Dec 30 2006

UFO Novels? Bischoff Wins Hands Down

I’m hardly the biggest fan of UFO fiction; but, occasionally, a novel on the subject will come along that really catches my eye. Such was the case with the late Ralph Noyes’s A Secret Property of 1985. Written by a former employee of the British Ministry of Defense, the book tells in fictional format a thinly-veiled account of the notorious UFO landing at Rendlesham Forest, England in December 1980. Part sci-fi, part thriller - and, according to some, the truth told in fiction that Noyes was unable to reveal in a non-fiction format - A Secret Property makes for thought-provoking reading.

Similarly, Gene Snyder’s 1980 novel of adventure in the crashed UFO arena - The Ogden Enigma - is based in part, Snyder states, on the testimony of a man with intimate knowledge of a reportedly genuine crashed UFO event said to have occurred near Ogden, Utah, in 1950. A little-known title, it’s well worth reading.

Check out, too, Bernard Newman’s The Flying Saucer that I have mentioned in a previous post; Whitley Strieber’s Majestic; Dennis Wheatley’s Star of Ill-Omen; and Jacques Vallee’s Stratageme, for what I consider to be thought-provoking UFO fiction.

But all of the above titles absolutely pale when placed up against David Bischoff’s rollocking UFO Conspiracy trilogy - Abduction, Deception, and Revelation. I first read the series back in England when the books were originally published - between 1990 and 1991 - and I immediately thought that not only would they be among the most-talked-about books in ufology for years; but that they would also make it to the big-screen of Hollywood. Unfortunately, I was wrong on both counts.

I have no hesitation in saying that Bischoff’s books are - for me, at least - the finest, most entertaining UFO novels ever written. Try and imagine The X-Files meets The Fugitive meets The Parallax View, and you’ll get the picture.

For those that may now have had their appetites whetted, I won’t, obviously, reveal the intricate plot-line that spans all three titles. Essentially, however, the trilogy revolves around the on-the-road adventures of three central - albeit distinctly different - characters: Dr. Everett Scarborough (a Cary Grant/Harrison Ford-style figure who finds his non-belief system radically challenged as the story progresses); the voluptuous Marsha Manning (of both the U.S. Air Force and Scarborough’s bed); and Jake Camden - a hard-living and hard-partying, thirty-something journalist just looking for that big story - which he certainly finds. Indeed, Camden’s priceless character alone makes buying these titles a must (at the height of his career, Mickey Rourke was surely borne to play Camden had the books made it to the movies).

Thankfully, Bischoff displays a superb knowledge of ufological history and lore (and particularly that of the 50s and 60s); and as a result, the Men in Black, MJ12, Roswell, alien abductions, dead ETs, Government-created disinformation and “mind-control” experimentation, all come to the fore - but not in ways that you might imagine.

But more importantly, the UFO Conspiracy trilogy is full of non-stop adventure, intrigue, witty humor, and three-dimensional characters that many within ufology will be able to relate too.

Maybe one day someone will re-publish Abduction, Deception, and Revelation. It’s the UFO research community’s loss if they don’t.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 30th, 2006 at 9:00 am and is filed under The Redfern Files, Breaking News, Books. You can follow responses via RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is not allowed.
del.icio.us Digg Reddit Ma.gnolia Technorati Help