Breakthrough: The Next Step

Bestselling UFO author and horror novelist Strieber (Communion, Transformation) here recounts his purported ongoing series of alien contacts over the past few years. Abducted in 1987 from his upstate New York cabin by a ``visitor,'' Strieber is taken by UFO to Boulder, Colo., where he holds down his friend Dora Ruffner while her small daughter has her spine hammered by an insectoid alien. In 1993, a male humanoid ``visitor'' in a white tunic takes up residence with Strieber and his wife, imparting a sense of peace and joy. In other encounters, Strieber takes a jeep ride with a boy and ends up in an alternate universe; the ``visitors'' stage a journey through Eden; the author slips through the floorboards to enter the body of a human stranger. The aliens' contact with him--and with independent witnesses or contactees cited here--is cloaked in the symbolism of myth, folklore and spirituality. By this account, many who have written to Strieber divulging their UFO-related experiences report meetings with dead relatives. Without giving names or sources, Strieber also describes his involvement in a secret congressional UFO investigation. Fans will be captivated; others will be skeptical or wonder what it all means. (June)