I just have to get this off my chest...

I think he's a big fake. A big, money grubbin' fake. Having just read his site back to front I just have to say to him. "Thanks for totally dilluting the topic, and making up all sorts of bizarre crap to tantelize you fans."

His site totally screws people who have had real abduction experiences by tacking on all his sensationalism.

IMHO, real abductees don't attempt to derive income from their experiences. It totally invalidates the stories. Real abductees don't need to be believed, because we've been there and know what's real. Real abductees choose to remain anonymous because, lets face it, most people think we are quite insane.

Streiber's stories make for good fiction and perhaps he was abducted once, but if you go read his site, you'll see that he now claims to be in direct and constant communication with the aliens and speaks for them as well. I just want to give him a good smack.

Some promises here:

I will never publish my experiences via any other route than anonymously on a site like AU.

I will never claim to speak for them, whomever they may be.

I will never willingly derive income from my abduction experience.

I

Thats the thing RW ufology can make people a tidy sum of money look at all these people writing books, making films, and a host of other things, they don't really care one way or another, they have just seen a way to make money of a popular subject....

Yeah, I'd have to agree. I read one of his books and really it was so hard to believe that in fact I know it MUST be truly faking and totally invented for money...

I also do not believe Streiber.
But I do not believe everyone who writes books or articles on the subject 'are just out for the money' either.

Well I suppose not everyone making money from it is suspect, but most are.

Specifically, Streiber has taken it too far.

I also thought of another way I would publish my story last night: In someone elses book, free of charge, with no refrences to who I really am. And that author has to be a known and legitimate Paranormalist.

I understand and agree, but to play the Devils Advocate here. Are you saying that if you were sitting in a pub with a couple of people and told your story about your experiences to one of them. And unknown to you that person was a movie producer, who said, mate I like your story and I would like to make a movie about it. I will give you $1,000,000 for the rights to it. Are you telling me you would say, no way man, I want to just keep it to myself?? I have 4 kids and a mortgage, I would say where do I sigh my man, where do I sign.
I am afraid big ideals are for those without a mortgage

he's a stooge.

I have to agree about it being a money thing, but i do like to read his books. he is a decent writer of fiction.hes no Stephen King , but then who can touch him anyway in the way of writing.

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

Is Whitley milking his experiences? Maybe. He was a successful writer though long before he had been abducted.

While abductions (and I've been abducted more times than I care to count) are private, terrifying, and personal to many, others do want to get their stories out there for the public. It lends validity to the subject. If it weren't for authors such as Budd Hopkins, Dr. David Jacobs, Dr. John Mack, and others, nearly all of us would still be in the dark concerning UFOs and the abduction experiences.

Someone has to write, someone has to tell their stories, people need to know the truth even if we don't know all of it. Most of these authors do not use the people's real names in order to protect their identity. I know that is the way two of them did it for me. I made no money on telling my stories, didn't have to pay to be regressed by hypnotherapy. The authors made money from their books sales, but I do not have a problem with that. These people spend untold days, nights, weeks, and months away from their families in order to interview over and over again, conduct background checks on people, investigate everything and everyone connected in any way with the event until they are sure it is legitimate.

Whether Whitley is a fraud, I don't know. I do believe he has had a genuine abduction experience. Now whether or not those abductions have led to something further, I cannot say. I just am grateful for those individuals who spend their time and energy investigating UFOs and abductions and are willing to stick their professional necks out to tell people the truth.

this is it,we have to respect them who have used thier position and risked a lot in getting the phenoma air time.

Whitley S. was NOT a successful writer before his abduction tales. I think I'd have more respect for him if he wasn't so full of crap. Go read his website, then you'll see.

Whitley is not even that good of a writer. Read what literary critics think of his writing style…

Streiber is an opportunist (flake) who cashed in on the abduction phenom many years ago. His credibility as a reasonable investigator basically…suks imho.
I’ve kept up with his nonsense over the years and he has proven to me he is just another opportunist. Just my opinion, but I don’t think he would ever argue the point with me… ~rore

Here here!

I've never read Streiber and have no interest in doing so. But if I did...I'd reserve my own judgment and not the judgments of others...certainly not 'literary critics'. As for the validity of his abduction scenario...I'm guessing that the quality of any abduction experience would be surreal and bizarre. If abductions do occur...is his experience any less true because he chose to profit from it? How does one reason the validity of the experience from profit alone? Rather one should try to discern the truth of the matter with a thorough investigation before dismissing it on the grounds of opinion alone. Isn't that what people do to you, RW? Don't they simply dismiss your account on opinion alone? Here is what I gathered from your post..

making up all sorts of bizarre crap

IMHO

Seems you are doing to Streiber just what others do to you. I sympathize with your frustration over the issue of abductions. While I withhold judgment on the subject, I can understand that such an event, whether true or psychologically manifested, must be traumatic. If I were you, I would certainly call for more understanding and more open-mindedness from the public. Take care, though, that you yourself do not become 'set' in what you think abductions are or should be for all people. Likewise that you do not...when examining an abduction account...favor opinion over reason.

Tutu posts: certainly not 'literary critics'
=======================
What do you have against all literary critics tutu? ~rore

Nothing personal, Rore...I simply follow my own likes and dislikes. Now, if we're discussing literary analysts then I'm much more interested. But, literary analysis depends much more on technical matters....style, grammar, plot, theme, etc...and less on the analyst's personal likes and dislikes of a particular work. Literature is an art form and as with all art forms...the impact of the aesthetics is 'in the eye of the beholder'..yet an analyst can discuss the artist's methods in terms of aesthetics from a purely impartial point of view...you and I can discuss the play of light and shadow in Reubens' Baroque style in terms of aesthetics but we will likely differ on how those aesthetics impact us.

As far as UFOs and abductions are concerned, I am no Whitley Streiber fan to say the least. However, prior to writing "Communion", his personal abduction story, Whitley had written 8 novels, one of which was "The Wolfen" which is considered, even by Stephen King, to be a horror classic. King said the book gave him nightmares and received critical acclaim by critics and fans alike. "The Wolfen" was later made into a film in 1981 starring Albert Finney and Gregory Hines.

I agree that his books "Communion" (also made into a film) and "Transformation" helped his career even further.

As I said, I am not a fan of his as there are a number of better books on UFOs/Abductions out there than his. And I also acknowledge that Whitley seems to have gone off the deep end in many of his beliefs, conjectures, etc. which have been self-promoting. However, he was not a flake when he started regardless, and his first book on alien abduction, "Communion", helped to put the truth of abductions out there.

I work now with MUFON, ICAR, IF, and used to work with the John E. Mack Institute until John's untimely death. Plus I am also an abductee, so I have some expertise in this area.

Leave it to 22 for punching a gaping hole in my animosity. Point well taken and opinions will be altered as necessary to be a bit more forgiving...

Still 22, you have got to admit, the way WS goes about his 'business' smacks of sensationalism and fabrication.

BTW, you folks here are the only people who know my experiences so I don't really run into much in the way of criticism in my day to day life. I can't say I've ever experienced dissent with regard to the abduction issue.

This world as it is has money on the brain big time. I can't see why a money oriented person could find he was abducted and not start thinking money right away.

Please note that I am NOT saying the guy is real or fake, just making a comment that some people find money to be a good reason to not be bashful.

So I would say MOST (not all) abductees would not use an abduction as a source of income.

Then, there is the point on "be in direct and constant communication with the aliens and speaks for them as well", I can't even stay in direct and constant communication with my wife! I don't get how someone could be doing that with aliens.