UFO books…..and more books

Copyright 2020, InterAmerica, Inc.

All of us have collected UFO-related books, some of us have a lot of them.

And I’m seeing via Facebook that many UFOers think they are authors and have a book being written or planned to be.

Of course, even the dumbest of these people know that there’s very little remuneration derived from writing books, especially UFO books.

There are exceptions; Nick Redfern has written so many books about UFOs and the paranormal that his overall remuneration is not to be sneezed at.

Philip Mantle and Malcolm Robinson, and Brad Steiger also, each making a few bucks for their authorships.

Then there was John Keel and Stanton Friedman, both pulling in some bucks for their non-fiction efforts, and Kevin Randle too, including his fictional offerings.

How about Erich von Däniken and Jerome Clarke with his UFO Encyclopedia.

So, there is some money to be made writing a book – one that takes off and has material unique or little known and tasty.

But what about all the hacks and their books?

Although many end up on remainder tables in used bookstores, there’s the satisfaction in saying “I’ve written a book, even two.”

The problem is that there are so few UFO books that can, today, come up with novel material about UFOs, that only a unique or odd spin on the topic will bring purchasers or readers to put their coins on the counter. Redfern pulls it off but that’s about it.

With Facebook and social media sucking the breath out of the UFO phenomenon, there’s little hope that a new idea or take on UFOs will get any heft or profitable publicity.

And I’m not seeing any serious ideas coming forth, just as there are few serious and/or fantastic theories among the drivel all over the UFO landscape.

I’ve plundered my own UFO book collection and now-defunct magazines for something juicy or worthy of concatenations from among them, and there are none, none I tell you.

So writers-to-be and those already among the so-called, do your best. You won’t make a lot of money but you will be able to say you’re an “author” – of sorts. And that’s something.

Isn’t it?

RR

Everyone is going mad (crazy) – everyone!

Copyright 2020, InterAmerica, Inc.

My (news) media venues and people, thought to be objective, sensible, and, above all, professional are just as discombobulated as those so-called lesser-minds that make up the great unwashed. [This posted on Facebook at my MediaWatch page.]

But reading my Facebook feeds – science, art, music, news media, and UFO pages – I’m stunned by the absolute, almost insane, postings by, usually, astute and mindful people.

In the UFO arena, I’m finding some exceptional, terrific, informed pages by a few notables: Curt Collins, Isaac Koi, Christopher O’Brien, Jan Aldrich, Erica Lukes, Nick Redfern, Malcolm Robinson, and some others.

But the comments they receive, along with the postings by lesser UFO personages are tantamount to a psychiatric session with schizophrenics and full-bodied neurotics.

For instance, my pal MJ Banias offered this link humbled upon at VICE.COM:

Underneath were dozens of encomiums: Congrats, great work, Good work, excellent work, You’re a UFO god! (I made up that last one, but) that’s the tenor of the comments.

MJ found a link, put it online and his followers awarded him an Olympian wreath.

Other postings by UFO underlings are flush with corny jokes, inane UFO items, many vulgarities, and indications of pent up frustration with how things are.

Ufology has become a task of finding needles in haystacks.

It’s always been loopy but nowadays even more so, sadly.

NB: Pertinent -- https://time.com/5835960/coronavirus-mental-illness-stigma/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=time-health&utm_content=20200514

RR

TLS offers review of a book that denigrates Artificial Intelligence

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/promise-of-artificial-intelligence-brian-cantwell-smith-book-review/