Chase Brandon of the CIA | Future Theater

Bill and Nancy Birnes (of TV's UFO Hunters as well as UFO Magazine) hosts will interview Chase Bradon on tonight's Future Theater podcast. Hmmm, I want to sigh and say "oy" but I love Bill and Nancy and so, we'll just have to find out! Chase Brandon of the CIA | Future Theater

On Coast to Coast Tonight: Monsters in America

Scott Poole is the guest on tonight's Coast to Coast, host was not named:Monsters in America | Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting

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]

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.

'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.

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.

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.

Neil Gaiman Quote

Lesley Gunter at The Debris Field posted this quote from Neil Gaiman. I love it; it's  supportive and insightful.

We who make stories know that we tell lies for a living.  But they're good lies that say true things, and we owe it to our readers to build them as best we can.  Because somewhere out there is someone who needs that story.  Someone who will grow up with a different landscape, who without that story will be a different person.  And who with that story may have hope, or wisdom, or kindness, or comfort. ~ Neil Gaiman