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The strange, but true biography of the colorful founder of Saucerian Books, a central purveyor and promoter of flying saucer and conspiracist knowledge in the mid-twentieth century. Gray Barker (1925-1984) was an eccentric literary outsider, filled with ideas that were out of step with the world. An author and unreliable narrator of implausible stories, Barker founded and operated Saucerian Books, an independent publisher of books about flying saucers and other ideas at the fringes of popular discourse. In Ever an entertainer, Barker established his reputation with one of the first flying saucer fanzines
Sommario
Introduction: The Unidentified
1 “Heckling the Performer in Derision”: Gray Barker before Flying Saucers
2 Flying Saucers before Gray Barker
3 “The Skies Seethe with Mystery”: The Saucerian
4 “Tomorrow we shall again have our head in the stars”: 1954–1955
5 Knowing Too Much: 1956–1957
6 Chasing the Flying Saucers: 1957–1959
7 “A Very Profitable Wave”: The Beginning of Saucerian Books
8 “A Fairly Good Hack Writing Style”: Decline and Resurrection, 1962–1965
9 The Saucer Boom: The Paranormal As Business, 1966–1968
10 “What Else Have You Got Besides Flying Saucers?” Saucerian Books After Condon, 1969–1970
11 “Thoroughly Dedicated to Promoting UFO Crackpottery”: Barker in the 1970s
12 “Deep Peace and Drowsiness”: New Age Books and Barker’s Final Years, 1982–1984
Conclusion: Strange Things
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Info autore
Gabriel Mckee is Librarian for Collections and Services at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. He is a coeditor of Theology and the DC Universe, and his prior works include The Gospel According to Science Fiction, Pink Beams of Light from the God in the Gutter, and Evermore: The Persistence of Poe.
Riassunto
The strange, but true biography of the colourful founder of Saucerian Books, a central purveyor and promoter of flying saucer and conspiracist knowledge in the mid-twentieth century.
