Scan barcode
A review by wyntrchylde
Real Men in Black: Evidence, Famous Cases, and True Stories of These Mysterious Men and Their Connection to UFO Phenomena by Nick Redfern
3.0
The Real Men in Black
Author: Nicholas Redfern
Publisher: New Page Books
Publishing Date: 2011
Pgs: 256
=======================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Why this book:
Because those guys, if they exist, are anything but the secret agents protecting Earth as portrayed in the movies. And I wonder at a connection with the Black-Eyed Children. Yes, I’m deep in the weeds on this stuff.
_________________
The Feel:
Creepy, as it should be. Redfern captures that well.
Character I Most Identified With:
Albert Bender getting obsessed with the Flight 19 disappearance. I remember a time in my teenage years when I was too. Lucky for me a squirrel walked by and my OCD took another path.
Overused Phrase/Concept:
Tried too hard to make every incidence of high strangeness into a Men In Black-related occurrence. We’re almost at “a black car drove past me while I had a migraine, and that’s when I knew it was the Men in Black” level of paranoia in print.
Tropes:
Too many “and if you think that one was creepy, wait until you hear about this one next, or later in the book.”
Hmm Moments:
The Woman in Black visitation to the Arthurian legend investigator is interesting. I was prepared to write this one off and scoff at it like the ones that claim ghosts, aliens, and ufos…and the resultant, or coincidental, MIB contacts are demonic. But this one, especially based on The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch wormhole/portal investigations, hits a note that is very interesting.
Uhm Moments:
There is a simpler answer than Bender being an epileptic. His attic office probably had a gas leak. This would account for his migraines, the hallucinating, etc. Epilepsy wouldn't just affect him in his attic. He would have seizures out in the wider world too. People around him would either be informed or witness them. It's not as esoteric or hidden as some seem to think.
Meh / PFFT Moments:
The whole aliens-ghosts-MIB are demonic and there to drag “us” away from Gawd! Redfern could’ve left that bit on the cutting room floor. Not really part of the narrative, but then, I guess, I have a different perspective on the narrative than he does.
The Sigh:
Well, explained away part of it as hallucinating, now comes charlatanism, and then, mass hysteria.
The Colin Bennet quote about what the MIB are, “Like the UFO itself, the MIB and Bigfoot look like short media clips more than anything else. We can easily assume that any alien lifeform may well have evolved into pure media, leaving behind mechanical traces perhaps millions of years ago.” Sigh. Head desk. Double sigh. Double head desk. “...pure media…” c’mon man. This reads like someone has been online for too long. And is designed to dovetail with a belief in simulation theory, which is its own “c’mon man” in my book. Since we don’t have omnipresent awareness of the entirety of the universe the way that we see things beyond our immediate environs is through media. So, of course, everything beyond our immediate purview is observed through media. That doesn’t mean that the entirety of existence beyond our eyes and ears is pure media. Media is just a representation of live beyond your immediate senses.
Suspension of Disbelief:
Stepping out of the MIB sect, some of these instances sound almost like a microwave weapons test à la the Havana incident.
Juxtaposition:
In the chapter discussing Tulpas and Vampires, the author psychoanalyzes the MIB phenomena as rooted in fear. They suggest that the instant compliance of people with their dark visitors' instructions is a manifestation of this fear. However, this analysis implies that no one ever fully follows the MIB's warnings, ultimately distancing themselves from and forgetting about the cautioned circumstances.
The Unexpected:
Internal FBI documents from the 1950s acknowledging that the Men In Black weren’t their agents and wondering who they were. Would be fascinating to get a look at whether similar denial documentation exists for the CIA, Air Force and Naval Intelligence, and any other governmental organizations that may have been drawn into the UFO orbit in that era.
Missed Opportunity:
Sarah Key sounds very much vampire-like. The creature that accosted him on the road as well. The idea of vampires protecting the legacy of King Arthur and making sure that he can continue to hold the door to a portal beyond which are monsters, as described sounding almost Lovecraftian in nature, is a great book idea hidden in this other book..
The LOL:
When Redfern, either on his own or repeating what Brad Steiger has called it, refers to Steiger’s UFO office as Steiger HQ, puts me in mind of Kevin Smith in the movie Life Free or Die Hard when Bruce Willis refers to Smith’s character’s “office” as his Mom’s basement and he responds, “It’s a Command Center.”
_________________
Author Assessment:
This could’ve stood a bit closer to the editor’s pen. The influence of a more strident editor could’ve brought this into a tighter narrative and pushed some of the ephemera out of the way, and the circuitous “and if you liked that, next or later in the book, we’ll talk about another even that was even stranger, more scary, etc” that seemed to close every chapter.
Author: Nicholas Redfern
Publisher: New Page Books
Publishing Date: 2011
Pgs: 256
=======================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Why this book:
Because those guys, if they exist, are anything but the secret agents protecting Earth as portrayed in the movies. And I wonder at a connection with the Black-Eyed Children. Yes, I’m deep in the weeds on this stuff.
_________________
The Feel:
Creepy, as it should be. Redfern captures that well.
Character I Most Identified With:
Albert Bender getting obsessed with the Flight 19 disappearance. I remember a time in my teenage years when I was too. Lucky for me a squirrel walked by and my OCD took another path.
Overused Phrase/Concept:
Tried too hard to make every incidence of high strangeness into a Men In Black-related occurrence. We’re almost at “a black car drove past me while I had a migraine, and that’s when I knew it was the Men in Black” level of paranoia in print.
Tropes:
Too many “and if you think that one was creepy, wait until you hear about this one next, or later in the book.”
Hmm Moments:
The Woman in Black visitation to the Arthurian legend investigator is interesting. I was prepared to write this one off and scoff at it like the ones that claim ghosts, aliens, and ufos…and the resultant, or coincidental, MIB contacts are demonic. But this one, especially based on The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch wormhole/portal investigations, hits a note that is very interesting.
Uhm Moments:
There is a simpler answer than Bender being an epileptic. His attic office probably had a gas leak. This would account for his migraines, the hallucinating, etc. Epilepsy wouldn't just affect him in his attic. He would have seizures out in the wider world too. People around him would either be informed or witness them. It's not as esoteric or hidden as some seem to think.
Meh / PFFT Moments:
The whole aliens-ghosts-MIB are demonic and there to drag “us” away from Gawd! Redfern could’ve left that bit on the cutting room floor. Not really part of the narrative, but then, I guess, I have a different perspective on the narrative than he does.
The Sigh:
Well, explained away part of it as hallucinating, now comes charlatanism, and then, mass hysteria.
The Colin Bennet quote about what the MIB are, “Like the UFO itself, the MIB and Bigfoot look like short media clips more than anything else. We can easily assume that any alien lifeform may well have evolved into pure media, leaving behind mechanical traces perhaps millions of years ago.” Sigh. Head desk. Double sigh. Double head desk. “...pure media…” c’mon man. This reads like someone has been online for too long. And is designed to dovetail with a belief in simulation theory, which is its own “c’mon man” in my book. Since we don’t have omnipresent awareness of the entirety of the universe the way that we see things beyond our immediate environs is through media. So, of course, everything beyond our immediate purview is observed through media. That doesn’t mean that the entirety of existence beyond our eyes and ears is pure media. Media is just a representation of live beyond your immediate senses.
Suspension of Disbelief:
Stepping out of the MIB sect, some of these instances sound almost like a microwave weapons test à la the Havana incident.
Juxtaposition:
In the chapter discussing Tulpas and Vampires, the author psychoanalyzes the MIB phenomena as rooted in fear. They suggest that the instant compliance of people with their dark visitors' instructions is a manifestation of this fear. However, this analysis implies that no one ever fully follows the MIB's warnings, ultimately distancing themselves from and forgetting about the cautioned circumstances.
The Unexpected:
Internal FBI documents from the 1950s acknowledging that the Men In Black weren’t their agents and wondering who they were. Would be fascinating to get a look at whether similar denial documentation exists for the CIA, Air Force and Naval Intelligence, and any other governmental organizations that may have been drawn into the UFO orbit in that era.
Missed Opportunity:
Sarah Key sounds very much vampire-like. The creature that accosted him on the road as well. The idea of vampires protecting the legacy of King Arthur and making sure that he can continue to hold the door to a portal beyond which are monsters, as described sounding almost Lovecraftian in nature, is a great book idea hidden in this other book..
The LOL:
When Redfern, either on his own or repeating what Brad Steiger has called it, refers to Steiger’s UFO office as Steiger HQ, puts me in mind of Kevin Smith in the movie Life Free or Die Hard when Bruce Willis refers to Smith’s character’s “office” as his Mom’s basement and he responds, “It’s a Command Center.”
_________________
Author Assessment:
This could’ve stood a bit closer to the editor’s pen. The influence of a more strident editor could’ve brought this into a tighter narrative and pushed some of the ephemera out of the way, and the circuitous “and if you liked that, next or later in the book, we’ll talk about another even that was even stranger, more scary, etc” that seemed to close every chapter.