"It's a Cookbook!" by Richard F. Yates

I've been listening to the MonsterTalk podcast again, and a recent two-part episode on "The Shaver Mysteries" (which is some bat-shit crazy stuff) has reminded me of how much the concept of aliens has changed in the last hundred years or so.

At the turn of the century, you had H.G. Wells and Lovecraft giving us monstrous, bestial, entirely inhuman space creatures, who saw humans as little more than insects to be destroyed. Then, by the early 1950s, you had folks like Orfeo Angelucci, who claimed that he had been contacted by space beings who were trying to HELP humanity reach a new level of civility and prosperity. (Interestingly, Angelucci was "contacted" by his aliens about a year after Klaatu appeared on the big screen---in the 1951 film, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL---and delivered a similar message of hope for mankind---if we'd behave ourselves.)

Then, about a decade later, you had Betty and Barney Hill, who took alien encounters in a much more frightening direction, with the whole abduction, probing, and medical experimentation nastiness---which was much more sensational (and exciting) than vaguely human folks saying "be nice," and which lead to things like Whitley Strieber's COMMUNION and John Keel's MOTHMAN PROPHESIES. Scary stuff...

But I like the '50's stories---and the '50's special effects---much better than the modern equivalents. Long live Gort!!! My crypto-art piece is a throw-back to the days when aliens were less human, less probe-happy, and maybe had some good advice on how humans could be nicer and make the world a better place...

---Richard F. Yates (Holy Fool---who was contacted by a Winged Serpent, probably extraterrestrial, who told him to make people laugh, which will eventually save the world...)