Customer Reviews

SCIENCE FICTION SECRETS: From Government Files and the Paranormal

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I have to start by saying how immensely I enjoyed this book. Having skipped out of town for a "last ditch" retreat to the Isle of Palms off the coast of sunny South Carolina, I enjoyed this book in between jogs on the beach and the occasional swim. Cuba Libre' and cigar in hand, I lounged by the pool under a palm tree as I enjoyed this page-turner; and let me be frank, there's no better way to describe this book.

Nick Redfern's Science Fiction Secrets From Government Files and the Paranormal is one of my favorite new offerings from Britain's finest Gonzo journalist of paranormalia. From strange FBI tales involving the apparent paranoia of Sci-Fi writers like Phillip K. Dick, to weird parallels he draws between the terrorist attacks of 9-11 and television programs that predicted the disaster before it happened, this book is a mind bender in the first degree, and will leave you wondering how soon Anomalist Books will be asking for "round two."

One of my favorite chapters deals with Ray Palmer, a fascinating little dwarf who published the Sci-Fi pulp magazine Amazing Stories back in the late '30s and into the '40's. Palmer was perhaps known best for his publication of the long running and controversial "Shaver Mystery" stories, based on accounts (allegedly true in some capacity) related by a machine welder turned "psychic" named Richard S. Shaver. Palmer's support of the truth of Shaver's stories, which dealt with notions that the world is controlled subversively by wicket, inbred inhabitants of the hollow earth called Deros, was controversial in the science fiction community. Many felt Palmer published the stories because of the literal "shock value", although readers soon flooded the mailbox of Amazing Stories after the initial publication of Shaver's offerings, spinning their own yarns of assault and capture by real-life Deros from underground worlds.

Redfern brilliantly unveils a variety of parallels regarding Palmer's involvement in lapsing the realms of Sci Fi and reality, as well as the likes of Issac Assimov, and Arthur C. Clark. Rocket scientist Jack Parsons comes into question, as well as the infamous Roswell UFO crash of 1947. The old adage "truth is stranger than fiction" comes to mind often when reading this gem, and if you ever doubted it, this will be the manuscript that will finally change that perception. Read it, enjoy it, and be prepared to never see the world around you quite the same way you once did.

This was a lot of fun to read. And, as with all of Refern's books, well written. I really enjoyed this one and can recommend it to everyone, beilevers and skepitcs alike.

I always enjoy Nick Redfern's books. I find his books well written and interesting. He shows up on the TV often, chasing monsters or aliens and seems to be a rather nice guy.

In this unique book Redfern looks at the back stories of sci-fi books and movies which although outlandish, may have basis in fact. He includes some interesting information on many authors that suggest they had inside knowledge of real events that translated into the science fiction they wrote. He also relates on how some sci-fi stories have accurately included facts not know to mankind until many years later. He covers lots of ground in this book including the Shaver Mystery, Roswell, the Philadelphia Experiment and 9/11. He looks at how some sci-fi themes may have been the inspiration of secret government scientific projects such as invisibility and teleportation.

One question Redfern asks that UFO investigators have been wondering about for years. Is the U.S. government encouraging Hollywood to produce alien sci-fi to acclimate the public for eventual disclosure that aliens are real and visiting? Look at the alien culture as seen on all types of merchandise and in common usage that blockbuster sci-fi movies and books have created. Conversely he shows how governments have appeared to use sci-fi to ridicule those that think ufos are real and also cover up secret events and projects.

If you are interested in this area of the paranormal (aliens and ufos) as well as science fiction, then you have to get this book. Even if you are well versed in some of the topics covered, you may be surprised at what Redfern discloses here (just like I did).

of rehashed materials (1) and more or less well-known topics being reconsidered (2). The former (1) includes themes like the Ray Palmer - Kenneth Arnold - Fred Crisman (of Maury Island UFO and JFK assassination fame) triangle; L. Ron Hubbard - Jack Parsons - A. Crowley (oddly enough, the author has nothing to say about the alleged Mossad infiltration/takeover of the Church of Scientology); pgs. 132-3: a classroom study of A. Huxley's "Brave New World" which drew the attention of the FBI (quite unfairly to the reader, the writer fails to mention the fact that he has copied an entire passage from a pretty recent book of his, entitled "Celebrity Secrets," pp. 229-30, 2007); the authenticity of the "Report from the Iron Mountain," whose authorship N. Redfern attributes to some leftie gatekeepers with too much time on their hands; President Reagan's speeches -- in cahoots w/ his fellow puppet buddy, Soviet Premier Gorbachev -- concerning a possible alien threat that would unite mankind...under the NWO banner, I reckon; et cetera.

From the other group of articles (2) we can learn about: the Navy's narrative regarding the Philadelphia experiment; the Rendelsham Forrest incident of 1980 that might have involved the USAF testing ball-lightning for military purpose; Project A119 from the late 1950s which was about detonating a nuclear bomb on the dark side of the Moon (as a reminder, NASA's Luna-colliding probe has been scheduled to impact on 9 October, 2009); the Serpo documents and their ties to a British-born female intel agent, in all likelihood, working for the CIA.

While the author alludes to the possibility of the SF genre being used as a tool to influence public perception, he steers clear of delving into the issue of predictive programming and/or 'revelation of the method,' whatever that might be. A minor correction with respect to Philip K. Dick's year of birth: it's 1928, not 1938 (p. 161), a fact that Mr. Redfern is well aware of, since he writes (p. 168) PKD "died of a stroke in 1982 at the age of fifty-three" (54?) -- it should be chalked up to a momentary lapse of attention, I suppose.

This book, while potentially quite interesting, is really little more than a mash-up of weakly researched articles all attempting to show a link (either causal or topical) between various works of science fiction and paranormal, UFO related events. Unfortunately, poor research hampers this works believability. Worse, in several of the articles the author assumes a causal relationship between events which happen out of chronological sequence (this thing that happens in 1979 directly resulted in this piece of fiction written in 1962, that sort of thing). Overall, it's a book with mild, thought-provoking topics which are shot down by the poor writing and research. If you must read it, pick it up cheap.