal Shows Ever

Ghost Hunting Theories blog lists her top paranormal shows: Ghost Hunting Theories: Most Notable Paranormal Shows Ever Glad she included UFO Hunters! Some of her picks I agree with, others not, but read her choices for yourselves and see what you think!

Cryptomundo Free Thunderbird eBook for Cryptomundians

Bryan Mero is offering a FREE e-book about Thunderbirds. Thank you Bryan for the Fortean goodness this holiday season. Free Thunderbird eBook for Cryptomundians

Thanks to Lesley at The Debris Field for link.

From Ghost Hunting Theories: Ghost Adventures Drinking Game!

Friday night brings us Ghost Adventures, a show I like in spite of myself, and Dead Files, both on the Travel channel. Great night for paranormal Fortean junkies like myself. (There's also Grimm and Fringe, though I think the season is over for Fringe and new ones won't be back for awhile.) One of the things I like about Ghost Adventures is their use of different types of equipment, which Autumn Forest at Ghost Hunting Theories mentions here in a funny post about watching GA and the drinking game: Ghost Hunting Theories: Ghost Adventures Drinking Game!

The Secret Sun: Final Events: Interview with Nick Redfern

From September, interview with Nick Redfern at Christopher Knowles' The Secret Sun on NIck's book Final Events.

The Secret Sun: Final Events: Interview with Nick Redfern: ... the "aliens" are, in reality, literal demonic entities that are trying to seduce us with a false lure of supposed alien technology, and to - quite literally - steal and farm our souls. The group claim to have discovered evidence that these demonic entities - that seem to utilize a weird combination of advanced technology and archaic rite and ritual - derive a form of "energy sustenance" from the human soul or life force.

I've read this book and it's fantastic. Disturbing, but fantastic. Since I'm very behind on reviews, I'm hijacking this one from The Secret Sun. Enjoy! And if you haven't read Final Events, be sure you do soon.

Brane Space: Amazon.com's Double Standard on Book Reviews

Copernicus blogs about the rejection of his review by Amazon.com of Stephen King's novel 11/22/63, which is about the JFK assassination. Very interesting. Seems Amazon rejected the review not because the review violated any of the guidelines, but for content. In other words, Corpernicus points out that the novel, while enjoyable, ignores the facts. Why does Amazon have this double standard of accepting reviews that do ignore the review writing guidelines but contain the correct propaganda? (That's a rhetorical question.) For the review and background visit Brane Space: Brane Space: Amazon.com's Double Standard on Book Reviews

Adventures in self-publishing: Why I took a year’s work and tried my hardest to give it away – Boing Boing

One writer's journey into giving it away, or trying to anyway. Self-described as a "crazy ass hippe" (so of course I love that) Bill Barol shares his experience with with self-publishing.

Adventures in self-publishing: Why I took a year’s work and tried my hardest to give it away – Boing Boing

Supernatural Book Club: The Mothman Prophecies by John A. Keel

Blog Find:
Supernatural Book Club: The Mothman Prophecies by John A. Keel

Lesley Gunter Meets Noory

Lesley writes about her meeting George Noory for her current Grey Matters column:

grey matters: So after the presentation was over everyone waited in line to meet George. He was very nice. I told him that we write for the same magazine and he said "Oh, you know Bill and Nancy Birnes!" Then he asked my name and I told him and he said something like "You are her!" That was a little scary because I hadn't expected him to know me at all. I do remember writing some not so nice things about George and c2c, right here at BoA. I actually felt a little bad about it and hoped he only knew me from UFO Magazine because I feel kind of differently about the show now. It is just entertainment and I used to take it too seriously.

Lesley Gunter Meets Noory

Lesley Gunter writes about her recent meeting with George Noory for her Grey Matters column at Binnall of America:

grey matters: So after the presentation was over everyone waited in line to meet George. He was very nice. I told him that we write for the same magazine and he said "Oh, you know Bill and Nancy Birnes!" Then he asked my name and I told him and he said something like "You are her!" That was a little scary because I hadn't expected him to know me at all. I do remember writing some not so nice things about George and c2c, right here at BoA. I actually felt a little bad about it and hoped he only knew me from UFO Magazine because I feel kind of differently about the show now. It is just entertainment and I used to take it too seriously.

New Trickster's Realm column at Binnall of America: "The Absurd Bits"

My new Trickster's Realm column is now available at Tim Binnall's BoA: "Absurd Bits" in Fortean Phenomena.

Reading one of my favorite esoteric Fortean authors Colin Bennett right now: Flying Saucers Over the White House; The Inside Story of Captain Edward J. Ruppelt and His Official U.S. Airforce Investigation of UFOs. I'm only just into it, but, as usual when I read Bennett, there is so much rich, juicy and insightful right on stuff it's exhilarating. It's almost too much, one quick brilliant statement after another. One of the numerous gems is the "psychosocial filter" as Bennett calls it concerning UFO (and, I'll add, paranormal events in general) witness experiences: It is an amusing feature of the Western mind that those people who have had a UFO experience of any kind are judged to be people least worthy of analyzing that experience.[Bennett] The witness is often treated as an afterthought, or even an embarrassment. And all is lost if the witness has things that clogs up that "psychosocial filter": The courts of "proper" debate rule out any odd, highly individualized, comic, or ludicrous or absurd elements. Here we see the most tragic-comic emblem of mankind's philosophy: get rid of the nutcases and there will be revealed the shining truth. [Bennett: 39]

Free Bigfoot Newsletter

Back in May, I started a very small and free Bigfoot newsletter: Bigfoot From (Outer) Space!  It comes out whenever. Meaning, I haven't done up another one since, but I think I'll have something soon. If you want to take a look it's on my Scribd page. Enjoy!

NICK'S FORTEAN PIC(S) OF THE DAY: The Creature of the Caves

A very excellent idea from Nick Redfern, who's started yet another blog: NICK'S FORTEAN PIC(S) OF THE DAY The blog features photos, images, book covers, etc. of Fortean delights. Fun, delightful and a nice contribution to Fortean history. Hail Fort and thanks Nick!

Ray Crowe Review of Valley of the Skookum

Ray Crowe reviews Sali Sheppard-Wolford's  <a href="http://www.bigfootencounters.com/reviews/valley.htm">Bigfoot: Valley of the Skookum.</a> Nice review!

Tessa Dick: "The Last Re-Write"

Tessa Dick has an article at the Blogging Authors site on writing: The Last Re-Write- Writers and Readers Meet - Write and Publish Your Book :: Blogging Authors

One of the biggest mistakes that novice writers make is considering the manuscript finished when they have reached the last page and typed “The End”. The story has come to an end, and the plot has been resolved, but the threads within the story nearly always need to be drawn together.

Lisa Shiel: Backyard Bigfoot

A couple years ago I reviewed Bigfoot researcher Lisa Shiel's bookBackyard Bigfoot: The True Story of Stick Signs, UFOs, and the Sasquatch,
which you can read at her site.

Tessa Dick Presents: It's a Philip K. Dick World!: California killed my Amazon store

This news has been posted in many places, including Tessa Dick's blog, about sales tax collection in California:

In an attempt to collect sales taxes from stores outside the state, the California government has decided that my association with Amazon gives them a physical presence in California, thus requiring Amazon to pay sales tax to California when people buy things from out-of-state merchants.

So Amazon has terminated all California affiliates. Of course, this means that our state government will not get the sales taxes, and they will lose a huge amount of income tax.

As Tessa adds, people like herself "the little people" are the ones getting hurt. Read more, including Amazon's response to their California affiliates, here: Tessa Dick Presents: It's a Philip K. Dick World!: California killed my Amazon store

Also see pigligpstick's blog on this.

Falling Skies

 After viewing the third episode, I'm done. I was done midway through the first episode, but hoped the show would improve. Obviously, it didn't.

It was worse than V, (the remake) but that's not fair to V, for V knew exactly what it was. V was "Murder She Wrote" with Reptilians, but that's okay. V knew that. It was predictable and very made-for-TV-ish but I liked it anyway.  It didn't take itself too seriously; just seriously enough, with all the earnest resistance fighters and the FBI suits and those lizard-aliens, and the comic book stuff, like the "soul shredder" machine.


Falling Skies takes itself too seriously. Their definite corny made-for-TV vibe, complete with hackneyed music, screams cheese all the way but it's clear the producers think that's a good thing. By the middle of the third episode I turned to my dear one and said "All they need is a slice of apple pie and a dog in this scene" -- the syrupy upswell of music and familial bonding was so damn potent. Good solid Americans fighting the fight against the invading aliens. The latter which are the only good thing about the show. Pretty cool looking multi-legged lizardish aliens called "skitters" kidnap children and use them for their own devious agenda.  (hmmm, echoes of the excellent Torchwood arc Children of Earth.)

Aside from all that, there isn't enough about the aliens reason for invading earth. Clearly Falling Skies intends to focus on the humans all the way and wants us to see things from their perspective, sucking us in to the human drama cheese first. But, except for a few vague throw away hints about the "skitters" and their robot thugs, we don't know where the aliens are from, why they're here, what their intents are. And what about the rest of earth? We can only assume all of earth is in the same boat as Anytown, U.S.A and our band of human do-gooders.



I found the show boring and insipid.



Falling Skies, TNT, Sunday nights, 8:00pm

AOL Hell: An AOL Content Slave Speaks Out

Very good article on the sleeze tactics of corporate greed and willfull ignorance. I "liked" their FB page to show support.

When it comes to an article, what AOL cares about is the title, and the “keywords” that will make the article more likely to show up among the top results on Google. You type phrases into “Google Trends,” and it suggests the most popular combination of words associated with that topic. You then stick those words into your title and first paragraphs. Rinse, wash, and repeat. The article itself was just ballast.

“LADY GAGA PANTLESS IN PARIS” is the example given in “The AOL Way” internal documents. That’s the best possible title. A buzz-worthy topic, a sexy result. It mattered little if Lady Gaga was actually pantless in Paris; it only had to relate somehow to the article as a whole. The entire title could be a come-on, a tease. It might well turn out that Lady Gaga was neither pantless, nor in Paris at the time. The important part was that the reader would click on those words to read the rest, thereby producing ad revenue for the websites. Words didn’t matter; stealing other people’s work also didn’t matter.

AOL Hell: An AOL Content Slave Speaks Out

Female of the Species: CFZ Publishing

Female of the Species: CFZ Publishing

Game of Thrones: Will the Beasts Rescue the Good?

I'm hooked on the HBO series Game of Thrones. Funnily enough, I didn't want to get into watching the series when it was being advertised for two reasons: one, I feel I watch too much television as it is (though probably don't) and didn't want to get into another series, and two, the genre didn't really grab me. My husband really wanted to see it though so I gave it a try. I was hooked from the first few moments.

For those watching the TV series, you know that last Sunday's episode was one hell of a shocker! I don't think there have been more than half a dozen television series with such outright, in your face shockers. And for those who've read the book series by George R. R. Martin, you'll know what follows, but for myself, I haven't read the books (not yet, now I plan to) so I can only speculate on future episodes.

Things look bad for just about everyone; war has already started in battles here and there and it looks like one end all war is coming. Not to mention the low humming sub-theme of "Winter is Coming..." which can only be bad. Evil spirits, assumed to be long extinct if not outright non-existent to begin with, have been waking up. Yes, things are grim indeed. Very grim.

Within the mix of imps (who is one of the sexist characters on television, okay, that might be weird, but  many women agree with me), kings, queens, heroes, villains, intrigue, betrayal, sex (good old fashioned lust filled something for everyone sex), there are the creatures. The beasts. The animals.

There are the Dire Wolves, beautiful and magical animals, one in particular. The Dire Wolves are fiercely loyal, warrior-like in the protection of their "masters," bound in an almost spiritual manner to their owners, and possess preternatural abilities, including a psychic connection.Then there are the Dragon eggs; like the Dire Wolves, no longer extant. Thought to be outright fantasy, or at least, no longer existing, three eggs lay in a chest as a novelty. They are beautiful and a curiosity, and yet... there is the hint that they may awaken.

Will it be the beasts in this story that help rescue humans in Game of Thrones? Dragons and Dire Wolves; will we see more of them in future episodes? I hope so, and I think we will.

Related posts:
Game of Thrones Second Episode: Dire Wolves
Game of Thrones: Dragon Eggs

From New Page Books: Nick Redfern's Recent Visits from the Real Men in Black

Haven't received my copy yet, but soon! Can't wait, and I'm sure you can't either. In the meantime, here you go:
New Page Books: Recent Visits from the Real Men in Black

Torchwood Trailer: New Season/Incarnation

Thanks to UFO Casebook Frontier for this: trailer for the new "season" of Torchwood, the best, or at least, among the best (Fringe, X-Files and the original Outer Limits sharing the category) sci-fi/UFO/alien/paranormal shows. Torchwood, for those that don't know, is was a BBC program that aired on the BBC America channel. The last story arc was Children of Earth, absolutely the best story of the genre. If you haven't seen Children of Earth, make sure you do! The Torchwood series has been bought by STARZ, and will air Fridays starting in August. Many of the original characters are gone, but Captain Jack and Gwen are back, and they are the two main characters; without them, I don't know how it could really be Torchwood.
ALIEN, UFO CASEBOOK 'FRONTIER': Torchwood: Miracle Day - Trailer

Free Download: Flying Saucers Are Real

Donald Keyhoe's 1950 book Flying Saucers Are Real available for free; public domain: The Flying Saucers Are Real Cover art is classic!

USSR Did Roswell: Muddled Disclosures

Supposedly. Could be. In UFO World, anything is possible. Journalist Annie Jacobsen, author of Area 51, acknowledges there's definitely insidious and strange events going on in Area 51 and the UFO realm generally, but it's not aliens. (No, it could never be aliens.) Jacobsen and her book is currently making the mainstream circuit, including a recent appearance on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. I knew before she came on that Stewart, who I adore, would mock any hint of alien/UFO reality, since it seems to be an affliction of the majority of the liberal-left-hip to sneer at fringe subjects. He didn't disappoint.

Jacobsen's contention is that yes, weirdness abounds but it's not aliens. It's the USSR and Nazi experiments behind the Roswell crash. And so much more, but all of these strange events have been orchestrated by humans. ET has nothing to do it, nor cryptids or vortexes or magick or anything other than human Dr. Evils.

Jacobsen has interesting ideas about what on, but there's no proof. As is admitted by everyone, but that seems to be all right, for Jacobsen is a legitimate journalist and not some tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist:

Still, lack of proof hasn't exactly stopped the book from sparking speculation on the media circuit and on the Web. In the last day, Yahoo! searches skyrocketed 3,000 percent for "area 51 book." And the tome is penned not by a crackpot conspirator, but a respected journalist.

I'm impatient and cynical with this distracting crap, because it's muddled disinfo. (Which is probably an oxymoron.) Jacobsen's story gets attention, while all the other UFO stories, including abduction stories sans Nazi bastards-Dr. Evils-government experiments, continue to go utterly ignored, utterly mocked. Meanwhile, journalists, writers, researchers, scientists -- those "respected journalists" and the like --  who know nothing of the esoteric world yet decide to take a swim in the sparkling waters for a look-see are blind to what they consider nonsense. They come out with one small bit, show it off as the latest in theory, and happily go back to their rational worlds. Everyone thinks something groovy-weird has just been revealed, and all has been solved: including the "nonsense" of UFOs. Because, as has just been proven, no such things exist. It was really Russia, or Nazis, or ...

We're not done yet. The fact is, there very well could be some truth to these theories. Nick Redfern's book Bodysnatchers in the Desert  brought explored the idea of human experiments and manipulations as the cause for Roswell. MILABS are a very real possibility, and some UFO witnesses and researchers have been writing about this for a long time. Ironically, among UFO researchers, the MILAB "conspiracy" doesn't get much attention.

It's not that Jacobsen's story couldn't be true, or, some of it could be true...it's that once again, our attention from the reality of the UFO phenomena is trivialized and further pushed out to the edges. UFOs, the mainstream continues to insist, are entertaining and fun funny, but they're not real.

If Jacobsen's contentions somehow prove to be valid, (and/or Redfern's, etc.) that is horrifying, and the world needs to know. But what will happen in that event is that the many will accept that as the explanation for all of "it." Once again, we go back to clean dichotomies, something both the mainstream and many within UFOlgy are guilty of enacting.  It has to be this theory or that theory,  it's all aliens or it's all human psychopaths.

As I said, I'm impatient with this mainstream UFO denying stuff, but Nick Redfern has a calmer take on Jacobsen's book, giving us a bit of  background and data that is helpful, even if it does push us further down the rabbit hole. (Once you've fallen in, you just keep falling...:) You can read his review here.

Book Review: Insight

I just finished reading Insight, the young adult/juvenile fiction novel by Diana Greenwood. When I agreed to review the book I hadn't realized it is a "Christian" novel. I normally wouldn't read something in that category, but, I was sent the book and so I read it. I'm glad I did.

Insight is, first of all, well written, keeping within the classic coming of age genre. "Vira," (Elvira) the young girl, struggles with an emotionally distant mother and grandmother, and the disappearance of her father in late 1940s America.  Reasons for these: the fighting and hardness of mother and grandmother, the absent father, are due to many factors, including alcoholism and poverty.  And then, a sibling comes along, one who has psychic abilities that changes the direction of this emotionally damaged family.

Vira's mother decides to move across the country, and it is during this move that Vira discovers many things about not only herself, but her mother and grandmother. Throughout, Vira grieves for her father and the guilt she suffers surrounding his disappearance. 

Vira's sister continues to startle her family and those around her with her abrupt visions, culminating in what I found to be an unexpected yet satisfying end. The ending is a realistic one, and the term "realistic" might seem odd given the aura of supernatural presences, yet Greenwood weaves together the everydayness of life with something "other" in a seamless and satisfying way.

The Christian message is a universal one: the power of love and forgiveness. I am not a Christian, but I can't argue with that message at all. There isn't any preachiness or over the top fundamentalist religious message in this book.

Insight is a good read, and a good story. If you're not inclined to read religious type books don't let that stop you from reading Insight.

Wake Up Now! UFO Conference

Lesley Gunter reports on her involvement with the first Wake Up Now! conference in New Mexico for her Grey Matters column at Binnall of America. (Wish I could have been there!) Read about it here: grey matters

The Real Men in Black: The Real Men in Black: Coming June 16

Pre-order Nick Redfern's newest, due out in June: The Real Men in Black.
The Real Men in Black: The Real Men in Black: Coming June 16

Nick Redfern's "There's Something in the Woods...": The Inhumanoids - Published!

OOOoooo, but this looks good! Bart Nunnelly's The Inhumanoids. It is on my list! Nick Redfern wrote the introduction, and you can read more about the book here: Nick Redfern's "There's Something in the Woods...": The Inhumanoids - Published!

Tessa Dick Presents: It's a Philip K. Dick World!: My memoir is available now!

Tessa Dick's newest, read how to order here:

Tessa Dick Presents: It's a Philip K. Dick World!: My memoir is available now!

Animal Forteana: Game of Thrones 2nd Episode: Dire Wolf

I've been watching HBO's Game of Thrones, and am loving it, especially the Dire Wolfves:

Animal Forteana: Game of Thrones 2nd Episode: Dire Wolf

Adam Gorightly has a new book out: "A Who's Who of the Manson Family"

Adam Gorightly and Shamus McFarland have a new book release: "A Who's Who of the Manson Family." 

“A WHO’S WHO OF THE MANSON FAMILY”

RELEASED IN PAPERBACK & FOR AMAZON KINDLE

 “Who’s on First?  Who’s on Third?  Who’s on Acid?”

Authors Sort Out Confusion of Charles Manson Family Members

ATLANTA – Apr. 25, 2011 – FEEJEE PRESS (feejeepress.com) announced today the release of “A Who’s Who of the Manson Family,” a Charles Manson Family members guidebook, by authors ADAM GORIGHTLY and SHAMUS McFARLAND in traditional paperback and ebook for Amazon Kindle and Kindle app users—as well as a Companion Soundtrack to the book by film composer MICHAEL MONTES.

Gorightly and McFarland take on the daunting task of clarifying the multitude of seemingly endless nicknames, aliases and real names that cloud a reader’s understanding of the various books chronicling the Manson Family members and their bizarre activities, including murder. The terrifying Manson saga is complicated enough for readers (and Manson researchers) to comprehend without every character using six different pseudonyms at any given time. “A Who’s Who of the Manson Family” cuts through the drug-sex-and-psycho maze to compile the definitive facebook of Manson Family characters and provide an easy-to-use guide to clarify their real identities.

“Crackpot historian” Gorightly worked with co-author McFarland to create “A Who’s Who of the Manson Family” as a companion piece to Gorightly’s groundbreaking book “The Shadow Over Santa Susana: Black Magic, Mind Control & the Manson Family Mythos.”

“My original intention was to include the ‘Who’s Who’ as an appendix to the revised 2009 edition of ‘Shadow Over Santa Susana’,” Gorightly said. “But for some reason, the publishers of that edition decided not to include it. Fortunately, Feejee Press stepped forward with interest in releasing ‘A Who’s Who of the Manson Family’ as a separate book—in both paperback and ebook editions. So we had the chance to do some Manson Family current events updating. Dark, terrifying, disturbing, and yet handy!”

In addition to the paperback and ebook, Feejee Press brought in film composer Michael Montes to create a soundtrack for the book: “A Who’s Who of the Manson Family: A Companion Soundtrack to the Book,” available as an MP3 download. Seven of Montes’ hauntingly surreal tracks were carefully hand-picked as an atmospheric accompaniment, adding another dimension to Gorightly and McFarland’s Manson Family members guidebook.

The paperback edition can be purchased online for US $16.95 at CreateSpace (https://www.createspace.com/3558154) or Amazon.com (http://amzn.to/hVD8wU) where a preview of the book is also available. The Kindle edition can be purchased online for US $6.95 at Amazon’s Kindle Store (http://amzn.to/e53a3O).

Information on listening to samples, purchase and download of the US $3.99 MP3 Companion Soundtrack can be found on Feejee Press’ website (http://feejeepress.com/whoswhomansonsoundtrack).

Who’s on First? Who’s on Third? Who’s on Acid?

Press Contacts:

Adam Gorightly – Contact for Interviews

Adamgorightly.com

adamgorightly@yahoo.com

ABOUT ADAM GORIGHTLY

A certified “crackpot historian” and 23rd degree Discordian, Adam Gorightly has been chronicling fringe and conspiracy culture in an illuminating manner for over two decades. An active contributor to the ‘zine revolution of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, Gorightly’s byline was a familiar sight in many cutting-edge magazines of the period where he sharpened his literary teeth. His articles have appeared in numerous publications such as “The Excluded Middle,” “UFO Magazine,” “Paranoia,” “SteamShovel Press,” and “FourTwoFour,” the largest soccer magazine in Great Britain. Gorightly’s explorations into these arcane waters eventually led to his first book, published in October 2001, “The Shadow Over Santa Susana: Black Magic, Mind Control and the Manson Family Mythos.” Other books by Gorightly include “The Prankster and the Conspiracy: The Story of Kerry Thornley and How He Met Oswald and Inspired the Counterculture,” “James Shelby Downard’s Mystical War,” and “The Beast of Adam Gorightly: Collected Rantings 1992–2004.”

Michael Montes

MichaelMontes.com

mm@michaelmontes.com

ABOUT MICHAEL MONTES

In the late 80s Michael Montes was brought in to work with Aimee Mann's band 'Til Tuesday as keyboardist for their album "Everything's Different Now" and subsequent tour. He then began the Zoar project, a series of dark atmospheric albums. Neil Strauss of The New York Times dubbed Zoar "Masters of the cinematic instrumental." In 1995 he opened his own commercial music company, Sacred Noise and is considered one of the top composers in the field. Several of his pieces are included in the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art. Since that time he has composed scores for numerous films including Joan Stein's Oscar® nominated "One Day Crossing."

Editors – Feejee Press

Feejeepress.com

editors@feejeepress.com

ABOUT FEEJEE PRESS

Feejee Press (feejeepress.com) is an upstart publishing company focused on “Forbidden, Forsaken, and Forgotten Knowledge” ranging from love poetry to true crime.

UFOs Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities - Col. John Alexander UFO Hunter - Popular Mechanics

QYou've had an unusual career. You're often credited as a leading force behind the government's development of nonlethal weapons, yet you've also participated in far more unconventional projects like psychokinesis. How did you get involved with UFOs?

A I've been interested in the topic for decades. From my work on esoteric projects, specifically in the intelligence community with psychokinesis, I was familiar with remote viewing and other research. So, UFOs are not a big leap from that.

UFOs Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities - Col. John Alexander UFO Hunter - Popular Mechanics

'Adventures of an Earthling'

Bill Hussung kindly sent me a copy of Mishara Caning-Hussung's documentary Adventures of an Earthling. Hussung makes a journey to discover what it was his mother saw in Pine Bush, New York in the 1990s. A UFO that terrified her, and the experience stayed with her for the rest of her life.

 I admit I was skeptical at first, given that Hussung acknowledged he didn't believe his mother's story of a UFO encounter. As he says at one point in the documentary "I didn't believe her."  My skepticism increased as I watched: the cheesy spy-jazz music, (which I find enjoyable but in this context it was kind of smarmy) the goofy sound effects, the lame graphics, and Hussung's overall tone concerning UFOs (paraphrasing: "UFOs are a cultural phenomena..." comments.) And the inclusion of David Jacobs sent me over the edge. Oy, I thought. Forget this!

But, as I watched, I realized Hussung was genuinely trying to find out what his mother went through, and how and why it affected her for the rest of her life. He sought out UFO researchers, such as Jacobs (eye roll) and Phil Imbrogno (excellent.) Hussung has a semi-mocking tone at times but it's aimed at himself as much as anything, and it occurred to me that he was struggling with his own feelings about UFOs and  the "high strangeness" which he  encounters along the way via witness accounts. I won't give away the end but will say that Bill Husseng remained honest, open to the phenomena and willing to acknowledge his responses to his mother's story, as well as his own experiences.

I recommend Adventures of an Earthling (despite the glib sound effects and graphics) because it's an honest journey from someone not immersed in UFO research. An audience not that familiar with UFOs yet interested will find that this film gives an introduction to the Hudson Valley history of UFO sightings and other odd events in that area,  as well as a personal account of one man's quest within the world of UFOs and unexplained events.

Clip from documentary here.

Tessa Dick Presents: It's a Philip K. Dick World!: Murder Lies available on Amazon Kindle

Tessa Dick Presents: It's a Philip K. Dick World!: Murder Lies available on Amazon Kindle

Stan Gordon’s UFO Anomalies Zone (SGUAZ)

Just ordered Stan Gordon's new book: Silent Invasion: The Pennsylvania UFO-Bigfoot Casebook. I'm looking forward to reading this one, as the Bigfoot-UFO phenomena is one of my favorite cryptid/Fortean high strangeness mysteries to explore.


Gordon will be one of the speakers at the annual McMinnville, Oregon UFO Fest this May. I'll be there!

Stan Gordon’s UFO Anomalies Zone (SGUAZ)

Marc Fiszman: Coffee

Coffee, by Marc Fiszman, is a sort of hip, spiritual and surreal Zen like kind of graphic novel. It kept me laughing and continually surprised.  Each page reveals a simply placed graphic with a deceptively simple line or two of text, (until it doesn't) and each page builds on the previous page.A journey through the usual crap: work, and ennui, and purpose, and . .  little poems, almost, but not pretty ones about trees more like Bukowski, maybe. As a reviewer wrote on the Coffee site linked to on this blog:

Fans of William S. Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson will love Fiszman's disjointed narrative, inspired philosophies and sinister, disembodied entities. ~ Shelf Abuse

I suppose a warning should be given for those offended by language and scatological humor, so here it is: there's "bad" language in Coffee. Funny and apt but if you're offended by naughty words, well, then you'll be missing out on a good book.


Coffee is the first in a series of books, and, very nifty, Coffee is available as a free download. Which is very lovely and generous, seeing as how Fiszman has put a lot of work and care into the creation of this book.

Ida Craddock: 'Sexual Outlaw, Erotic Mystic'

Reviews of: Vere Chappell's<u> Sexual Outlaw, Erotic Mystic: The Essential Ida Craddock.

A skeptic view (fantasy prone, sexual abuse, etc.) on the following but still interesting: THE MAGONIA BLOG: Sexual Outlaw , on the story of Ida Craddock. Craddock (1857-1902) was a sexologist, who learned about sexual pleasures from 'Soph' a ghost. Parallels to Mary, to contactees, succubi and incubus, and to all those sexual-supernatural unions are obvious. I haven't read the book; I'm not familiar with Craddock but  I'm looking forward to reading this book.

I notice that the forward was written by Mary K. Greer, the Tarot author and scholar.

Craddock was the victim of her times; the moral setting she lived in would have put her in prison for her attitudes, (she was the target of<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Sans-Serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> "<span style="font-size: small;">Anthony Comstock and his Society for the Suppression of Vice . . ." according to <a href="http://redwheelweiser.com/detail.html?id=9781578634767">this review on Vere Chappell's bio page.</a></span>)&nbsp;</span></span> Instead, she committed suicide.

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The Interstellar Housewife: Paratopia Magazine: Preview

Deidre O'Lavery reviews Jeremy Vaeni and Jeff Ritzman's new Paratopia magazine preview: The Interstellar Housewife: Paratopia Magazine: Preview Deirdre comments:

 Paratopia pulls no punches with this puppy, building ever further on their case against hypnotic regression as a useful tool for abduction research and the lack of accountability by it's major players, namely Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs.

The Priests of High Strangeness, Carol Rainey's article on her close experiences with Budd Hopkins and his alien abduction research, starts things off -- and let me tell you, it's quite a powerful piece. If it doesn't get more of you looking at this area of Ufology with a more skeptical eye, I'm not sure anything will.

I agree with O'Lavery; Carol Rainey's The Priests of High Strangeness is an excellent article that has already ticked off many... as they did with Emma Woods, who labeled her as "crazy," "unbalanced" "trouble maker" and worse, attacks have begun on Rainey: "jilted," "scorned woman," and so on. Rainey was married to Budd Hopkins, close friend of David Jacobs and UFO researcher in his own right. She discusses many individual cases researched by Hopkins, and herself, during their marriage, and there is much there about the role of researcher, and the researcher/witness dynamic.

On UFOs, et al: Review of 'Journal of a UFO Investigator'

I'm still reading my copy of David Halperin's new book Journal of a UFO Investigator, so cannot review it yet. So far however, I am enjoying it -- I was surprised, right away, at how quickly Halperin brings you into the story. But here is a review you can read in the meantime, over on the UFOs, et all blog:UFOs, et al: DAVID HALPERIN & LORALEIGH

And here's more about the book on Halperin's site.