Books

Cryptozoology Books for 2007

New Books It’s a list of more than eleven, and, thusfar, what I have for ’07. The Home Front I am speaking on firm ground when talking about my own book plans, so I’ll detail these first. The widely disseminated new paperbound edition of Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation’s Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures is due from Simon and Schuster, via Paraview Pocket Books on April 24, 2007. I am quite happy with the cover, as it gives a naturalist’s nod to my younger days of cryptozoology fieldwork, as well as a visual celebration of [...]

African Dinosaur Hunting: Art Deco Style

Fresno Bee, February 19, 1928 People have been seeing what they think are sauropods (or in the popular mind, dinosaurs) for a long time in Africa. More recent eyewitness accounts, of course, are still being recorded. Take cryptozoologist Adam Davies, who authored a Fortean Times article (April 2001) on his expedition. He says it all in his title, “I thought I saw a Sauropod, ” and his report is easily found online, here. Zanesville Signal, November 29, 1925 Some future summaries are in store for next year. Chad Arment mentioned in a recent blog that 2007 could be a good [...]

Cryptozoology For The Troops

Camel spiders found during the Iraq war are real. I support the troops, whether they are the people out there dodging the bullets and the camel spiders or the soldiers supporting them. I won’t get into politics here, but allow me this minor holiday effort to give a cryptozoology break to some gals and guys in the war zones around the world. I will be mailing out some of my books this holiday season to these folks. If you have a son or daughter in Iraq or Afghanistan, or in a military hospital, and think he or she would enjoy [...]

The Top Cryptofiction Books of 2006

The Top Cryptofiction Books of 2006 by Loren Coleman, Author of Mysterious America. In 1998, Craig Heinselman of New Hampshire and editor of Crypto coined the word "cryptofiction." The term refers to any literary work that has cryptozoology or a cryptid or groups of cryptids as the major theme or central focus. What are the most noteworthy new works of cryptofiction published in the last twelve months? Five completely different kinds of novels and one graphic novel – all cryptofiction contributions – gain recognition here for the Year of 2006. These selections are so diverse that they occupy their own [...]

The Real Lost World Revisited

This image of the movie poster may be clicked to enlarge it. The Real Lost World is set to re-broadcast on December 17th, after having recently premiered. Frankly, I thought the triple-layered treatment (old real expedition re-creations, clips from the movie based on Doyle’s book, and the new expedition) was visibly intriguing and worked well for television. I enjoyed the program, especially with regard to how Dean Harrison’s role as cryptozoologist was used for action, tension, and innovativations in some scenes. One link to The Lost World that I have been fascinated by is the fact the book served as [...]

Pynchon’s New Cryptofiction

Most people have heard the rumors about alligators-in-the-sewers, in large part, because of Thomas Pynchon’s 1963 novel, V. Pynchon wrote of the cute little pet alligators purchased as Florida souvenirs, eventually discarded, then growing and reproducing in the sewers of New York City. Moving through the underground system, Pynchon told us, they were big, blind, albino, and fed off rats and sewage. Pynchon envisioned an Alligator Patrol going into the depths of the sewers, working in teams of two, with one man holding a flashlight while the other carried a twelve-gauge repeating shotgun. As no one before him had, Thomas [...]