Hey, if you've been enjoying my blog, you might also enjoy my new podcast, Far-Fetched, about my life as a writer (from Star Trek to UFOs and beyond). It's available wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/far-fetched/id1566768391 https://open.spotify.com/show/6aDy8L4I5Ks8KH2B5oGwst https://www.pandora.com/podcast/far-fetched/PC:76342 https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/8d55bab1-897f-4cd2-b152-1e54f5076cad/far-fetched https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-far-fetched-84377281/  https://pca.st/8k45sltc ..read more

I was going to take a week or two off from blogging, but I just watched the first episode of the paranormal TV show Hellier and I feel compelled to write down my thoughts. First of all, it's a 30-minute show passing as a 60-minute show. Really, it's waaaaay too long. Watching the first episode I was bored, then annoyed, then kind of angry. I perked up a little when the host started talking about the 1955 Kelly-Hopkinsville, Kentucky "alien invasion" case, a famous incident in which a family was besieged by "little green men" that kept appearing outside their farmhouse. It's a great story, and ..read more

With all the news about the Navy's essentially meaningless "release" of the tic-tac videos, I keep seeing the usual suspects associated with the "To the Stars Academy" (TTSA) popping up in podcasts and articles everywhere. Is anyone else tired of seeing this image? Whenever that happens -- and it happens every few months, like clockwork, almost as if by design -- I'm reminded of when I saw TTSA frontman Luiz Elizondo speak at the Scientific Conference on Anomalous Aerospace Phenomena (AAP) in Huntsville, AL, in March of 2019. It was a good conference and an enjoyable experience -- ex ..read more

I have to admit, it's kind of cool that people are still reviewing my biography of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, The Close Encounters Man, nearly three years after its publication -- and in an academic setting, no less! You can read the review here, but I warn you, it's massive: 25 pages! https://www.academia.edu/42856955/Book_Review_of_The_Close_Encounters_Man Of course I disagree with some of the reviewer's observations, and I expect I will address those issues in upcoming blog posts. One thing I will address right now is that I don't believe that being a scriptwriter in any way disqualifies me from ..read more

In response to my reader @LaurieDecatur asking if there was ever any nookie going on between Jennie Zeidman and J. Allen Hynek, I will let Jennie answer that in her own words:  I do want this on the record:  Allen and I had no physical relationship, of any kind,  ever, unless you count the time in the Hynek kitchen on Ridge Avenue, that Mimi and I were getting supper on the table, and Allen returned home, I had not seen him in several months, and he gave me a peck on the cheek.  Sorry to disappoint everyone, but that's it.  I am concerned that on the (Project Blue Bo ..read more

UFOlogy has lost a bright star this month. Jennie Ziedman, friend and colleague of Dr. J. Allen Hynek and a former investigator for Project Blue Book, has passed away. When I started researching Dr. Hynek's life back in 2012, Jennie was the first person I wanted to interview for The Close Encounters Man, my biography of Hynek. I had come across a thick binder in the archives of Hynek's Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) that contained years' worth of correspondence and photos between Jennie and Dr. Hynek, and I could see immediately that the two of them shared not just an intense curiosity about ..read more

I came across an interesting parallel today concerning the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Many of my readers will remember the uproar around Annie Jacobsen's 2011 book Area 51, in which she quoted an unnamed source who claimed that the alleged Roswell "saucer crash" and resulting recovery of saucer wreckage and of teeny alien corpses was all a Nazi/Soviet propaganda project pulled off by an unholy partnership between Joseph Stalin and Nazi "Angel of Death" Josef Mengele. According to Jacobsen's story, Mengele made some deformed children look like "aliens," and they were placed in a fly ..read more

Quick quiz: What's the perfect way to pass the time while staying at home that only costs $1.99 and doesn't put you at any risk of being exposed to COVID-19? It's pretty cheap as a paperback as well!Answer: If you click here right now, you can download the Kindle version of The Close Encounters Man; How One Man Made the World Believe in UFOs, my biography of Project Blue Book investigator Dr. J. Allen Hynek, for the low, low price of a buck ninety-nine. If there's a better, cheaper, safer way to pass the time during a pandemic, I haven't heard of it! UFO people seem to be dealing with stay ..read more

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Dr. J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) for the first time in several years. While I was in the midst of researching and writing my bio of Dr. Hynek, The Close Encounters Man, I practically lived at CUFOS, soaking up UFO legends and lore like crazy every chance I would get. This time I was visiting CUFOS to set up a shoot for my upcoming Travel Channel TV series (more on that soon), and it was a real nostalgia trip. The center is housed in the Chicago home of CUFOS scientific director Dr. Mark Rodeghier, with an additional storage space ..read more

Every now and then I like to take a peek at how my book is being reviewed at Amazon and goodreads, and I'm always happy with what I find. The Close Encounters Man: How One Man Made the World Believe in UFOs, has a 4.5 star rating on Amazon and  3.99 rating on goodreads. Not too bad. I especially like reading the negative reviews. Sure, sometimes it smarts to have someone ripping on your work, but sometimes it can be kind of hilarious. My favorite negative review came from a guy who wrote something to the effect of, "I consider myself to be far more knowledgeable about the UFO phenomenon than ..read more