It's a weird feeling, let me tell you. I've been lugging this book around for 4 years, and in a matter of a few weeks I'll be sending it out into the world. Well, to my publisher, at any rate. And from there, who knows?
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Dr. J. Allen Hynek (1910-1986) |
When I look back on this project, several things amaze me:
- I have found amazing people and stories that I never ever would have dreamed of getting into this book when I started out.
- I have had to leave out mountains of material, but it's still a ripping good story (and all the material I couldn't fit in the book will make for a series of really wonderful podcasts).
- I know more about J. Allen Hynek than I know about my wife.
- My understanding and appreciation of the UFO phenomenon has been completely transformed.
- There are some jaw-dropping surprises in Hynek's story.
- Speaking of jaw-dropping, Hynek was either written up in or wrote articles for some of the finest titty magazines in the business.
- Also speaking of jaw-dropping, the bad guys in the story are very unexpected, and very, very bad.
- Hynek could be an incredibly funny dude, a quality that is sorely lacking in many UFOlogists.
- I did end up writing about Roswell, but only after finding some amazing quotes from Hynek about his true feelings about saucer crash stories.
- A LOT of people loved and respected the guy.
- People who took his astronomy classes decades ago still have fond memories of him.
- I want to be more like Hynek.
That Juno probe that just entered into orbit around Jupiter? Should have been named after Hynek (and should have included a Lego Hynek).