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Aint It Cool News interviews Whitley about The Nye Incidents graphic novel
Great interview with Whitley over at AICN!
Click to read it.
And check out the comments -- many people there seem to like Whitley just fine. ...and one lunkhead who hasn't heard of circular reasoning declares “How do I know he's lying? He
makes impossible claims,
that's how I know he's lying” only to be ably countered by “'Cuz, Y'know, assumptive
declarations based on
incomplete information is SO
the rage these days.”
My respect for AICNers has gone way up!
Whitley's Dr. Sarbacher Story Blown Out of the Water (that's a pun)
The Kehoe Report has provided a major update to their March 2008 investigation --
(see March 2008 item, “The Kehoe Report finds a difference between Communion and Breakthrough”, below)
-- about Whitley's inaccurate reporting in Breakthrough of his conversation with Dr. Sarbacher (inaccurate if we believe Whitley's original statement in Communion that Dr. Sarbacher had died before he even knew of him).
The Kehoe Report has interviewed Dr. Sarbacher's son, Robert, who says that Whitley's story that his father fell out of a boat and drowned (possibly murdered) has no basis in reality, as he passed away in a hospital in the presence of his family. Robert Sarbacher does however confirm that his father's work was related to UFOs.
Read the story
My take? Whitley is best when he's reporting his own experiences, but clearly his recall of distant events becomes fuzzy, and he lacks a reporter's discernment when writing about things he has no first-hand knowledge of.
April 2008
Strange Truth: Strieber & Spector Talk “The Nye Incidents”
Click here to read Shaun Manning's interview
with the creators of the new graphic novel (due in comic shops this month!).
(External link)
March 2008
Through a Fractured Glass, Darkly
BeyondCommunion rarely adds material that is purely commentary, but Aeolus Kephas has written a scholarly analysis of Strieber that deserves archiving here. Mac Tonnies describes the article best: “Here it is: the most devastating and articulate summary of Whitley Strieber and his works that I've ever read. Neither facile dismissal nor endorsement, [Aeolus Kephas]'s analysis is propelled by a sincere interest in Strieber's writings that illuminates the often schizophrenic nature of his alleged experiences.”
Tonnies also served up a good sample paragraph from the essay:
| When it comes to understanding the question of Ufos and alien abductions -- and specifically that of "the Grays" -- the essential thing to remember is that none of this is what it seems. And although I am quite sure Strieber would be the very first person to admit this (at least on a good day) -- has been at pains for years to convey this very idea -- for all of that he seems unable to resist the urge to talk and write about the phenomena as if it were, finally, apprehensible to reason. As a result, Strieber spends half his time arguing against simplistic, literal-minded, "good or evil, angel or devil" interpretations, and the other half either damning the beings as demons or advocating them as angels. Apparently, this is all part of the aliens' chosen method of presentation: a positive perspective, a negative one, and finally a synthesis of both. Yet Strieber follows this approach in such a haphazard, slipshod fashion that at times he seems unaware of doing so. It is almost as if he has been programmed by his "visitors," and that, in order to be effective, he must remain in the dark himself, at least until he reaches the third perspective, and achieves synthesis of his various, fragmented selves (assuming he ever does). |
The Kehoe Report finds a difference between Communion and Breakthrough
UPDATED with reply from Whitley Strieber!
Speaking of commentaries, I'd be irresponsible not to note that a controversy arose this month when someone read Communion (1987) and Breakthrough (1995) back-to-back. It was observed that in Communion, Whitley wrote that he “did not know of Dr. Sarbacher and his letter [in Omni magazine] until August 9, 1986”. He further states that “Dr. Sarbacher died on July 26, 1986,” -- thus, there was no opportunity for them to ever have had a conversation. In Breakthrough, Whitley wrote, “In 1986 I searched Dr. Sarbacher out and had a telephone conversation with him”, and recounts the conversation in detail. Did Whitley imagine having had a conversation with a man who had died before he'd known of him?
Click here (external link) to read about it.
UPDATE! Whitley has provided an apology, though not exactly an explanation, for why he wrote in Communion that Dr. Sarbacher was deceased before he'd heard of him. However if you read between the lines, a bit of an explanation is implied. It appears that Whitley is suggesting that he falsely wrote in Communion that they'd never had the opportunity to connect because he felt afraid on account of the way in which Dr. Sarbacher died immediately after he contacted him.
Whitley Strieber
Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2008 - 12:39 am:
I talked to him on the phone, alright. I got his
number from Stanton Friedman and had a
conversation with him, during which he described
some of the materials he had studied, and asked
me to send him a description of my experiences.
I did this in the summer of 1986, and sent it to
him via UPS overnight. The next morning, the UPS
driver called to say that Dr. Sarbacher had died
after falling off his yacht.
I was terrified, frankly, because I was beginning
to realize that there was a lot of sinister stuff
involved in the UFO/close encounter subject, and
perhaps somebody had not wanted me and Sarbacher
to remain in contact. So I was rather vague about
the matter in Communion.
Later, there came to be some confusion about the
dates, and that has been exploited to make me
look bad.
No matter the dates, I definitely talked to
somebody claiming to be Dr. Sarbacher, who
answered the phone number given to me by Stanton
Friedman, and definitely sent him the document,
which was the first thing I wrote about the
Communion experience. No question.
The UPS man said that the document would be
returned to me, but it never happened.
I think that Dr. Sarbacher lost his life because
he came into contact with me. I'm sorry about the
confusion about dates in my books.. |
MUFON Diving
MUFON has opened up an archive of back issues of its UFO Journal, and included among these free downloads are several issues from the 1980s with articles by or about Whitley Strieber, whose New York Times best-selling book Communion was published in Feb 1987.
Check out
“My Experience With the Visitors” by Whitley Strieber, MUFON UFO Journal, December 1986 (external link to pdf)
in which he introduces himself to the saucer scene.
And see the “Open Letter” from Whitley Strieber in the May 1987 issue,
in which he defends himself from the saucer scene.
And again in June 1988.
These links have of course been added to the Communion and Transformation sections of this website.
And...
Whitley Strieber valiantly responds again in June 2006 letter to the editor (see page 18)
February 2008
Sony has film titled 2012 too ...
Variety reports that Sony is producing an Emmerich/Kloser film called 2012, and if I am reading this properly it seems this is not the Michael Bay/Orci/Kurtzman film 2012 being produced at Warner Brothers based on Whitley Strieber's book 2012: The War for Souls. My current impression is these are two entirely separate films with the same title. Slashfilm opines that "if anyone’s contracted to blow up the world, it should be Bay".
Whitley Strieber interviewed by Dave Navarro
Whitley Strieber is interviewed by musician Dave Navarro on the video program Dave Navarro's Spread, episode 38. This interview is getting raves from those who have tuned in.
View it here.
Official Message Board
I'm thinking of removing the button-link to the official message board, due to what seems to be an ever-present undercurrent of paranoid, extreme right-wing, and even racist themes. (Not from Whitley). It is not the kind of community that I'd hang out with in person, so why would I link to it? On the other hand, there are some great level-headed people there too, so, I dunno. Any opinions? Link? No link?
Decision: No link. When I have time I will replace that button with one that links to Whitley's Journal.
Nye Incidents Comic Book
It appears that the Nye Incidents will be released in a couple months as a trade paperback graphic novel rather than as five individual issues as previously planned. The Nye Incidents is written by Craig Spector, based on an unused storyline by Whitley Strieber, or something along those lines.
See some of the creepy artwork at io9.com.
January 2008
New Edition of Communion Published
The New York Times best-seller Communion has been reissued as a trade paperback, with a new preface by the author.
Autographed copies are available from Whitley's official website and unsigned copies are in stores now.
In related news:
Prompted by this new edition of Communion, Mac Tonnie's Posthuman Blues weblog includes a typically astute commentary about Strieber.
2007
November/December 2007
In the fictional novel 2012, Whitley depicted three parallel dimensions, three parallel Earths, in conflict. Three served the purposes of the story -- but might real life be even more complex? In a new Journal entry, Whitley gives evidence that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
Read Whitley's Journal entry, A Most Complex Encounter,
for personal experience indicating that many parallel Earths exist -- just as Hugh Everett theorized in 1957.
Photos from Burbank Book Signing
Check out these snaps taken at Whitley Strieber's signing at the Dark Delicacies Book Store in Burbank California a couple months ago. There's also a podcast by a couple droogs who discuss the signing (about 14 minutes in).
UFO Magazine Interview
The current issue of UFO Magazine (Dec) has an interview with Whitley Strieber conducted by Sean Casteel, conducted around the time of the Burbank book signing. The layout of the article is a bit odd, as the editor filled the pages with photos of Sean leaning in between Whitley and Anne at the book signing. Whitley does his best to look patient.
Communion Model
Mysteria Models in the UK has sculpted a resin model of the Communion alien, though since it appears to be an unlicensed product they may not be calling it the "Communion alien" so much as a model of "a grey that look uncannily like the alien from Communion".
Check it out.
October 2007
2012 Book Launch Video
A video of Whitley Strieber's 2012 book launch is now available. On September 20, Culture of Contact, in conjunction with the East West Bookstore, proudly presented Whitley Strieber live in New York. This video recording starts off with photos/audio and then goes into the event.
View the video at at Jeremy Vaeni's Culture of Contact website
August/September 2007
Outstanding Journal Entry by Whitley Strieber
11 Sept: One of Whitley Strieber's best journal entries is now online over at his official website. It seems a little on-air fight sparked him to write about his views on the environment and the alien presence with a greater clarity than he has presented in a long time. I was particularly impressed by his insights into the motivations of the aliens, and how they seem to be awed by our souls (an interest of theirs which I have long believed is fundamental to their attraction to us). And if you've wondered why Whitley has a fascination with climate change, you may at last understand when he puts it into the context of the development of our species over the aeons.
Click to read 'War in Dreamland' at UnknownCountry.com
More Book Signings
Burbank, Denver, and San Francisco book signings coming up! Click here for more info.
Book Signing
Update: Temair describes the first 2012 book signing: “I saw Whitley speak for the first time at East West Books on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to a crowd that was so packed that latecomers had to listen from the stairs leading up to the loft area where he was taking questions and signing his book. Amazing. Simply amazing. I've never seen Whitley personally before and was immediately struck by his charisma and good humor.”
Read more about it in the official forum
Courtesy of Whitley's newsletter: Whitley Strieber will be at East-West Books in New York City launching his new book, 2012: the War for Souls, Thursday, September 20, 2007, 6:30 - 8:30pm. The book launch is sponsored by New York's Culture of Contact Group, and group member Jerry Vaeni has done the first interview with Whitley about 2012. Listen to Vaeni's interview with Whitley at Culture of Contact
Stay Informed About 2012
SIGN UP FOR WHITLEY STRIEBER'S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER BY CLICKING HERE
BeyondCommunion may not be able to keep up with the promotional activity surrounding Whitley's new novel, so be sure to sign up for Whitley's official newsletter.
Director Chosen for The Grays Feature Film
Wolfgang Petersen has signed on to direct the upcoming feature film adaptation of Whitley Strieber's thriller The Grays.
July 2007
100 + 2012
Whitley Strieber has sent advance reading copies of his upcoming novel, 2012: The War for Souls to approximately 100 subscribers of his official website. Advance copies are also turning up regularly on ebay these last few weeks. He also has shared a description of the novel on his message forum:
“2012 is not a sequel to The Grays. It's also being directed as a movie by Michael Bay, and produced by Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman. This is the same group who did the Transformers. I will indeed be reading chapters for the website, and about a hundred subscribers have advanced reading copies, so hopefully some of them will post their thoughts here.” [on his official message forum -Ed]
“It's about three parallel earths coming together on December 21, 2012, as the negative world attempts to capture the positive world and the reconciling world (ours) gets caught in the middle of the battle. ... I'm using 2012 didactically in the book. It's not about things that I think might happen in the real world, but about things that unfold all the time inside us, as we engage in this terrific inner war that is life, which, for each of us, decides the fate of our own souls.”
Latest Rumor About The Grays Movie
Latino Review believes that Sam Raimi has been sent Ken Nolan's script for The Grays and an invitation to direct.
Based on the novel by Whitley Strieber, The Grays is being produced by Cary Brokaw and John Calley for Sony Pictures, but no director has been attached to the project yet.
The Nye Incidents
A 5-issue comic book series based on an unfilmed screenplay by Whitley Strieber is slated to be published later this year (though comic books tend to appear much later than planned). BeyondCommunion has added synopses and cover art.
Click here for more info about The Nye Incidents comic book.
Drones
Whitley Strieber's conditional endorsement of a series of anonymously provided photographs of a strange aerial object as "possibly real" has divided his readership. A cogent argument for why he should not have made this conditional endorsement of the "drones" (as they have been dubbed) is articulated by one of his readers here
or click here if that link has expired.
My own opinion is that the photographs are part of some kind of group art project launched to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the ufo sightings of 1947. Ultimately, I believe that the search for evidence in the form of papers or photos is meaningless, and the only way to establish the reality of an alien presence is to find it in the real world.
Update: In a news email (12 July), Whitley contributes some new facts about the drones that bears repeating. In reference to the suggestion that the photos may have been part of a viral marketing campaign for the Transformers movie, Whitley states:
“Since the producers of Transformers are also making the film of my upcoming book 2012: the War for Souls, I asked them about it and they said that the drones and the Isaac material had nothing to do with their movie. So that rumor is dead.”
June 2007
Happy Birthday, Whitley!
13 June: Whitley Strieber was born June 13, 1945, 04:45:00 AM CWT,
+05:00, 098W30', 29N25', San Antonio, TX
May 2007
Evenings with Demons
Updated May 28: A new trade paperback edition of Whitley Strieber's short story collection, Evenings with Demons, may be out before year's end from Borderlands Press. See their press release here. Evenings with Demons was previously available as a limited edition of 350 signed hardcovers back in 1997, and it commands prices of $100 or more when it comes up at auction. The new trade paperback will be under $20, and there is the potential that it may have a new intro by Whitley, and maybe a few new stories which have appeared since he published the limited edition.
2012 Today
Advance Reading Copies of Whitley Strieber's novel of interdimensional intrigue, 2012: The War for Souls, have started to appear on ebay, a full 4 months before the hardcover will arrive at retail. Advance Reading Copies are intended for reviewers and book store managers only, but they tend to get sold on ebay instead.
Softcover of The Grays
Whitley Strieber's 2006 novel The Grays arrives in paperback May 29, 2007.
And as on the hardcover, the synopsis on the paperback refers to Conner as being nine years old (he's eleven).
Cover Art Update
Found a tiny photo of a Danish edition of Whitley's novella Wolf of Shadows.
If anyone has a larger scan, send it in. Thanks.
Great Review of The Hunger
A blogger reviews Whitley Strieber's best vampire novel over at this link.
The Day After Tomorrow was a Silly Title Anyway
Hollywood Reporter notes that "Screen Gems has acquired the action spoof Armageddagain: The Day Before Tomorrow, to be directed by Robert Moniot from a screenplay he co-wrote with Travis Oates. Shooting is set to begin in August for an 2008 release. Monoit previously directed the short spoof Pearl Harbor II: Pearlmageddon." For the record, Whitley's book was titled The Coming Global Superstorm; the "day after" idea came from the filmmakers.
April 2007
A Message from Whitley Strieber
Whitley Strieber posted this message on his forum Sunday, April 08, 2007,
and I think it bears repeating here:
This is not a reference to any particular post in this or any thread on my board. But, just in general, let's try to back off each other a little. It's best not to even think in terms of who's right and who's wrong, who's shallow and who's deep. The one certain mystery in this world is the human being, and we cannot judge one another because we cannot see into that darkness. Judge not... ...
I am hoping that this note will remind people to discuss the issues, and not air out their opinions of others. Usually, it is what is least and weakest in us that vents such opinions, and what is highest that finds compassion for the other man.
When you are posting, think first and always, 'if this was being said to me or about me, how would it make me feel?'
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Something to Crow About
Here's a neat comparison of the early and later (presumably final) drafts of the cover art for Whitley Strieber's upcoming novel of interdimensional intrigue, 2012: The War for Souls . Both covers are copyright Tor/Forge. I do not know the name of the designer.
Update: Or perhaps this third version of the cover (click to view), with a red sky and no bird, strikes your fancy.
2012 a Sequel?
A Tor/Forge press release for the upcoming novel 2012: The War for Souls gives the first indication that 2012 features a character, Connor Callahan, first introduced in The Grays: “In 2012, another alien species has come to Earth and only teenager Connor Callahan and the last remaining Grays can save humanity from a harrowing fate, and quite possibly, the end of days as predicted by the Mayans.”
Read press release here
Technical Difficulties Resolved!
Welcome back, Internet Explorer users! I use Firefox when I view this site, so I hadn't realized users of the latest IE were seeing a blank screen where the site should be. I removed some older code and the site should be visible again. (If it is still invisible, please let me know... not that you'd know I am asking!).
March 2007
2012 to be a Michael Bay Motion Picture?
TMZ.com reports that Michael Bay, director of the excellent sci-fi film The Island, may be in talks with Warner Brothers to produce (and possibly direct), a feature film version of Whitley Strieber's upcoming novel, 2012: The War for Souls. Any director sensible enough to clone Scarlett Johansson is good enough for me. The script-writing duo of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are reportedly involved as well. No word from Whitley yet about whether this rumour is true. Update: Whitley has just confirmed that a deal for 2012 has been made.
Plot of 2012 Revealed by The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter (March 19, 2007) reveals the plot of 2012 in an article discussing the feature film plans: “Strieber's story centers on an academic researcher who discovers that multiple versions of Earth co-exist in different dimensions, but all are threatened by an apocalypse to occur in 2012 prophesied by the ancient Mayans. By opening a portal into a parallel universe, he makes contact with his double to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled. The book is due in the fall by St. Martin imprint Tor.”
Revamping The Hunger
The same Hollywood Reporter article cited above casually mentions that The Hunger is in development at Warner Brothers. The original film version of The Hunger (1983) starred David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve as the ill-fated vampire lovers.
February 2007
2012: The War for Souls
Not much information yet about Whitley's next book, 2012: The War for Souls, coming in September from Tor/Forge. Possibly a sequel to The Grays? A recent issue of Publisher’s Marketplace (Nov 28, 2006) describes the book thusly: “Whitley Strieber's 2012, a new novel of alien invasion, sold to Bob Gleason at Forge, in a very nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.”
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Ice!
I was in a Salvation Army store today and came across a 1978 paperback called Ice! by Arnold Federbush whose cover art was essentially the same as the poster for The Day After Tomorrow — New York City entombed in snow. I looked it up online, and found people remarking that the similarities do not end with the cover art.
Wikipedia notes: “[Ice!] describes a return of the Ice Age in months, rather than centuries. It involves a scientist rescuing a child from a frozen-solid New York City; this, and many other details of plot, characters, and package artwork, are nearly identical to the 2004 film The Day After Tomorrow -- possibly because of genre convergence."
A reader on Amazon notes: “I also thought of this book after watching the movie. The similarities are somewhat striking. Both are based around the effects of a sudden Ice Age on New York City. Also, both focus on the rebel climatologists that first deduce what is happening. Further, they both use the father-son relationship of the rebel climatologists as the key theme of the story. Finally, they both have a separate climatologist that is based a continent away from the action who is the one that really figures out what is going on. All in all, it seems a bit coincidental not to have some connection."
The synopsis describes two young lovers trapped in New York, as in the film: “Two young people in love, Mark and Karen, battle for survival in a world that has become hell frozen over...New York buried under the New Ice Age...The Big Freeze swirling wild, dangerous winds across the Arctic oceans... across the Humboldt Glacier ...In a flash it grows, creeps outward, gathers force, becomes gigantic, imperils the world. How long can people survive? IS THIS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS ...BURIED IN ICE?”
The dog-pack attack mentioned inside the sleeve was another similarity (“Packs of wild dogs roam through the blinding white snow...circling the survivors”), but I figured that probably just went with the territory — if you write about an ice age, you're going to have wolves or dogs. But I may have to read the book to see just how similar the two stories are. I will try to scan in the cover art soon. The cover folded out to double the size of the artwork; and there was even a note that you could order a print “ of this Lou Feck painting suitable for framing” from the publisher for $10 ( click to view the 20"x24" poster).
Regrettably, the similarities, even if unintentional, diminish the more recent book simply by making it evident that the ideas were not original enough. |
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January 2007
Rarity Unearthed
Hold onto your boots!
I've just won a Whitley Strieber related item on ebay that is so exceptionally rare that I've never come across one for sale until now. I wonder if Whitley even has one.
I've received the advance dust jacket for Majestic,
featuring the original cover design with the complete painting by Ted Seth Jacobs, before the publisher revised (some would say “ruined”) it. This particular dust jacket was purchased by BeyondCommunion.com in January 2007 after a seven year search. The previous owner explained where she obtained this rarity: “I connected a couple years ago with a gentleman that worked for years in PR for Putnam in New York and I was able to acquire many of his books with the first proof jackets. I'm very happy that I could offer something that you consider valuable to yourself and others. I'm so glad someone got this that knew what they were getting!”
As longtime BeyondCommunion.com visitors know, one of the few original interviews this website conducted was with Ted Jacobs about his paintings for Communion, Majestic, and Report on Communion. I have added the newly secured artwork to that existing interview, in full color. Previously, only a small black and white snapshot depicted this unused cover.
Ted, if you are reading this my friend, I'll be sending you an ultra high resolution scan. It won't make up for Putnam having lost the painting but I hope it brings you some satisfaction to know that a copy survived. Myself, I consider it the highlight of my Whitley Strieber collection.
Click here.
Whitley Strieber on The Hunger from 1983 issue of Fantasy Newsletter
We are pleased to bring you a high quality scan of the editorial Whitley Strieber wrote about Tony Scott's film adaptation of his vampire novel The Hunger. It appeared in the June 1983 issue of Fantasy Newsletter.
Click here for PDF
No, this isn't the rarity described above. But it is rare.
We've also got Douglas E. Winter's editorial about Whitley Strieber that appeared in the same issue, in which Winter notes that Strieber's first “three published novels -- The Wolfen, The Hunger, and Black Magic -- are concerned with the invasion of our society by races and powers undeniably alien yet disconcertingly capable of coexistence.”
For that article, visit the section of BeyondCommunion.com dedicated to
The Hunger and The Wolfen.
2006
December 2006
Vintage Interviews with Whitley Strieber
Among the recently discovered emails to BeyondCommunion.com (see November's Update) was a tip about a web page that features three vintage recordings of Whitley Strieber interviewed by Don Swaim, recorded in the studios of CBS Radio in New York. In the first, “Whitley Strieber speaks with Don Swaim in this 1984 interview about the threat of nuclear war, the former USSR and the collaboration with science writer James Kunetka, whom he grew up with, to write War Day. The book is about a journey around America after a nuclear exchange has taken place between the U.S. and Soviet Union. He also discusses the work and difficulties producing the film version of his book Wolfen and his involvement with the movie production.” In the second interview, “Whitley Strieber talks with Don during this 1985 interview about the troubles of having the sequel of his book, Warday, published. He also speaks of his novel, Wolf of Shadows, why he limited the target audience to children and young adults and his fascination with wolves.” And in the third interview, recorded in in 1987, “Whitley Strieber returns to talk about his UFO encounter. He opens up in this interview talking about his denials of the experience and the scared feeling of thinking he was crazy. He talked with multiple psychiatrists that have diagnosed him without any mental illnesses regardless of his descriptions and Strieber fears that it may have been a hallucination. He also discusses his experiences while being hypnotized and the research he did for his book, Communion, which he found to be a personal release from the incident.”
Thanks to Mike for the tip!
November 2006
Emails to BeyondCommunion.com Recovered
Attention: Everyone who has ever written to the webmaster of BeyondCommunion.com:
I must apologize — I've just discovered more than 100,000 email messages that never made it to me, to which I never replied because I didn't know they existed. Frankly I am embarassed; I even failed to reply to the WS man himself! I must have seemed to everyone to be a really rude person not to have responded. Like many of you I have several email addresses, and I route them all to one address so that I can simply check my “one” email box. But evidently mail to my beyondcommunion.com address was not making it to me. I only discovered this today because the disc-space usage of BeyondCommunion.com had somehow expanded. Checking into this, I discovered the cache of messages — 103,000 of them. 99% are spam but that still means that many are not. Some of the messages are lost because the folder was kind of overwhelmed (I had to run some aggressive filters to get it working again), but I managed to read a few of the messages and I am sending replies now. The BeyondCommunion.com address should be working now, but it may recur since it appears I'll have to manually sign in sometimes to delete the spam. (If you know my personal email address don't hesitate to use it, it might be safer!) Again, my apologies to everyone who ever wrote to me at my BeyondCommunion.com address over the past two or three years and did not receive a reply.
More Cover Art
Added more cover art: Belgium paperback edition of Communion
And here's the Uncorrected Page Proofs of Nature's End.
Ken Nolan Prays for Grays
Screenwriter Ken Nolan tells IGN.com “I am currently working on adapting Whitley Strieber’s THE GRAYS for Sony. Whitley has a magnificent sense of what can be truly real and terrifying. The film is supposed to go into production as soon as I turn in a great script—and I will, damn it—and it should be a great, terrifying film. Knock on wood.”
October 2006
Anne Strieber's Secret
Anne Strieber is now writing a book called The Secret, which will be self-published and available through Whitley and Anne's official website, UnknownCountry.com, sometime next year. The Secret is believed to be a philosophical rumination about life on Earth.
Sean Casteel's Interview with Whitley Strieber Now Online
Sean Casteel's June 7 interview with Whitley Strieber, which was published earlier this year in an issue of UFO Magazine, is now available for free at SeanCasteel.com. Casteel has interviewed Whitley Strieber many times over the years, so they dive straight into the interesting material. Check it out.
Downloading of BeyondCommunion.com
Thinking of downloading this entire website using a program like SpiderZilla? I don't mind if you do, but be advised you'll need about 160 MB of free disc space to download everything (including the related John Mack archive). Some of the bulk — about 60 MB — is from audio files scattered hither and yon.
September 2006
Whitley Strieber's new novel The Grays
is in bookstores now!
Pick up your copy today! Or order from Amazon.com.
Seattle & Portland Book Signing Sept 5 & 6
Although there is no formal book tour for The Grays, Whitley and Anne will be visiting Seattle and Portland. On Tuesday, Sept. 5, they will be at the University Book Store at 4326 University Way NE in Seattle at 7 pm. On Wednesday, Sept. 6, they will be in western Portland, Oregon at Powell's Books at 8725 SW Cascade Ave, Beaverton, also at 7 pm. Whitley says “We weren't planning to tour, but the publisher asked us to try Portland and Seattle. We will also be at Dark Delicacies in Burbank next weekend, which is run by good friends.”
Burbank, CA Book Signing Sept 9
On Saturday September 9 at 2:00 p.m., Whitley Strieber (The Grays) and Anne Strieber (Little Town Lies) will be signing at Dark Delicacies, 4213 W. Burbank Blvd., Burbank, CA 91505. Remember there is no formal book tour for The Grays, so this is a rare opportunity.
Whitley Strieber on Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show Sept 14
Whitley will be on television's Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Thursday September 14.
Update: On the show, Whitley shared that in trying to make sense of his initial alien abduction in 1985, in which he thought he'd been dragged to some sort of tent, he considered the possibility that he may have been abducted by people in response to his politically-charged book War Day. But the experiences continued for nearly eleven years and became far weirder than he could imagine.
He noted that while he was living in upstate New York having ongoing alien encounters, despite other people reporting similar experiences at his cabin, in the back of his mind he still wondered if his experiences may have been something in his mind. He was therefore interested to discover that when he moved from New York in 1997, his experiences did not follow him.
Someone upped a recording of the Craig Ferguson segment to YouTube, click to watch.
Whitley will be at the West Hollywood Book Fair Sept 17
More than 300 authors and 100 exhibitors will be at the 5th Annual West Hollywood Book Fair this Sunday, September 17th, 2006, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m at the West Hollywood Park, 647 N San Vicente Blvd., in West Hollywood. This event is free!
Whitley Strieber is slated to be on the panel "Bloodsuckers: Writing the Vampire Novel," which will take place at the Dark Delicacies exhibitor booth from 2:45-3:45. Signing to follow at 3:45. Also on that particular panel is Lara Parker (a.k.a. Angelique, the witch from Dark Shadows), and Karen Taylor. The moderator will be Hal Bodner.
Check it out.
August 2006
People Magazine says The Grays is a “great read”
The Picks & Pans section of People Magazine's Aug 14th issue touts Whitley Strieber's new novel The Grays! That's three independent endorsements so far — People Magazine, Booklist and Publishers Weekly.
Read Booklist's and Publishers Weekly's reviews here.
Earth's Destiny Hangs in the Balance in Sci-Fi Thriller
San Antonio Express-News presents Ed Conroy's overview of Whitley Strieber's new novel, The Grays. Be advised, the article is not a review, it is a summary of the entire story; so read the artcle after you've read the book! You may remember Ed Conroy investigated the claims of Whitley Strieber in his 1989 book Report on Communion.
Synopsis Updated
I've updated the synopsis of The Grays to the very latest version. As you may be aware, a character referred to as “B for Bob” in early synopses goes by another name in the published book. Spoilers abound, so don't read the synopsis at all if you want to read the book fresh.
Eleven
A reader of The Grays named Thomas asks “I thought Conner was eleven (p. 45). On the inside dust cover (in the second paragraph), they refer to Conner as 'Nine-year-old Conner Callaghan'. Is he nine or eleven?” Whitley answers: “We try and try to get rid of these little glitches. I must have read that cover ten times, and I never saw it, not to mention the folks at Tor. He's eleven.”
Radio Interview August 24 & August 27
Whitley & Anne Strieber will be on Coast to Coast AM talking with George Noory on August 24th.
Whitley will return to Coast on Sunday night, with his old friend Art Bell hosting, on August 27.
Listen live on the radio; the podcast of the program is reportedly only available to subscribers of Coast.
Listen to a Sample of the Audio Book
Listen to a sample of Audio Renaissance's audiobook edition of The Grays read by actor Stephen Lange by visiting Audible.com and clicking the button “Listen to a Sample" directly beneath the picture of the audiobook cover. Both abridged and an unabridged editions are available from Amazon.com.
Whitley Strieber reads from The Grays
For your listening pleasure, the author is reading the first few chapters of The Grays over at his official website.
Whitley Strieber reads Chapters 1, 2, & 3 of The Grays (audio)
Available now, chapters two and three! “You will meet Conner in the next chapter,” says Whitley. “He is Dan's son, in the present, and he's a representative of all of us as the visitors really see us. To them, we are brilliant and hard to comprehend. We behave in all sorts of wildly inappropriate ways, do seemingly crazy things, are careless, dangerous and fascinating. You'll see it all in the book, as I have seen it. A VERY DIFFERENT picture from the one formed by the media and the UFO folks.”
This is the only way to hear the author read from his book; the audio CD edition of The Grays is read by actor Stephen Lange (see July update further down this page for details about the audio book edition).
Jeremy Vaeni interviews Whitley & Anne Strieber about The Grays
Another great audio interview, this one conducted by the thoughtful & humorous Jeremy Vaeni. This was recorded in early June but I only just learned of it.
Click here to visit Jeremy Vaeni's podcast website
and if you can't find the link to the interview on the website itself, you can
click here for a direct link to the mp3
A transcript of this interview appears in the August issue of UFO Magazine.
July 2006
Advance Reviews of The Grays
Booklist and Publishers Weekly agree — The Grays is a return to form for author Whitley Strieber — “...a quantum leap back to his fictional form...a terrific read” (Booklist), and “a first-rate exercise in literary paranoia” (Publishers Weekly).
Read the complete reviews here.
Voice Talent Chosen for Audiobook of The Grays
Actor Stephen Lange will voice both the unabridged and abridged audio editions of The Grays. Lange is suited to the task, having voiced several thrillers by Dean Koontz.
Expanded Books Podcast Interview with Whitley Strieber about The Grays
Expanded Books podcaster James Michael Tyler interviews Whitley Strieber about his new novel The Grays. Be aware that only the podcast, an audio mp3, is a full-length interview. The site also provides a brief video which presents only a few edited highlights from the interview, without indicating that there is any difference between the two.
Download the full podcast here.
UFO Magazine Interviews Whitley Strieber in August Issue
Whitley Strieber will be on the cover of the August issue of UFO Magazine. Inside, Sean Casteel and and Jeremy Vaeni interview the author about the inspiration for the new novel, The Grays. Check your newsstands in mid-July. A humorous note about the cover photo: Anne Strieber says in a recent blog that Whitley doesn't care for the photo which is used on the cover, “...he says it makes him look like some sort of Communist dictator.”
Also in the issue is a column by George Noory about The Grays, and a sidebar regarding the MUFON Journal's decision to print a letter that smears Whitley and his wife Anne.
Whitley Strieber Audio Interview by Jerry Pippin
Interview with Whitley Strieber by Jerry Pippin, Secaucus, NJ, May 2006 (90 min audio)
May 2006
The Grays escape from BookExpo America (BEA)!
Judging from the autographed advance copies of The Grays that are starting to turn up on ebay, it appears that Whitley Strieber's signing at BookExpo America (BEA) in Washington DC on May 21st must have gone as planned. At that trade show, publishers hand out free copies of their upcoming books to booksellers, librarians, educators and other assorted industry professionals, many of whom stand in line to receive autographs from the authors themselves. If you're curious about the event in general, check out blog search engines and search for the term "book expo" - there are many first hand accounts of what appears to be a generally exhausting experience. I don't yet know if Whitley did any interviews while he was there.
A for Adam
Now that I've read the Advance Reading Copy of The Grays I notice that the synopsis of the book has different character names than what appears in print. The character referred to in the publisher's synopsis as "B for Bob" appears as "Adam" in the ARC (though "B for Bob" is also mentioned). The character referred to in the publisher's synopsis as "Colonel Michael Morax" appears as "Colonel Michael 'Gus' Wilkes" in the ARC (Might the "Wilkes" surname possibly an homage to real-life NSA defense contractor Brent Wilkes?). I don't know which names are the final names that will appear in the book, but for now I've changed the synopsis to reflect the names that appear in the ARC.
Other names to watch for in the novel include a character named "Timothy Greenfield Sanders" - a nod to Whitley Strieber's longtime friend and portrait photographer Timothy Greenfield Sanders. Another two characters in the story are named after characters from Joss Whedon's television series Angel. "Charles Gunn" (name on Angel: "Charles Gunn"), and "Connor" (name on Angel: "Connor"). As on Angel, Connor is a male youth, and again as on Angel, Charles Gunn works for a sinister organization. Maybe Whitley's a Whedon fan too!
Discord in Accord, Circa 1987
On the forum of Whitley Strieber's official website, a member named Philoc related this story about people lashing out against what they fear. Philoc offers a young person's perspective on the kind of fear and hate that sometimes rose up in the town of Accord, New York, when Whitley, Anne, and their son lived there:
“I've posted before the fact that I grew up near their place in Accord. I was about eleven or twelve when I first became aware of them, late eighties early nineties. People talked about what was going on up there. Obviously, something real. You heard all sorts of stories. A brush hog team [a grass-field mower -Ed.] quit on them because they saw an alien walk across a road on Strieber's place. There was stuff going on in the woods behind their house. Weird people back in there. Terrifying. It was, like, the ultimate dare to go back in there. You would not do it without a gun.
People wanted them out. Kids used to go to this stone circle Strieber had built and drop a load on it for him to find. I heard talk about going out in the woods behind his house during deer season and involving him in a little hunting misfortune. People were scared of him, flat-out.”
Excerpted from a comment by Philoc made on the forum of Whitley Strieber's official website.
Disclaimer: I cannot say for sure that the poster really lived there — most of what he relates has been written about by Whitley Strieber in his books: the field-mowing team refusing to work after seeing an alien, and Whitley's experience of a man standing in his driveway with a shotgun. New to the story is exactly how the neighborhood kids vandalized Strieber's property.
Addendum: Similar hostility was present at their New York City apartment. Anne Strieber, writing in her blog on July 6:
“...we owned an apartment in a small building in New York City...this was a nasty, gossipy place, where everyone was always sniping at one another. I remember one time when I accepted a UPS package for a neighbor, then left a note on her door. When she came home, she thanked me for the favor, then asked, 'What can I do for you in exchange?' The atmosphere in the building had gotten so bad that I blurted out, 'Please tell the other people in the building that I’m a NICE person!' The words were out of my mouth before I realized what I'd said, and I could tell she was surprised, since she had expected me to ask her to water our plants or something like that, but she agreed to do it and things were a little better afterwards.” |
April 2006
The Grays on Your Website
Save it to your own website (don't leech the image from here), and link it up to:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765313898
A larger selection of icons will likely be made available by Tor Books as the publication date draws closer. In the meanwhile we have just this one:
The Grays on the Silver Screen
We are extremely pleased to report that Sony Pictures' development of the feaure film of Whitley Strieber's new novel The Grays continues. This confirmation comes directly from one of the producers of the film in a reply to an inquiry from the Whitley Strieber fan site, BeyondCommunion.com.
Producers Cary Brokaw & John Calley, producers of The Grays and the recent hit Closer. |
Dear Mr. Calley, I run a fan-site about author Whitley Strieber called BeyondCommunion.com. I am curious about whether The Grays is still in development?
I haven't heard a peep out of Sony since last year's announcement that The Grays had been optioned and Ken Nolan was writing up a treatment. Thank you for any update you can share.
Yes it is. I understand that Sony is very pleased with Ken's progress.
Best wishes,
John Calley.
Tue, 18 Apr 2006 |
Out of the Mist
New! BeyondCommunion has a brief interview with the artist who took The Grays' cover photograph.
Click here for an interview with photographer Steve Weinrebe
The Grays invade BookExpo America (BEA)
If you are attending BookExpo America (BEA) this May in Washington DC — and that would only be the case if you are a bookseller, librarian, educator or industry professional — be sure to come upstairs to the Autographing Area early Sunday morning to meet Whitley Strieber on Sun May 21st, Table 21, 9:30AM-10:30AM. Check your schedule for confirmation. I don't know for sure, but I expect that advance copies of Whitley's upcoming novel The Grays will be available. Tor / Forge Books will have a booth (booth #2238) on the floor on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
New York Production of Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat borrows a scene from Whitley Strieber (allegedly)
According to fans of Anne Rice, a scene from Whitley Strieber's classic vampire novel The Hunger appears to have been incorporated into the New York run of the Elton John/Bernie Taupin musical. Click here for details of the allegation.
Vampire Trilogy Limited Edition - More Details and How to Order
It appears that Borderlands Press will indeed be releasing a limited, signed edition of Whitley Strieber's three vampire novels this year. All will feature new introductions by vampire novelists (I mean, novelists known for their own vampire fiction) — The Hunger will have an introduction by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, The Last Vampire will have an introduction by Ray Garton, and Lilith's Dream will have an introduction by Tim Lebbon. They are planned as collectibles, meaning they're expensive. 350 of each will be made, and they'll cost you $50 each. Here's the page with info at Borderlands Press, and note that they are taking reservations now.
March 2006
An excerpt from The Grays has been released!
To promote the August release of Whitley Strieber's new novel The Grays, an excerpt from Chapter One has been made available by the publisher. Read it here, but be warned, you'll become impatient for the rest of the book if you do!
They're Already Here!
Advance Reading Copies of Whitley Strieber's next novel have been sent to reviewers
The advance reading copy of The Grays looks similar to what will be available to the public in August, except it is softcover instead of hardcover, and it has the words "ADVANCE READING COPY — NOT FOR SALE" written across the front in red. Also, a newly added tagline "They're Already Here" appears below the title (it is the same tagline used by a recent film, but I won't tell). See pic. The back cover reveals Whitley plans to be available for radio-satellite interviews and he may be at the BookExpo America (BEA), the largest trade show in the publishing industry, which is being held this year May 18 - May 21, 2006 in Washington, DC.
February 2006
The Grays cover art released!
Here it is - the cover art for Whitley Strieber's upcoming novel The Grays (due in stores in August)!
Click here to view the front cover!
The Grays cover art reused!
It is a very nice cover, but... Do you recognize the stock photo of the alien used on the cover? I do. The same stock photo was used last year for the cover of a widely publicised anti-alien-encounter book by Harvard doctoral student Susan Clancy. The photo is part of a series collectively dubbed “Alien in Mist” by photographer Steve Weinrebe. For the cover of The Grays, the image has been retouched a little bit to give it longer, thinner fingers. You can see the original image at the Getty Images stock photo service online.
The Grays synopsis!
The synopsis for Whitley Strieber's upcoming novel The Grays is not yet on Amazon (at the time of this writing) but you can read it here on BeyondCommunion.com!
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History
This website went online in November 1998. On May 11th 1999, Whitley Strieber's official website linked to this website, tripling our number of visitors. In May 2000, with Whitley's blessing this website secured it's own domain name,
www.beyondcommunion.com.
People Living in the World Beyond the United States are invited to send in scans of the covers of your (non-US) editions of Whitley Strieber's books. Even if the artwork is only slightly different, it may be interesting and fun! Also, please let us know of any interviews we may have missed!
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