Majestic

Rating:
Summary: Calling all aliens...Please come and abduct Strieber ...
Review: and spare us from future dribble like MAJESTIC! For UFOlogists and Roswell fanatics, there's nothing really new here. Don't read MAJESTIC with the idea that you're going to find out anything that you don't already know. On the other hand, if the reader knows absolutely nothing about the Roswell crash (and then that begs the question, "where have you been for the past 10 years?") then you might enjoy using this book as some sort of a reference. This is the only reason that it gets 2 stars instead of one star.

MAJESTIC is described as fiction based on fact and boy is that stretching it! Based on the recollections of Will Stone, "THE" guy involved with the Roswell investigation, Strieber tries to cover the story in a journalistic way, but can't help throwing in sensational sidebars which include alien/human sexual encounters and the little buggy-eyed guys creeping at the foot of people's beds.

The Stone character supposedly was on the inside of the whole investigation and lets us in on such "secrets" as how the rancher who discovered the crash was discredited, how President Truman was talked into the approving the creation of MAJIC, and what the sinister reason was behind the aliens' visitations. Wow, like we haven't heard all of this before.

MAJESTIC just nevers takes off. I didn't really learn anything new about the conspiracy (the factual part) and I really didn't care about the characters (the fictional part). And, why were some of the names changed (to protect the innocent, no doubt) and others not? The best part of the whole book was the torrid Bess and Harry Truman love scene. Sorry, just kidding!

This is the 2nd (and last) book that I've read by Strieber. His writing style and my reading style just don't match up. I think he's hard to follow and his characterization (whether based in fact or fiction) is weak. I think he's a frustrated journalist who's trying to be a great writer of fiction. Ain't goin' happen ! Stick to the real world, Whitley, and you'll make all of us (and the aliens) happy!

Rating:
Summary: Calling all aliens...Please come and abduct Strieber ...
Review: and spare us from future dribble like MAJESTIC! For UFOlogists and Roswell fanatics, there's nothing really new here. Don't read MAJESTIC with the idea that you're going to find out anything that you don't already know. On the other hand, if the reader knows absolutely nothing about the Roswell crash (and then that begs the question, "where have you been for the past 10 years?") then you might enjoy using this book as some sort of a reference. This is the only reason that it gets 2 stars instead of one star.

MAJESTIC is described as fiction based on fact and boy is that stretching it! Based on the recollections of Will Stone, "THE" guy involved with the Roswell investigation, Strieber tries to cover the story in a journalistic way, but can't help throwing in sensational sidebars which include alien/human sexual encounters and the little buggy-eyed guys creeping at the foot of people's beds.

The Stone character supposedly was on the inside of the whole investigation and lets us in on such "secrets" as how the rancher who discovered the crash was discredited, how President Truman was talked into the approving the creation of MAJIC, and what the sinister reason was behind the aliens' visitations. Wow, like we haven't heard all of this before.

MAJESTIC just nevers takes off. I didn't really learn anything new about the conspiracy (the factual part) and I really didn't care about the characters (the fictional part). And, why were some of the names changed (to protect the innocent, no doubt) and others not? The best part of the whole book was the torrid Bess and Harry Truman love scene. Sorry, just kidding!

This is the 2nd (and last) book that I've read by Strieber. His writing style and my reading style just don't match up. I think he's hard to follow and his characterization (whether based in fact or fiction) is weak. I think he's a frustrated journalist who's trying to be a great writer of fiction. Ain't goin' happen ! Stick to the real world, Whitley, and you'll make all of us (and the aliens) happy!

Rating:
Summary: This book set the standard for Rosewell stories
Review: Don't listen to the negative reviews of this book. I've read this book as a skeptic and came out stunned by the content inside. No other book has effected me, EVER, so don't think I'm a Jim Jones lost soul looking for the answers to the universe. I am a scientist first and foremost and I found this riveting.

I gave away my first copy to friend who made me look like a UFO fanatic. He didn't believe anything suspicious and came out with wide eyes and a whole new perspective on things. It's not that this book is a literal translation of one man's journey, but the facts that are true that are embedded in the story match nearly all published information about the crash.

Whitley does an amazing job bringing all the known facts under one roof. This non-fiction book will blow your proverbial mind into little tiny not-so-skeptical pieces. READ THIS BOOK, if you're the slightest fan of this information. Otherwise, know that you have skipped the best book ever written on the subject.

Rating:
Summary: Spooky at times, just plain wierd at others...
Review: Don't tell anyone I read this book, my mother got it for me, although I have no idea why. So I had to read it. I almost never read science fiction so you many not want to take this review as your only source on this book. This book was just plain weird. I kept hoping it would get better, but I came away thinking this weeks edition of the Star Tabloid may have better writing and a little bit more info on this area 51 space ship plot. The only thing that kept me awake was the book hitting me in the head when I dosed off.

Rating:
Summary: Never Again
Review: Don't tell anyone I read this book, my mother got it for me, although I have no idea why. So I had to read it. I almost never read science fiction so you many not want to take this review as your only source on this book. This book was just plain weird. I kept hoping it would get better, but I came away thinking this weeks edition of the Star Tabloid may have better writing and a little bit more info on this area 51 space ship plot. The only thing that kept me awake was the book hitting me in the head when I dosed off.

Rating:
Summary: Five plus stars...
Review: for Majestic. I can't believe it's not in stock. It's one of the greatest novels ever written. It takes you places I've never experienced in literature. This man is a magician - he can transport the reader to the furthest realms of the imagination. I can't help wondering why this brilliant book has not received more notoriety. Everyone with any interest in the extraterrestial should read it.

Rating:
Summary: Exterrestrial Potboiler Explodes, Destroys Midget Colony
Review: For some people, "Roswell" is not only a town in New Mexico or the location of a mysterious crash, it's also a sort of battle cry. Since 1947, when the press initially reported that the Air Force had recovered the wreckage of a crashed UFO, advocates of the "space invasion" theory of current events (is Dick Cheney from another planet? If not, why does he speak in that strange monotone?) have been insisting that the U S government is engaged in a massive coverup of the facts surrounding that crash--insisting so much, in fact, that the government has been compelled to release scores of documents that pertain to the crash. Of course, in the spooky world of UFO enthusiasts, it's just never enough. Unless government documents supply them with exactly what they're looking for, they allege coverup. What really happened in Roswell?

Blurring fact and fiction, Whitley Streiber, a former journalist who is now one of America's leading spokespersons for UFO freaks everywhere, tells us exactly what he purports happened. And whether or not what he indicates is true really doesn't matter. "Majestic," named after the supposed U S government secret project designed to "reverse engineer" damaged extraterrestrial machinery recovered at Roswell and elsewhere, is a lively liberetto to a space opera that probably holds even Maria Calas suspect. And she's dead. Or supposed to be dead.

"Majestic," the book, like the human-alien crossbreeds several protagonists encounter in the text, is a hybrid that sometimes comes off as celebrity copy from Inside Edition--although it mostly mimicks B-movie sci fi that is far less convincing than Pamela Anderson's breast implants are. Slipping from fact into imaginative fiction as if he has respect for neither (the author even admits it in Chapter One), Strieber makes a strong emotional case for Trazidone and other anti-psychotic drugs--especially when historical figures encounter child-sized aliens in blue body suits at the foot of the bed in the Lincoln bedroom. But this stuff is supposed to be based on "testimony" from a number of Roswell's key players.

Actually, much of "Majestic" seems to be based on "colorized" circumstantial evidence, some of which obviously has been cooked up in Strieber's head. Which means, of course, that the book is tailor-made for those who want to believe there really was a coverup. Sensationalistic to a fault, sentimental to a degree unseen since the final episode of The Waltons, written in such a way as to elicit interest from screenwriters and movie executives, "Majestic" is literally an exercise in what not to do when writing a fictionalized account of what you want readers to believe is true.

Maybe that's why the book is out-of-print. Of course, "Majestic" could be out-of-print because the government's shadowy Skunkworks have sent the men in black to the publishing houses of the world--you know, simply to break a few kneecaps and issue some threats--mainly because they don't want the truth out there. Not surprisingly, there might be another conspiracy afoot: Perhaps Strieber wants "Majestic" to become hard to find. After all, familiarity breeds contempt, and a hard-to-find book does tend to breed legends and spurious rumors.

On a final note, it's interesting how Strieber pulls out all the stops whenever it comes to painting a character with cliches. Harry Truman is always crusty. General Vanderburg is always a distant threat. The rancher is always at wit's end.

And you know what? Whitley Strieber is richer than all of them. Maybe he's the conspiracy: A news reporter who has been dispatched by the shadowy forces to "monitor" subversive elements among the UFO enthusiast communtiy. Although Strieber and dozens of others are making boo-koo bucks off this growing UFO phenomenon, well, how come nobody has accused Strieber--or Art Bell--of being one of the ersatz humans aliens from across the universe are planting, as he attests, in crucially influential positions? Open one of those guys up on the autopsy table and we might find something right out of the X Files.

Please. Say it can't happen.

Rating:
Summary: Exterrestrial Potboiler Explodes, Destroys Midget Colony
Review: For some people, "Roswell" is not only a town in New Mexico or the location of a mysterious crash, it's also a sort of battle cry. Since 1947, when the press initially reported that the Air Force had recovered the wreckage of a crashed UFO, advocates of the "space invasion" theory of current events (is Dick Cheney from another planet? If not, why does he speak in that strange monotone?) have been insisting that the U S government is engaged in a massive coverup of the facts surrounding that crash--insisting so much, in fact, that the government has been compelled to release scores of documents that pertain to the crash. Of course, in the spooky world of UFO enthusiasts, it's just never enough. Unless government documents supply them with exactly what they're looking for, they allege coverup. What really happened in Roswell?

Blurring fact and fiction, Whitley Streiber, a former journalist who is now one of America's leading spokespersons for UFO freaks everywhere, tells us exactly what he purports happened. And whether or not what he indicates is true really doesn't matter. "Majestic," named after the supposed U S government secret project designed to "reverse engineer" damaged extraterrestrial machinery recovered at Roswell and elsewhere, is a lively liberetto to a space opera that probably holds even Maria Calas suspect. And she's dead. Or supposed to be dead.

"Majestic," the book, like the human-alien crossbreeds several protagonists encounter in the text, is a hybrid that sometimes comes off as celebrity copy from Inside Edition--although it mostly mimicks B-movie sci fi that is far less convincing than Pamela Anderson's breast implants are. Slipping from fact into imaginative fiction as if he has respect for neither (the author even admits it in Chapter One), Strieber makes a strong emotional case for Trazidone and other anti-psychotic drugs--especially when historical figures encounter child-sized aliens in blue body suits at the foot of the bed in the Lincoln bedroom. But this stuff is supposed to be based on "testimony" from a number of Roswell's key players.

Actually, much of "Majestic" seems to be based on "colorized" circumstantial evidence, some of which obviously has been cooked up in Strieber's head. Which means, of course, that the book is tailor-made for those who want to believe there really was a coverup. Sensationalistic to a fault, sentimental to a degree unseen since the final episode of The Waltons, written in such a way as to elicit interest from screenwriters and movie executives, "Majestic" is literally an exercise in what not to do when writing a fictionalized account of what you want readers to believe is true.

Maybe that's why the book is out-of-print. Of course, "Majestic" could be out-of-print because the government's shadowy Skunkworks have sent the men in black to the publishing houses of the world--you know, simply to break a few kneecaps and issue some threats--mainly because they don't want the truth out there. Not surprisingly, there might be another conspiracy afoot: Perhaps Strieber wants "Majestic" to become hard to find. After all, familiarity breeds contempt, and a hard-to-find book does tend to breed legends and spurious rumors.

On a final note, it's interesting how Strieber pulls out all the stops whenever it comes to painting a character with cliches. Harry Truman is always crusty. General Vanderburg is always a distant threat. The rancher is always at wit's end.

And you know what? Whitley Strieber is richer than all of them. Maybe he's the conspiracy: A news reporter who has been dispatched by the shadowy forces to "monitor" subversive elements among the UFO enthusiast communtiy. Although Strieber and dozens of others are making boo-koo bucks off this growing UFO phenomenon, well, how come nobody has accused Strieber--or Art Bell--of being one of the ersatz humans aliens from across the universe are planting, as he attests, in crucially influential positions? Open one of those guys up on the autopsy table and we might find something right out of the X Files.

Please. Say it can't happen.

Rating:
Summary: intriguing interpretation of the roswell mythos
Review: I've read this novel several times, and have continued to find it intriguing and captivating. As someone interested in UFO's but who is generally skeptical of (the alleged alien nature of)the Roswell crash, I found it especially fascintaing. Interest or knowledge of UFO's/alien abduction, etc. is not a prerequisite for reading or enjoying this novel though, for it is still a ripping yarn no matter what you think of the subject matter.
The only flaw or drawback to this book is that the author uses
the largely discredited MJ-12 documents as a basis for his interpretation of the events of Roswell as depicted in the novel.
However, Strieber makes up for any shortcomings with his skill in writing eloquent, suspenseful prose that capture's the reader's attention and his masterful ability to easily combine fact, speculation and outright fiction (which may or may not tell us something about his nonfiction work.)

Rating:
Summary: Fiction
Review: If you want the facts on the Roswell Incident put in plain, matter-of-fact form, consult books by Stanton Friedman. If you want the facts of this UAP crash exposed in an enjoyable read--pick up Majestic. This book will maintain your interest and will be difficult to put down. Much more to this book than meets the eye--however--it is fiction. Also, be aware that the account of the Loosley incident is also fiction; apparently based on the childish prank of a David Langford. This book reads almost like a deathbed confession (ref. Jesse Marcel). Communion and Transformation are more like horror fiction novels, whereas this is an outstanding read. Enjoy.