Author and historian of Discordianism Adam Gorightly, frequently featured at this blog over the years, has a new book out, Agent of Disruption: The Many Lives of Fred Crisman.
Adam's blurb for the book: "An international man of mystery with alleged intelligence agency connections, Fred Lee Crisman left behind a Walter Mitty-like legacy populated by flying saucers, assassination conspiracies, and alleged encounters with those nasty little inner-earth dwellers known as the Deros.
"Strap in yourself in for this long strange trip down memory lane to Maury Island, Dealey Plaza, and all points in between as we explore the many lives of Fred Lee Crisman, a true agent of disruption."
Available at various online locations, such as Amazon, Walmart and Bookshop.org. Here is a biography of the "true renaissance man of the lunatic fringe" (his description, not mine!) and you can also find out about his other books.
I asked Adam to take a few questions about his new book, and he obliged:
RAWILLUMINATION: What made you decide to write a whole book about Fred Crisman? Did you realize there was so much craziness it would take a whole book to tell the story?
ADAM GORIGHTLY: The inspiration to write a book on Crisman was what similarly motivated me to write my Kerry Thornley bio, The Prankster and the Conspiracy. I first became aware of Thornley in the early ‘90s from a chapter in Jonathon Vankin’s Conspiracies, Coverups, and Crimes, and became fascinated with Thornley’s story that he had known Oswald in the Marines, and was actually writing a novel based on Oswald prior to JFK’s assassination – not to mention the many conspiracies Thornley become associated with over the years, as well as having been a founding member of the Discordian Society. Jon Vankin, at the time, mentioned he was considering writing a bio of Thornley, and I eagerly awaited that prospect, but Vankin never got around to it. So, as time wore on, anytime I came across any new Thornley material I would file it away (this was long before I was gifted the Discordian Archives), and I also corresponded with Thornley. So, when it became evident that Vankin wasn’t going to write a Thornley bio, I decided to take on the task, as by that point, in the late ‘90s, I’d came across enough source material that I felt I had enough to at least start the project and see where it led.
This was similar to the case with my Crisman bio. I was first introduced to the legend of Fred Crisman by way of Kenn Thomas’s Maury Island UFO: The Crisman Conspiracy, published in the late 90’s and became intrigued by Crisman’s story and the many legends surrounding him in conspiratorial lore, so I started filing away anything new I found on Crisman just out of general curiosity, initially – until it got to the point where it seemed I had enough material to embark on a book project. I felt that although Thomas’s book had a lot of great material in it, that he had still only scratched the surface in telling the story of one of conspiracy culture’s favorite mystery men. Like with the Thornley bio, I eventually found myself at a place where I had enough background material to at least start the book… you never know exactly where these projects will lead – but in the case of both books I think I was able to bring something new to the table.
RAWILLUMINATION: Have your interests shifted somewhat from Discordianism to UFO stuff?
ADAM GORIGHTLY: I hadn’t really considered that – shifting from Discordianism to UFOs – but I can see how it might appear that way when looking at the chronology of my books. However, writing on these two subject areas – Discordianism and UFOs – has really been going on simultaneously the last decade and a half, it just took longer for the UFO related books to come to fruition, as I was developing both of those titles (A is for Adamski: The Golden Age of the UFO Contactees with Greg Bishop, and Saucers, Spooks and Kooks) at the same time (in the early 2010s) that I was working on Historia Discordia (and writings for the HD website) and Caught in the Crossfire: Kerry Thornley, Lee Oswald and the Garrison Investigation, which I guess you could qualify at least partially as a Discordian related book . The “Discordian books” took precedent at the time, basically because of contractual agreements.
But I don’t look at it that way – as clumping the books I have written over the last decade and a half as fitting into those two narrow categories – Discordianism or UFOs. What it boils down to, at least to my way of thinking, is that the majority of my books chronicle the exploits of counterculture or subcultural figures, as around these figures certain mythologies has been built, such as a Kerry Thornley or a Fred Crisman, who some believe were super spies who orchestrated the Kennedy assassination dance party. In a sense, I am in some cases demystifying certain aspects of their stories, and at the same time uncovering further mysteries that will perhaps never be fully unraveled and explained. It’s always a journey…and you let the destination determine itself.
My latest book on Crisman isn’t really a UFO book, per se, although I cover the Maury Island incident in great depth. The book is my attempt to unravel the many tall tales surrounding Crisman and the mystique that has grown around him over the years as a sort of Forrest Gump of Conspiracy, much in the same manner that Thornley as well has become a larger than life character in conspiracy culture.
Adam Gorightly
RAWILLUMINATION: The cover of the new book reminds me of Peter Max. I saw it about the time I read that Peter Max had died. Were you a Peter Max fan?
ADAM GORIGHTLY: Yes, Peter Max is exactly what I had in mind for the cover, I think partly because some of the more intriguing or colorful aspects of Crisman’s story happened during the swingin’ 1960s and ‘70s. The book cover was illustrated my friend Chris Graybill, the director of the Saucers, Spooks and Kooks film.
RAWILLUMINATION: I notice that, at least for now, your new book is only available as a paperback. Will there be an inexpensive ebook at some point, to satisfy cheapskates like me?
ADAM GORIGHTLY: Yes, there will be a kindle available soon. Probably in a month or so.
RAWILLUMINATION: What is going to be your next project?
ADAM GORIGHTLY: Hard to say what my next project will be, but I have plans for a James Shelby Downard bio at some point…assuming I get around to it. But it’s really the same process I described above - when I finally get to point of having enough material to write another book, whatever that may be, then I will take that plunge. So, there’s nothing specific I’m working on at the moment, though I have piles of files waiting to be exploited.
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