Gregory L. Reece – författare

From Graceland to Las Vegas, from fans to impersonators, from novels, films and popular music to internet websites, outsider art and tabloid conspiracy theories, the cult of Elvis Presley has, since his death, become ever more imaginative. "Elvis Religion" explores the frequently bizarre and weird - yet sometimes moving - phenomena growing out of this world and investigates what it is that has turned the King of Rock 'n' Roll into a god-like figure. Elvis, we discover, is found everywhere. He is not just an icon for late night lonely hearts in Memphis, or Elvis impersonators on a Vegas stage, but is the inspiration behind the violent visions of movies like "Mystery Train" and "Wild at Heart", the kitsch sanctuary of Graceland Too, the music of Kirsty MacColl and Paul Simon, and the internet church for whom he is a supernatural being who dwells in the constellation of Orion. Gregory L. Reece makes a journey to discover the Jumpsuit Jesus for himself, which takes him into the heart of fan obsession. Along the way, he discovers that if Elvis saves it is because now, more than ever, the Memphis Messiah seems like a prophet for our times. A well-done and readable survey.- Simon Reynolds, author of "Rip it Up" and "Start Again: Postpunk 1978-84".

Lines laid across the plain near the Peruvian site of Nazca have been explained as ancient roads or features of a long-forgotten religious calendar. So why did Erich von Daniken interpret these markings as the contours of a huge galactic spaceport? In his assessment of the uncanny and frequently eerie world of UFO-logy, Gregory L Reece travels deep into a mindset which believes that the gods of mythology were really visitors from the stars. Venturing into the Mojave Desert to watch the night skies for flying saucers; exploring Nevada's top-secret installation 'Area 51'; and visiting Roswell, famous site of a supposed saucer crash in 1947, the author's quest for the truth brings him more than he bargained for. He has his atomic structure recharged in a machine supposedly designed by extraterrestrial technology, encounters a whole galaxy of alien life-forms, and meets those who claim themselves to have been abducted by UFOs. Along the way, he tries to make sense both of the sinister 'Men in Black' and of lethal 'Tall Whites', deadly aliens who liquidate human beings without mercy.What is it about flying saucer culture that speaks to people with an apparently religious intensity and fervour? For those looking for the answers, "UFO Religion" is the definitive guide and handbook to one of the most extraordinary and compelling cults of our times.

Does the giant Yeti roam the mountain ranges of Tibet? Does a real-life Shangri-La lie waiting to be discovered in a Himalayan valley? Do transmissions from lost civilizations beam messages of salvation to humankind? What lost creatures lurk in the murky depths of Scotland's brooding Loch Ness? And who - or what - is responsible for the implacable monoliths which tower over Easter Island? The obsession that so many now have with the uncanny and unnatural is itself a mystery. It prompts serious questions which could have remarkable answers. Drinking deep from the wells of esoteric knowledge, Greg Reece undertakes a heroic quest for solutions. Braving the darkest recesses of cult belief, he stalks the twilight borderlands of contemporary culture, where, at the outer edges of mainstream thought, things become downright freaky and outlandish.Taking his life in both hands, the author explores a subterranean cavern reputed to be the home of elusive blue-skinned troglodytes; goes hiking in the backwoods for a glimpse of Bigfoot; investigates the truth of Alternative Archaeology in search of Atlantis; and tests for himself the time-travel and anti-gravity theories of famed inventor Nikola Tesla.Unashamedly revelling in the unexplained, "Weird Science and Bizarre Beliefs" is both a penetrating analysis of the hidden underbelly of science, pseudo-science and religion and an unforgettable journey into the innermost depths of the fantastic and the peculiar.

Vampires and werewolves; phantoms and phantasms: looming out of the fog leaps the menacing spectre of the lycanthrope, ghoul or blood-crazed zombie. Intrigued by some of the most sinister, yet at the same time most compelling, legends of western civilization, Gregory L Reece dusts down his stake and crucifix, loads his silver bullets and takes off into the wilds in search of answers and fresh adventures. Rummaging around in crumbling tombs and cobwebbed sarcophagi, his latest quest leads him into the haunted realm of the dead and the undead: of those carnivorous, nocturnal hunters that might perhaps better be left undisturbed. Why, he asks, is our culture obsessed by the eerie and the macabre? Why, despite its horrors, does the 'dark side' of the supernatural - its seances and ghost-hunting, demonic possession and the occult - call to us with such dangerous allure? Whether tracking night-stalking werewolves, chanting black magic mantras with Satanists, or interviewing a funereal modern-day Count Dracula, Reece is determined to uncover the truth.A wry exploration of a secret and secretive subculture, "Creatures of the Night" is at the same time a bold and startling journey into a wraithlike world that has so often seemed to lie beyond the limits of rational comprehension - until now.