Majestic

by Whitley Strieber

It is time for the truth to be told...

On July 2, 1947 something crashed in the desert outside of Roswell, New Mexico. An explosion of light and sound made the sheep wail, the chickens squawk, and the children scream. And then the ranchers heard a noise they thought could only have come from the devil himself. For forty years, Majestic Agency director Wilfred Stone helped the CIA pretend the landing never happened. Then his conscience got the better of him. This is the real story, told to reporter Nicholas A. Duke by the guilt-racked shell of the man who once worked tirelessly to cover it all up. It is a truth so terrifying that Whitley Strieber had to call it fiction.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Horror, Aliens, Paranormal, Conspiracy Theories, Thriller

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1989

About the author

American writer best known for his novels The Wolfen,The Hunger and Warday and for Communion, a non-fiction description of his experiences with apparent alien contact. He has recently made significant advances in understanding this phenomenon, and has published his new discoveries in Solving the Communion Enigma.

Strieber also co-authored The Coming Global Superstorm with Art Bell, which inspired the blockbuster film about sudden climate change, The Day After Tomorrow.

His book The Afterlife Revolution written with his deceased wife Anne, is a record of what is considered to be one of the most powerful instances of afterlife communication ever recorded.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kinda expected this to be a lot like the Steven Spielberg miniseries 'Taken' but it is so its own thing. Took me a while to get into it, but once it got going I was hooked.

Strieber has a talent for cooking up truly horrifying, unforgettable scenarios. They stay with you long after you read them.

I'd also like to add one more thing. One of the coolest things about Whitley Strieber is that he leaves the idea of the "visitors" open to interpretation. Are they aliens? Are they us, evolved? Are they death? This theme pervades his works, both fiction and "nonfiction." So stop calling him the "crazy alien guy," already! He's way cooler than that.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Ficción disfrazada de ficción para parecer menos ficción.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción (supongo yo…).

Lo que nos cuenta. Al final de su vida, y a través de un supuesto periodista que en realidad buscaba un artículo de relleno para el Día de los Inocentes, Wilfred Stone cuenta la verdad de cómo se manejó el incidente de Roswell en 1947 y confiesa sus propias experiencias con inteligencias extraterrestres.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

"In the eyes of the others, those who met them saw ourselves, and there were demons there"

Fiction based on fact or maybe what might have happened directly after the Roswell crash in 1947. This story will be familiar if you've watched X-Files for Taken (Spielberg), in fact some of it is so similar to Taken, I'm surprised Strieber didn't get a credit.

Strieber has real knack of writing the most mundane prose, then he hits you with a line so devastatingly chilling you have to put the book down. There are moments of that here, just not as many of them as Communion. Decent read if you like Alien conspiracy stuff and the ending is REALLY trippy.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Majestic is Whitley Strieber’s historical thriller about the events in Roswell in 1947 and the creation of the alleged secret intelligence organization called Majestic. The novel follows discredited journalist Nicholas A Duke as he dutifully, if not somewhat skeptically at first, informs the public of what really happened when Mac Brazel stumbled across the strange debris while working the ranch for which he was foreman.

As Duke records the confessions or chronicle of Wilfred Stone, former director of Majestic, as he quietly dies of cancer in his home, Duke becomes angry with Stone for his years of deception, but this slowly turns to compassion as the man recalls the events that happened to him since his childhood. Events that deliberately entwined his life with the unknown agenda of the others for which he ultimately had no say – the reader develops a sense that Stone was groomed to be where he was. Duke begins to develop a grudging respect for Stone as he realizes the strength of the man’s character that helped him survive a lifetime of encounters with these unknown and totally alien beings.

In Stone’s story we read the underlying events that Whitley Strieber alleged happened to him, which he has reported elsewhere in such books as Communion and Transformation. Streiber’s take on his experience with what he terms the “intelligent unknown” is a hair raising and surreal combination of terror and the spiritual. Rather than seeing these unknown beings as evil, Streiber seems to accept that the others are here to help us even as their actions are often traumatic and difficult to accept as benevolent.

This almost New Age spiritual take has often caused him to be at odds with researchers such as the late Budd Hopkins, who was motivated primarily out of compassion for expriencers, especially in the later half of his somewhat dubious career. But, regardless of where you fall in terms of accepting or rejecting such realities Strieber is still one of the great practioners of thriller fiction writing today. Majestic is no exception. This book will cause the tiny hairs on your arms and the back of your neck to rise from beginning to end.

Streiber states in his introduction that his intent is to use fiction to tell the true story of what happened in Roswell in an attempt to come to terms and even understand what may really be happening. As such he does a great job of blending history with fiction. Changing names of important characters in order to take some fictional liberties -Brazel’s name is changed as is Major Jessie Marcel (Major Grey in the Book), but many historical figures i.e. Truman, General Ramey, remain – in order to take the story in the direction he needs it to go.

Majestic is a truly spooky tale. The author, like any great writer of thrillers, knows how to maintain enough of the mystery to leave the reader guessing when they reach the final word on the last page. This is a satisfying read.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I finally got to read the book 'MAJESTIC' by Whitley Srtriber.
It is a mostly fiction/factual account of the Rosewell Crash in 1947. To me, this book was one of the scariest books I have ever read. It scared me into horrible nightmares a couple of times. Be that as it may, it was really well written and easy to follow. It was very descriptive of the Rancher and his family, and the night out there in New Mexico desert where this event occured. Also of all the other Military and non-military people involved in this story one way or another. There are a lot of trippy parts were the "Others" apparently tend to play with peoples minds and memories. The "Official" government reports were very interesting. I would definitely reccommend it.

[hweatherfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been a lover of the paranormal, supernatural, extraterrestrial. I came upon this book while reading William Cooper's "Behold A Pale Horse", in which he describes the accuracy of Strieber's information regarding government cover-ups, so I immediately picked up a copy. Looking at previous reviews, many readers claim to have experienced nightmares and or strange occurrences. I have to admit that the first evening I started this book, I had a strange and unforgettable dream that is still hard for me to explain. Although I did not experience anything else out of the ordinary, I really enjoyed this book. Wonderfully written, Strieber is very skilled at making a captivating narrative. Couldn't put the book down. Strange as it is, I found the material to be disturbing and eerie based on how specific the details were. It was a fresh take on ETs, and I really haven't read a book quite like this one before. Too unusual to claim your average alien encounter you may have seen on television or the movies - which gives his voice an air of credibility. Its one of those books that truly leaves you wondering how much is actually fiction. Decided to grab a copy of Communion, which I'm going to follow this up with.

[Lacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book fascinating. I hope someday we will learn the real truth of what happened in Roswell.

[Dwayne Caldwell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Based on the famous MJ-12 document, Majestic is the story of the events that led to the clandestine agency's inception and its inner workings as reported to us by fictional reporter Nicholas Duke who is getting this remarkable story from Majestic director Wilfred Stone.

My position on the whole UFO phenomenon is that I'm somewhat skeptical, but the events, the conspiracies, and the speculations as to why the aliens are here are just fun to read about. Now because this novel is presented as a work of fiction, I'm judging its author's merits as a storyteller rather than as a convincing (or unconvincing) appeal to me that alien visitation has indeed happened and that our government lied about it.

Wilfred Stone is dying from cancer, which essentially makes this a deathbed confession - without the deathbed since Stone is pretty much vertical throughout the chronicling (okay, most of the time he's probably sitting down.) At first Nicholas Duke is understandably skeptical about this old man's claims, but when Stone breaks out a big box of highly classified document goodies, Duke quickly (way too quickly in my opinion) becomes a believer. Now I figure that since this novel was written in 1989, it stands to reason the framing storyline also takes place in 1989. Which means this is about ten to fifteen years before Photoshop became ubiquitous and made forging documents a cinch. But when Duke's reason for becoming a believer is simply because there are far too many documents present in the box to attribute them all to one big hoax when forty years have passed is pretty thin. Regardless he - as well as the reader - is committed to finding out what is really going on.

Duke - who has done his homework before becoming a willingly convert - does some more and goes out into the field to interview key witnesses to events early in the story. And the narrative was so uninspiring and down right bizarre at times that I have fortunately only committed small portions of them to memory. But essentially some people witness the craft going down. One person relates to Duke the inhuman wails taking place just outside her residence. A young couple in love decide to fool around and then skinny dip in a small lake only to really fool around and attract the attention of the neighborhood so they escape in all their nakedness back to her father's house and decide to have intercourse in her parent's bedroom. And when they are discovered, the daughter proudly announces to her incensed father that she likes to ... you know... get stuffed (fine, she actually said f**k but I was trying to be polite.) Oh and I forgot to tell you the aliens have something to do with making them horny because they want at least the first three kids this couple will eventually make. And because the daughter likes to copulate so much, this isn't a problem since they actually do raise a few kids of their own after the alien quota is filled.

So later we find out from Wilfred (or Wil) that he has had some experience in the past with the visitors. And later in the book they begin to torment him and task his sanity to braking point. At one point, one of the aliens even pleasure shocks his groin with its hand and I remember reading something about its lips smacking wetly and Wil spending his seed so I think it performed fellatio on him. I even looked for the scene while writing this review to make sure I read that right because it sounds all kinds of wrong. Page 268, 2011 edition if you think I'm making this up. I had read three quarters of this book at that point and I wasn't sure why I was insistent on continuing. The only analog that I can draw from is my experience watching Get Crazy with Daniel Stern on television late one night. It was a train wreck I couldn't take my eyes off of, I saw that I'd reached the point of no return, and would be damned if I'd give up wondering how it all could have ended with only twenty minutes to go.

Anyway President Truman is nervous about missing people and soldiers and what the people of the United States would think if we weren't in control of our airspace. Admiral Hillenkoetter (or Hilly for short because endearing nicknames for CIA directors make the exchanges among his peers seem more genuine) proposes in a flash of inspiration to make a secret agency within the Department of Defense that strictly handles all things related to the UFO menace. In between all this are transcripts of interrogations, procedures for the military on how to engage - both in the air and on the ground - with UFOs, outlines of how Majestic is to be compartmentalized and the functions of those compartments, transcripts on the autopsy results (which I have to admit is a little chilling and very well written) ,memos on what brand of cigarette you should smoke after you've had intercourse with an alien, and the list goes on.

Towards the end, one of the pilots who fires on a disk in Kansas and disappears in the conflict (i.e. the aliens take him) finds out that the aliens are good at transferring souls and had to do so with his. And the aliens also keep soulless bodies in a fluid suspension of some kind for future transfer. And which body is the perfect candidate for this soldier? A woman with big hands of course. Oh and some other soldier is there and I think they've gonna be a couple or something. I don't know. I also have no idea why anyone would know this. Maybe the aliens told Wil and I missed it. But what's really disappointing is that the setup for this Kansas conflict started out with so much promise. And that's a reoccurring theme in this book. Something interesting happens, then you're intrigued, and the payoff is about as rewarding as biting into a chocolate covered turd.

Essentially it boils down to this: the crash in the desert near Roswell was staged by the aliens, we are helpless to combat said aliens and every encounter has been a disaster on our end, the aliens are taking children fetuses and surgically transforming them (I guess into the Greys everyone sees although people also see the aliens as well so who the hell knows), and Wil Stone was part of a plan and he failed this test because he didn't take what I call the Flower of Forgiveness. No, seriously. This woman (I think it was the Kansas soldier boy turned woman with big hands) offers him a yellow flower with the understanding that everything will be alright if he just accepts it.

This novel was poorly written. Most of the scenes were too strange, the spirituality it imparted wasn't inspiring at all and the encounters between human and alien (or fetus children) didn't make any sense. If Whitney was trying to capture the essence of what is known in UFO encounters as altered consciousness, it failed because the imagery was too stupid. And any observations of the universe and mankind's place in it, any insight Whitney expounds to us is undermined with his hokey poetic prose. I really did try to divorce myself from the fact Whitney Strieber thinks all this is true, and just enjoy this novel for the fictional story it was. That he took on the story of the formation of Majestic and delivered us this mess is just sad because there's a wealth of material to work with and there could have been some really neat ideas. There's never any mention of Area 51, Bluefly (Whitney renames it Blueteam for some strange reason) is never mentioned outside of a memo, and Project Blue Book is never really acknowledged. And I guess maybe I need to read Communion and Transformation to get a better sense of what Strieber was trying to accomplish here, but that's comparable to saying I need to go back and see how the train was designed and built before it met its spectacular demise.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fictional rendition of this authors interpretation of the "facts" behind Roswell and the creation of Majestic-12. Strieber's writing tends to be metaphysical and he is not always easy to follow. To Strieber, aliens are more a "spiritual" phenomena then simply extraterrestrial. If you accept Strieber's conceptual version, it seems more demonic rather than enlightening as he suggests...pure evil to me.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fictionalization of much of what many students of the UFO phenomena take quite seriously as fact: the crash near Roswell, the recovery, the cover-up.

Having read a number of Strieber's novels, but not yet his Communion series of autobiographical contact books, I would not rate this as highly as WarDay.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me nightmares. Maybe because I'm a believer that we're not the only beings in the universe!

[Dina · Rating 3 out of 5]

My initial reaction after reading this book is confusion. The author purportedly claims that the book is written as a fiction but based on REAL events of UFO and 3? alien bodies found in Roswell UFO crash. The style of writing is interesting though can give you a slight headache. Personally i don't know what to make of it. I've read several books on that incident a lot of things described in different books by different authors COINCIDE which makes me WONDER.

Anyway, you are free to make your own conclusions.

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1989. Strieber's account of the Roswell events in 1947. My last book of 1989. I read 41 books that year.

[Patrick Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm…kind of a mixed bag. I really loved the first half and the government conspiracy stuff. And even the first abduction was interesting. But I got the sense that Strieber sort of lost his way, and he certainly lost me by the end. Ultimately I’m really glad I gave it a try because it scratched my UFO itch and there are moments that will stick with me for a while.

[Arismeire Fiedoruk · Rating 1 out of 5]

"A Última Vampira" é o segundo livro sobre a vampira Miriam Blaylock, e seu mundo foi apresentado aos leitores em "Fome De Viver", publicado na década de 80 por Whitley Strieber .
Desta vez o autor narra, além da continuação das aventuras de Miriam, a história de Paul Wardum, ex-agente da CIA, que trabalha para uma equipe secreta de policiais especializados, pesquisando uma raça de vampiros que se disseminou pelo mundo e exterminado-os. Miriam sempre viveu entre os seres humanos sem se preocupar em ficar escondida, aproveitando da humanidade tudo o que poderia extrair dela, mas agora Miriam se tornou a obsessão de Paul e ele a caçará por todo o mundo, se for preciso, e a exterminará.
Desta vez ficamos a par de mais detalhes sobre O QUE é Miriam e sobre seu passado; por exemplo, ela era uma "guardadora". Como acabamos por saber, os vampiros existiam em nosso mundo antes de nós mesmos, que fomos criados por eles como gado, a fim de alimentá-los. Miriam guardava um rebanho. Também ficamos sabendo que ela tem aproximadamente 3000 anos de idade, embora não pareça ter mais do que 20 (loira, sedutora e rica - não consigo não ficar chateada com esta descrição, porque me lembro de Miriam como Catherine Deneuve, que era loira, sedutora e rica, mas que não tinha 20 anos na época do filme The Hunger).
Quando os dois protagonistas se encontram eles se veem absurdamente atraídos alias, Paul só consegue pensar em ir para a cama com Miriam e isso logo acontece, resultando numa surpreendente gravidez, que faz com que Miriam descubra que Paul era um ser meio humano, meio guardador. De repente o cara se vê diante da duvida: mata a mulher que "ama" e o filho, ou abandona a vida que levara até então?!
Sinceramente, "Fome de Viver" (1981) era um livro que não permitia continuação. O filme mudou o final e deu um gancho, mas nunca filmaram uma continuação. Quando Whitley Strieber finalmente escreveu a sequência, deu nisso. Ele ignorou o destino de uma das personagens em "Fome de Viver" (de morta ela aparece saltitante neste "A Ultima Vampira", escrito em 2001) e mudou as características das personagens que já existiam antes... creio que até mudou características físicas.
O livro é um apanhado de clichês dos mais óbvios, bizarro sem ter charme, repugnante até certa altura e uma grande perda de tempo. O que o primeiro livro tinha de interessante, este tem de desastroso. A única coisa que se salva é a belíssima capa da edição nacional.

[Cecil Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1985 something happened to writer Whitley Strieber during a stay at a cabin in upstate New York. While his immediate memoirs of the experience, Communion (1987) and Transformation (1988), were often treated as examples of the then-growing body of alien abduction literature, Strieber has been reluctant to label his experiences exactly in those terms.
In writing Majestic, he looks at the famous Roswell, New Mexico, event in which the US military allegedly found a crashed flying saucer and alien bodies in the desert in 1947, as well as the subsequent accusations of a cover-up that emerged in the mid-1980s with the emergence of the "Majestic 12" documents.
Strieber takes those elements and builds a novel that mostly works as a kind of science fiction thriller. The narrative is made up to two interwoven accounts, one of a disgraced journalist, another of the man he interviews, who was a high-level intelligence agent involved with the Roswell cover-up. These accounts are also sprinkled with MJ 12 documents and newspaper reports from the period.
Alternating between the two narrators was a "clunky" reading experience at first, but later it becomes more seamless. Strieber does a good job with recreating the disorienting experience of dealing with "the others" and their odd technology, all the while suggesting that there may be more to the experience than a simple UFO crash. Strieber also explores what for him are the bigger, spiritual questions of this encounter with these visitors.
There are a couple of odd, out of place incidents included late in the novel that could have been left out with no loss to the story, but I have to respect any writer's vision.
I have followed Strieber's journey from the initial publication of Communion, and this 1989 fictional treatment seems to be important to his the development of his later work.

[Steven H · Rating 2 out of 5]

A “NOVELIZATION” OF THE PURPORTED 1947 ROSWELL UFO ‘CRASH,’ AND COVERUP

Louis Whitley Strieber (born 1945) is an American writer originally known for his horror novels (e.g., ‘The Wolfen,’ ‘The Hunger’), but since his 1987 book ‘Communion,’ has become considered as a UFO ‘contactee.’ He continues to write both fiction and nonfiction. Anne Strieber (1946 -2015) was his wife.

He begins this 1989 novel with the [fictional] statement of Will Stone’s ‘collaborator,’ Nicholas A. Duke, who said, “It was my misfortune to have some really good luck. If I’d had the good sense to go along with it, I would have left this story alone. It’s the scoop of the century, but it has almost certainly ruined my career. And I was about to escape my job with a dreary suburban weekly and go to work for a semiofficial urban daily. Now I’ll never report for the Washington Post. I’ll never enter the fabled halls of the New York Times, unless it’s with somebody else’s sandwiches in my hands. So what is this thing that has ruined me?... I wasn’t fired because I failed to turn in this story… What got me canned was that I found out it was all true… I have met the man who did this to us… His name is Wilfred Stone and he lives here in Bethesda, along with a few thousand other Washington retirees… he’s been … quietly dying of lung cancer. During the last six months he and I have been collaborators… This book is Will Stone’s confession. My job has been to support his effort, to fill in backgrounds, to do what legwork was necessary, and to provide my vision of this desperately troubled man.” (Pg. 11-12)

He writes of having seen “a cardboard box full of documents, photographs, and cans of movie film… The first thing I saw was a clear color photograph of what appeared to be a dead alien… The documents went on for pages and pages… I sat there in that dim room reading… all of it stamped with things like CLASSIFIED---ULTRA and TOP SECRET—MAJIC. It became clear to me that nobody could have faked this, not all of this, not with the detail and perfection of it… he put his hand on my shoulder. ‘I want to get the story out before I die.’ … I could only think that I’d been living in a false world with a false history.” (Pg. 13)

Later, he mused, “Perhaps they came to warn us, or perhaps theirs was a more subtle mission. But Roswell cold not have been chosen by accident. Will explained to me that they [aliens] have a definite tendency to appear right in the middle of our most sensitive, most dangerous, most heavily guarded military installations.” (Pg. 22)

He states, “In 1947 the most dangerous thing in the world consisted of twenty-four B-36 bombers polished to a high degree of shine… When I met some of those pilots I did not particularly like them. I doubt if there are twenty of them left… They would not allow me to use their names. One of them wouldn’t even admit what he’d seen. ‘It was a crashed saucer,’ the other told me. Their fear was remarkable. Later, I would find out the extraordinary reason that the cover-up has been so effective, the reason that so many people are so afraid to reveal what they know.” (Pg. 54-55)

He wrote of two men visiting the ‘crash site’: “They stopped the Jeeps. ‘No large debris,’ Hesseltine said immediately. ‘What was it?’ Walters asked. Gray spoke, ‘The lack of large debris does suggest a balloon or some such thing.’” (Pg. 72-73)

He portrays a conversation between CIA Director Roscoe Hillenkoetter and President Truman: “ ‘Okay,’ Truman snapped… ‘Get on with it.’ ‘I see the agency as having sealed compartments, sharing secrets on “need-to-know” basis only. All reporting to a single administrator.’… ‘What’re you going to call your baby?’ ‘Majestic.’ ‘What a horrible name.’ … ‘Well, something to identify it as awesome.’ ‘Majesty. Magic. The Magic Group.’ ‘There was a Majestic Group at one point. It would be a bit of a diversion is there’s ever any digging.’ ‘Fine, then. Do what you want.’ ‘Yes, sir. We’ll call it Majestic.’” (Pg. 222-223)

He recounts the organizing of the group: “The group’s last member [‘Gerald Benning’; presumably modeled after the real-life Donald H. Menzel]; … was more than just brilliant like the others, he was something of a genius. He was as astronomer by profession. He had been chosen for Majestic because of his combination of backgrounds… His public role would be a propaganda function. As an astronomer of significant academic standing he would explain every sighting that came to Air Force attention, taking the position that they were all bunk. To make the group’s chief astrophysicist also its chief propagandist was a stroke of cunning. It minimized the ‘need to know’ while it also meant that the propaganda would be fine-tuned the real situation… Benning truly was a genius and he must have been a man of courage as well, a moral man. While keeping the public calm with his debunking books he secretly fought to understand the others. And he knew that he would be publicly discredited when and if his secret labors bore fruit.” (Pg. 240-241)

Strieber explains in his Afterword, “This novel is based on a factual reality that has been hidden and denied. I have used what little is known for certain of the crash of a so-called alien spacecraft near Roswell, New Mexico, in July of 1947 as the springboard for my story. My vision of the others, their world, their motives and their objectives is based on my own understanding. Where what I have seen with my own eyes departs from conventional wisdom I have always trusted my personal observations. Insofar as military and governmental involvement is concerned, I have adhered to the available facts as I understand them… When [UFO researcher William] Moore took me there, I found out that he and researcher Stanton Friedman, who along with Jaime Shandera have investigated the whole story with meticulous expertise, were well known to the local people, and well respected for their honesty and thoroughness. By contrast, none of the ‘debunkers’ like aviation writer Philip J. Klass, who have made so many facile pronouncements about this case, had ever so much as interviewed these witnesses… In their writings, ‘debunkers’ avoid mentioning Colonel Marcel’s interviews, no doubt because they are the key to the case, and cannot be refuted except by making the patently ridiculous charge that this honorable military officer was a liar.” (Pg. 313-314)

As a novel, this book is as engaging as is most of Strieber’s fiction. As a testimony for the reality of these purported events, it falls short. (Stanton Friedman and Kevin Randle have written nonfiction books, for those interested in such.)

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

My friend who loves alien conspiracies gave me this book to read. My friend loves this book. I don’t care about whether aliens are real or not. I found this book falls short on several levels.
First the writing is very disjointed. Other than a plot of aliens exist and are interfering in our lives, there isn’t much holding things together. An array of characters exist. They pop in and out. In theory the character, Will Stone, is central to everything.
The premise is that a journalist wrote the story. If true, I understand why he lost his job. No good journalist would write like this.
Second, aliens are where all our gods and religions come from. Aliens predict things. They are neither evil nor benevolent. They simply exist. They take fetuses and turn them into pseudo-human-alien creatures. They can cause realistic dreams. They have a beverage that will make you forget everything they want you to forget but remember everything else in your life. They can make you fall in love with a specific person. They punish the wicked and make so-so people make amends by subconsciously fulfilling the aliens plans. The list goes on.
Third, sex, past trauma, mothers and children seem to be a big driving force in a lot of the characters lives. Also by the end, sexual orientation pops up into the mix. It would take too long to go into all of that, so I’ll just leave that as-is.

Essentially the aliens have no center to them. They are basically used as an excuse for various random things happening, but without any conjoining reason to why they’re doing it.
My guess is that this was purposefully done. They are mysterious, just like god, therefore we can only wonder in awe at their efforts.

[Cindy (BKind2Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fictionalized account of the authors speculations of what occurred at Roswell and the actions and motivations behind that. There is a blend of the historical and fictional - sort of a "names have been changed to protect the innocent" kind of thing. Strieber proposes some interesting theories about the "others" - he never calls them aliens because frankly we can't say for sure that's what they are. There are plenty of other possibilities and he does not discount them. This was written almost a quarter of a century ago and yet we seem to have made few strides towards solving this mystery.

Quotes to remember:

"The best strategist can make even an invasion seem like an accident."

"Take wings to climb the zenith,
Or sleep in Fields of Peace;
By day the Sun shall keep thee,
By night the rising Star.
-The Egyptian Book of the Dead"

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an account of Roswell incident written from the point of a reporter interviewing a Mr. X like character from the government who wants the "true story" to be told before he dies of lung cancer. The author seems to have started with alleged facts (which could also be called a ficiton by some) and then filled in the gaps with information that he had come to believe true during his experiences described in Communion and Transformation.

I enjoyed some aspects of the book, and I have come to believe that the author is sincere in his beliefs, but I was frustrated in that it seemed like he was unable to capitalize on the potential of the book.

[Halvor (Raknes) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strieber is a fantastic writer.

The psychological aspect of the main characters is convincing.

This book was a lot more interesting than I had anticipated.

I just came across another of his books, Nature's End , which I'm looking forward to devouring.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read - a thinly fictionalized account of the 1947 Roswell incident, or at least Strieber's interpretation of it. I've been on something of a Whitley Strieber kick lately, having read Communion and Transformation, and was curious about his fiction. Reminded me of an early James Ellroy novel and that's a high compliment.

[Raven L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out strong, ended weakly. It was written in 1989 and I think it could be easily scripted into a web series.

[Rebekah Tyrrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This may be the first book to actually scare me. It is so good, but falls apart at the end.

[M. Joseph Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Strieber's best-written books.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whitley Strieber wrote Majestic as a novel, his counterpart in the book claims, because he believed he'd be jailed for telling government secrets if he wrote it as fact. Streiber himself says in the acknowledgments "It is a work of fiction that is based on fact. I have used the names of historical figures, and invented all others. Newspaper stories quoted are entirely authentic except for the use of this convention." It's not just the story of Roswell; that's just the tip of the iceberg. It claims that the government was already studying UAPs (UFOs) before Roswell. Although he quotes many sources, his main source is a high-ranking member of the Central Intelligence Group--soon to become the CIA--who goes on to be the bureaucrat in charge of the government's beyond-top-secret Majestic Agency, also know as the MJ-12. But before that, he is the first to enter the crashed disk at Roswell, where he finds the one alien who was still alive, but dying. This government agent himself has been kidnapped by aliens off and on for his whole life. At the end of his life, dying of cancer, he wants to reveal the whole story to Strieber's character--a newspaperman named, in the book, Nicholas Duke.

Whether you read the book as fact or fiction, it is a good read. It keeps you turning pages, the way any good thriller would. It is planted in the rich soil of twentieth-century history. It even has a little humor. Because much of the story is set during the Red Scare of the 1950s, too many of the government officers involve have a hard time separating the off-world "alien threat" from the "commie threat." U.S. Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, in particular, had communists on the brain. He becomes convinced that the gray aliens are from a communistic society and imagines they have not been plaguing the Soviet Union with abductions, as they have America, because the Russians are "already communist." He can't seem to discuss the existence of aliens without tying it to communism or get over his horror at the fact that, at least in his mind, disks are like "hives."

Of course, the CIA, FBI, and other government agencies have dismissed MJ-12 and everything else to do with aliens as bogus. We may ask ourselves how much faith we have in the cat when the canary is missing. But then again, the alien conspiracy lore is deep and twisted, the most devoted fans just as bad as the Kool-Aid drinking Q conspiracy theorists. Yet so many otherwise sane and responsible people believe they have been abducted, and many more have seen the ships throughout history. It is perhaps best to keep an open mind. I do find that Majestic convincingly answers the frequently asked questions of "Why is the government still keeping this a secret after all this time?" and "Why do they think we can't handle knowledge of another intelligent life form from beyond Earth?" (I certainly used to think we could handle such a thing without civilization collapsing--until I saw how we handled a simple Earthly pandemic.) To see the other answers--including a lie told by the top of the Majestic Agency to its members to prevent them from revealing even a whisper of all this--you will have to read the book. The MJ-12 policies to use ridicule to make UFOs a joking matter in the press and to encourage the public to believe that the government has encouraged belief in UFOs in order to cover up our secret military aircraft programs is, if true, a propaganda stroke of genius.

[Adrian Villescas · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The next instant there was an echoing shriek above us. I aked up into absolute blackness. There was nothing, not a star, glimmer of reflected light, not a cloud.

Then from high, high up there came pitiful cries" Strieber 155

Cue Hangar 18 by Megadeth!!

Hmmmmmmm....

So, it's been a few days since I finished this novel and dammit, I am determined to get a solid alien story to scratch my horror sci-fi itch I've had for a couple months. Did this satisfy that itch that I was wanting? Yes and no.

Contrary to what most people say about this novel, the beginning had me really engaged and I absolutely loved how the events slowly unfolded revealing this strong sense of the unknown. Even long after the government began growing aware of the events in Roswell there was still an immense sense of "what the hell is happening." But as the novel progresses at least in the beginning, the sense of unknown fades and the sense of "how much is the government going to keep" just begins to surface and it's a terrifying feat. The very few scenes where the ranchers are starting to familiarize themselves with the remains1 of the flying disk crash were done in such an effective way that establishes a sense of dread that I believe isn't very strong, but it still lingers in the background till the very ending. From my understanding, this book is a mixture of both fiction and non-fiction, where the fictional elements are sort of a subjective view of what happened or what one could speculate. And the documents sprinkled throughout the novel are some of the most fun parts of the novel even if some of them are fake (most probably are). It's that mixture I think Strieber does really well, it sells that this is an ex-insider that is just now choosing to spill all his secrets. The surprise this novel ends up cooking is quite fun to think about. I like the metaphor that the books is ambiguous about. This idea that we my have battles and things tugging away at us, but in order to face them we have to be ready. Pretty strong message there and I'm all for it. I think the intellect of the aliens in this novel is an important factor that I can see can go overlooked. Particularly at the end, one of our main characters argue "we have the bomb!" that we're almost superior and ignorance is bliss. The aliens immediately refute and say "no the bomb has you" eerie as fuck.

Overall, this was enjoyable, not outstanding but a serious thought provoking novel that I think everyone should give a shot.

This is part of the two vintage novels I grabbed for less than 10 dollars.

[Joel Hacker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow...coming off of Communion, I was prepared to intensely dislike anything alien related by Strieber, but I had my dad's old copy so I gave it a whirl. There could not possibly be more daylight between these two books. The difference made between framing an developing his ideas as fiction versus his own (probably riddled with mental illness) 'autobiographical' recollections is staggering. All of this taking into account that Strieber undoubtedly *believes* he's basing this fiction on fact.
Whereas Communion was plodding and practically unreadable, Majestic is reasonably paced, told from multiple viewpoints, and in a variety of styles (some of it epistolary) and pretty engaging. Majestic is ostensibly the recollections of man, relayed to a reporter, of the early days of the United States involvement with alien visitation, abduction, and focused primarily on events surrounding Roswell along with the governments plans to investigate, cover up, and defend against these 'threats'. The underlying premise being, the threat is really just us, and our choices as society and species are what indicate we're not worthy and ready to be part of something greater, but that others are going to do their best to help us be ready someday. In Strieber's, 'Beyond fear, there is another world,' I find shades of Murakami's 'Unclose your mind. You are not a prisoner. You are a bird in the sky, searching for dreams.'
Strieber is at his best here when he's doing dialogue or describing action. A few of the more introspective and psychedelic scenes drag a little, but the epistolary bits are spot on.
I was also surprised by the surprisingly sensitively handled and aware (despite some expected for the time light misogyny) he is in discussing homosexuality, trans identities, the long term harm caused by being closeted, and the dangers of not being able to live as one's true self. For the time, and from as far as I'm aware a straight, upper middle class, cis white older man who I don't *think* has publicly taken any stances on the issue it was a pleasant shock.
I'm glad I took the time to read this, despite my initial reservations.

[Judas International · Rating 2 out of 5]

A novel that is ostensibly about the Roswell “crash” and coverup, but is actually just an excuse for Strieber to reiterate his beliefs about his own visitor experiences. Not surprisingly, the spiritual messaging — aka the overriding point of the book — is mostly just a mess of hippie-dippie gobbledygook. The “others” staged the crash to give us the choice between fear and love, and we chose fear. When they come back, we have to accept their flower. I have no doubt this is all very meaningful to Strieber, but forgive me for having a hard time taking it seriously. Communion works because it’s his own personal narrative — the insights from his visitations not needing to be broadly applicable because the book is solely about him. But trying to apply them to the broad sweep of 20th century American history? Insufferable. It doesn’t help that the novel feels like a first draft, not having gone far enough in revisions to sort out the problems of perspective. It lends itself a voice of legitimacy by presenting itself as a work of journalism by a guy named Nick Duke, but then it tries to eat its cake too by also having the insight of an omniscient third-person narrator (why a journalist should have so much DETAILED insight into the sex lives of minor characters is never explained). But it spends half the time as a first-person chronicle by our ostensible protagonist, Will Stone. There’s evidence that Strieber wrestled with these shifting perspectives and never reconciled them too carefully — at one point, a portion of Will’s story is being told through Nick’s third-person POV, yet a number of conspicuous “I/my/me” descriptions overlooked in revision still appear in print. I read a paperback copy that was yellowed with age and fragrant like the book shelves at a Goodwill and fell apart by the end, and as a piece of pulpy ‘80s paperback trash, it’s acceptable. But as a serious work to wake up a sleeping public to the truth of government deception and the wonderful love of “visitors”? Not so much.

[Tricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

(DNF - abandoned at p 175)

P 155: "Roswell was play acting of the most serious kind. The crash was intentional, the deaths were intentional -- and it was all done to present our deepest souls with a clear choice.
I am sorry to say that we chose fear."

I was here for the Roswell coverup storyline but the alien abduction / communion(?) coverup storyline was too much. In general, not sure what to make of this book. It claims to be using names of historical figures, but it isn't (eg not the rancher). Not even the locations are correct (Maricopa instead of Corona, eg).

The writing is mediocre (or at least not to my tastes)(maybe it's "hard boiled detective novel" style?). eg "How anything as tough as this stuff could ever have gotten torn up like this just beat all, as far as Bob was concerned. Must have been a whale of an explosion. The stuff was stronger than metal and yet thinner than cellophane. And blown all to hell." (P 36)

Timing is interesting - it was initially published before Roswell Incident was as well known in popular consciousness. I remember finding a book about the Roswell Incident around 1988 and being totally surprised - and I grew up there! My older sister knew some details about it because she worked for Walter Haut, who is mentioned in the preface and afterword, but I only learned about that from her many years later - it just wasn't important enough for her to mention. (Trivia: she worked for him in a small art gallery; he went on to be a major force behind the "International UFO Museum and Research Center" - interesting how the two threads entwined.)