Dark Nest by Leanna Renee Heiber

Just a quick note today to herald the news that Dark Nest, by Leanna Renee Heiber, is a 2009 Prism finalist.

Leanna is a fellow author at CrescentMoonPress, who also published Undercover Alien. The PRISMs are awarded every year to the best in science-fiction, fantasy and paranormal romance by the FF&P Chapter of Romance Writers of America.

My author and I met Leanna at the Romantic Times convention in 2008. She's a lovely lady and quite a talented writer. Congratulations, Leanna!

I See ET

Could bendable glasses be of alien origin?

Yes, they could, at least indirectly. According to an article by Billy Cox of the Herald Tribune out of Sarasota, Florida, material recovered from the famous 1947 UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico, might have been reverse-engineered to produce the memory metal now used in bendable glasses, among many other applications.

So all of the glasses-wearing sports enthusiasts, as well as the merely accident-prone (like the author of my story) may have us extra-terrestrials to thank for their durable eyewear.

Dorothy Kilgallen and Things We're Reluctant to Admit

Browsing through the “non-Earthly” anniversaries this week reminded me of a brief story by Dorothy Kilgallen, a reporter for the International News Service back in 1955. On May 23 of that year she issued a press release indicating she had received information from a high-level contact in the British government regarding an alleged UFO crash, including his confirmation that the craft was definitely not of Earth origin. Her story was linked to a rumored UFO crash in 1946 at Spitzbergen, Norway.

A number of legends surround the crash, few of which can apparently be confirmed, including the alleged involvement by retired US General James Doolittle and the craft’s subsequent transport to the United States on the USS Alabama. Most ufologists discount this story as being more in the realm of legend than reality.

What I find interesting is not the crash itself, but how the information was treated. Ms. Kilgallen was a reporter during a time when women in the profession tended to be relegated to “lighter” news, and she was in fact quite famous as a Broadway columnist. However, she began her career as a crime reporter and her coverage of the Sam Shepherd case (the wrongly-accused doctor portrayed in the movie The Fugitive) was instrumental in helping him to gain a new trial. She also interviewed Jack Ruby, the killer of the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, and publicly criticized the Warren Commission investigating the assassination. Obviously, Ms. Kilgallen was a reporter not afraid of difficult stories, yet her 1955 press release on UFOs seems to be presented as a strange aberration in the bios I’ve read about her, if it is mentioned at all.

With more than a half-century having lapsed between the 1955 press release and today, we’ve learned a woman can report the news as well as a man. Why are Earthers still struggling not to be embarrassed by the possibility that UFOs may truly be not from this planet?