BLACK WORK by Macdowell Frederics

Ted Griffin is a mercenary pilot in dire need of a job ... the mysterious "Fourth of July" organization are in dire need of a hotshot pilot ... and America is in dire need of a wake up call in BLACK WORK!

Frederics' first person writing as Griffin is engaging, but unfortunately the most interesting part of the story is the roman à clef over who we come to realize are thinly veiled versions of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, throwing their all into a white supremacist terror plot to assassinate the first black vice president! There's some more details which point to a mixing of some other classic Hollywood stars, especially in the Nancy character of "Lynette Hall," who's a patriotic country music star on top of being a nympho. True to Ronnie's life, his "Craig Norse" character is just a cat's paw himself, an intermediary between the Fourth of July org and whoever's pulling the strings at the top. There's also a little John Wayne in Norse, but mostly it's Reagan the simpering chickenhawk has-been who fills in the character.

Hero merc Ted Griffin's unraveling of the plot takes too long, and the whole reason the bad guys supposedly need his unique pilot expertise seems overblown. There's only so many times Griffin can stalk around the underground lair looking for clues or get chewed out as expendable by the baddies before it becomes repetitive. Developments around the CIA are intriguing but similarly padded out. The novel comes in at under 250 pages, but could have been even slimmer. Frederics ends on a realistic, downer note that does feel earned, but there's just too much dross getting there.

This contemporary review by the NYT says that Frederics was a pseudonym for some "serious writer." Maybe they didn't want their name on a book where (spoilers here) Ronald Reagan gets blown away after shouting the n-word ... Black Work earns 2/4 stars for some interesting plays amid pedestrian plotting. Great title, too.

This title is available to read and download at archive dot org.

Signet Books, 1977 (original pub. 1976)

 

BIGFOOT'S WEIRD BLOOD by Jon Erik Beckjord

If you prick Bigfoot, does she not bleed? Bigfooting bête noir Jon Erik Beckjord has some thoughts, especially when his blood samples come back minus any blood results! The goblin universe beckons ...

This article is also available to read and download at archive dot org.

Courtesy Fate magazine, Volume 42 - Number 8, August 1989.

WE ARE NOT ALONE by Marcia Seligson

An article by Marcia Seligson outlining the UFO subject, and including an interview and lunch with Steven Spielberg about his new film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This piece is one of the original sources for the claim that Vallee was the direct inspiration for Close Encounters character Lacombe.

This article is available to read and download at archive dot org.

From New West magazine, November 7th, 1977.

SECRETS OF LOCH NESS by Histrionic Publishing

Or Nessie & Other Aquatic Monsters: Secrets of Loch Ness, to use the full, slightly unwieldy title! A single article from this magazine was previously available, but now the whole publication is available to read and download at archive dot org! This collection is bulked up with some reprinted Nessie items such as Stewart McCulloch's article "A Schoolmaster Stalks the Unknown," and features lots of classic lore alongside developments that didn't quite stand the test of time.

Half the fun of these old "special edition" magazines is in the layouts and graphic design. Here, a blurry photo of the Loch is spiced up with a jagged monster outline, and a viking re-enactment in Pennsylvania is recruited as illustration for historical context on the Loch. 

Oh, and by the way, would you believe that this is the first and only issue, No. 1 of 1?

Nessie can't have all the fun to herself, of course, so we also fill pages with monster legends like Champ, the giant squid, manatees, and ... a pufferfish?!

"I'm famous, I tells ya!"

We also benefit from some fun maps, as seen in McCulloch's article and in the article on Champ:

There's also an advert/article for an art book of Frank Frazetta's work, and a trio of "exotic" houseplant ads ... the closest things readers could get to real live monsters. All in all, Secrets of Loch Ness is a vibe, man!

Histrionic Publishing, 1977

SHAWN ROBBINS - THE AMAZING WOMAN WHO PREDICTS DISASTER by Ian Anderson

At last! The origin story as to why Shawn Robbins was the doom and gloom leader of ESP prognostication, especially where air travel was concerned! As noted before, part of it involves dream premonitions and a malfunction on a flight to Greenland that, Robbins believes, could have been fatal.

Here's how the article should look in the original magazine spread:

This article is also available to read and download at archive dot org.

Courtesy Tim Beckley's Front Page Disasters magazine, Vol. 1 - Issue 1, October 1977.

COSMIC DEBRIS: "God Bless You, Shawn Robbins"

Introducing a new old player on the psychic scene: Shawn Robbins, who graced many an ad in Fate magazine with her piercing glare and lethal face card, as the kids say. Robbins was a particularly gloomy psychic, with her origin story involving a snapped fuel line on a dangerous flight across the Great White North, and one of her major claims to fame being her supposed prediction of the horrific, record setting 1977 Tenerife Airport Disaster.

For just $3 (and 50 cents postage) you can receive your own personalized horoscope and personality analysis from Shawn ... with all her terrible knowledge, can you afford not to?

From Fate magazine, Volume 32 - Number 2, February 1979.

ARCHIVAL UPDATES: ESP AND PSYCHIC POWER

Steven Tyler's ESP and Psychic Power is now available to read and download at archive dot org! This marks this title's digital debut and places it alongside Tyler's UFO reader Are the Invaders Coming?

After the main event, Tower Books includes their usual great spread of ads for other intriguing reads across various genres:

Courtesy Tower Books, 1970.

COSMIC DEBRIS: The Dick Sutphen Seminar Tour!

Another blast from the past as Dick Sutphen launches a Western tour all the way from Texas to Portland, OR, followed by a Super Seminar in his hometown of Scottsdale, AZ! Sutphen also plugs his books, his tapes, and his self-help magazine. It will change your life ...

From Fate magazine, Volume Volume 32 - Number 2, February 1979. 

SPECIAL EVENT: Jeffrey Epstein, Parapsychology and the Telepathy Tapes

Friend of the blog Emily Louise has been kind enough to host me, Jerry Coe, on a special livestream exploring connections between the departed financier Jeffrey Epstein, the parapsychological field, and the scam podcast The Telepathy Tapes, for February 28th, 1PM PST. Fortean researcher Tanner F. Boyle will also be there!

Here is the link for the upcoming stream: Jeffrey Epstein, Parapsychology, and the Telepathy Tapes

It WILL be archived on Emily's channel, so no worries should you not be able to see it live. While you're waiting, why not check out her blockbuster documentary on the classic mockumentary (and tie-in Paperback of the Gods!): Alternative 3: How a Hoax Documentary Created a Conspiracy Cult? She interviews author Leslie Watkins and tracks the influence of this April Fools jape into a new generation of "secret space program" fabulists - 20 and back, baby!