Hilary Evans devotes three pages to a review the Fátima Trilogy (Heavenly Lights, Celestial Secrets, and Fátima  Revisited) in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research. About the third volume specifically, he writes: “a number of researchers and authorities are invited to present their takes on Fátima. With the exception of Michael Persinger’s masterly exposition of the geomagnetic forces that might have been involved, few of them set out to throw any light on the nitty-gritty of the encounter happenings. Rather, they seek to set those events in a wider context, and we are treated to a variety of perspective, ranging across religion (though not much of that), folklore, anthropology and more. Authors include David Jacobs, Stanley Krippner and Jacques Vallee, together with authorities– mainly academics–from many different disciplines. Their subjects range widely, from angels and alien abductors to altered states of consciousness, dream states and mind control, neuro-theology and the physics of ‘high strangeness.’ Some keep within the bounds of existing knowledge, other head out into the wide blue yonder with speculations as to what really happened to those three little children on that day in May which started out like any other, yet ended so fatefully.” Hilary then ends with a comment about the entire enterprise: “Taken together the trilogy represents a formidable research enterprise which casts a flood of light on one of the most enigmatic events of recent times. Whether or not we end by sharing the conclusions of the lead authors, their quest for the truth is a fascinating one, and one which leaves us in no doubt that the traditional account of what happened at Fatima is sadly inadequate.”

Fatima Revisited: The Apparition Phenomenon in Ufology, Psychology, and Science is now getting the attention of reviewers and the results are very positive indeed. Malcolm Robinson, of Strange Phenomena Investigations (SPI) in the U.K. writes: “This book is different, very different; it’s not your normal one author who has penned this work, no siree.  This book has been written by a number of ‘different authors’ each of whom bring to bear their own take on what happened back in the Portuguese village of Fatima back in 1917… This book is a marvelous potpouri of theory, speculation, fact, and wonder…” And Bob Rickard, who praised the two previous volumes in the trilogy, Heavenly Lights and Celestial Secrets, likes Fatima Revisited as well. He writes in the latest issue of Fortean Times, “To anyone interested in anomalous events that bridge the objective and subjective worlds” this book is “essential reading….Fatima Revisited is a multidisciplinary collaboration [that shows] that quality studies of paranormal phenomena are being published.” Where? At Anomalist Books, of course!

The long-awaited third and final volume of the highly praised Fátima Trilogy is now out. Fátima Revisited: The Apparition Phenomenon in Ufology, Psychology, and Science was compiled by Fernando Fernandes, Joaquim Fernandes, and Raul Berenguel; and translated from the Portuguese and edited by Andrew D. Basiago and Eva M. Thompson. It includes a Foreword by William J. Birnes and an Introduction by Ralph Steiner. In this anthology, an international panel of leading scholars subjects the legendary apparitions to the scrutiny of modern scientific analysis. Various points of view are examined: Could there be a simple physiological explanation for the experience? Was mind control involved? Were the witnesses in altered states of consciousness? Or was it all related to the UFO contact experience? The list of contributors is impressive. They include anthropologist SCOTT ATRAN, psychologist IRENE BLINSTON, psychotherapist JANET ELIZABETH COLLI, anthropologist RYAN J. COOK, physicist ERIC DAVIS, historian DAVID M. JACOBS, human consciousness pioneer STANLEY KRIPPNER, and astrophysicist JACQUES F. VALLÉE – all from the U.S.; engineer FERNANDO FERNANDES, historian JOAQUIM FERNANDES, psychologist VITOR RODRIGUES, psychiatrist MARIO SIMÕES, and researcher RAUL BERENGUEL – all from Portugal; as well as the British neurophysiologist FRANK McGILLION, the Belgian physicist AUGUSTE MEESSEN, the Brazilian psychotherapist GILDA MOURA, and the Canadian neuroscientist MICHAEL A. PERSINGER.

Stephen Wagner “heartily recommends” Brad Steiger’s Worlds Before Our Own, as well as Strange Guests and Shadow World, in his warm review of the book at About.com. Says Wagner: “Obviously, I have always been fascinated by discoveries and human experiences that don’t fit into the standard templates of what conventional science and even religion would have us accept…This fascination also includes archaeological discoveries that do not fit neatly into the timelines currently laid out in scientific texts…Yet these discoveries exist, annoying as they may be to the commonly accepted theories. Brad shares my excitement and wonder about these anomalies, which is why I gleefully relish books like Worlds Before Our Own. These anomalous findings – and there are thousands of them – stand out as real evidence that there very well may have been civilizations (possibly advanced) that pre-date any we are aware of.”

Likewise, Brent Raynes seems to appreciate the new history presented in Heavenly Lights: The Apparitions of Fatima and the UFO Phenomenon by Joaquim Fernandes & Fina D’Armada. In Alternate Perceptions, he writes: “This book…is a full-blown, indepth and thoroughly researched exploration of the facts in this extraordinary case. Not a few paragraphs devoted to some of the highlights of this astounding case, but a truly detailed presentation and compilation of the evidence and its similarities to the global UFO phenomenon. Originally published in Portuguese, the authors, Joaquim Fernandes and Fina D’Armada, conducted an extensive amount of original research that should be loudly applauded. Also their close examination and comparisons to all of the case details and the parallels that they isolated from UFO cases in various parts of the world, establishes an even much stronger and greater case for what ufologists have been writing and saying about the extraordinary Fatima events for so many years now. Easy to read and filled with wonderful illustrations and graphs, this is a great addition to any ufologist’s or parapsychologist’s library.”

We have seen a surge in the sales of our reprints of the first two volumes of the Fátima trilogy due to the pent-up demand resulting from the demise of the books’ original publisher last year. The first review out of the gate comes courtesy of the excellent site known as Disinformation. The reviewer, who goes by the name “mortimer,” begins by summarizing the thesis: “The trilogy argues, quite convincingly, that the famous Fátima incident of 1917 … did not actually involve a series of Marian apparitions (as is commonly accepted) but may in fact have been a sequence of extra-terrestrial encounters of a most unusual nature.” His review focuses on the second volume, Celestial Secrets: The Hidden History of the Fátima Incident, that “explores the supposed church ‘cover-up’ surrounding the matter, which the authors claim has both influenced the modern interpretation of the Fátima incident and concealed what may very likely be one of the first recorded cases of a 20th century alien encounter…The book left me convinced that indeed a church cover-up had occurred.” Though not totally convinced of the ufological interpretation, the reviewer found “the subject and the recorded events make for compelling reading in whatever context one wishes to interpret them.” The book, he concludes is “a pleasure to read.”

We are pleased to announce that we have returned into print two highly praised books previously published by EcceNova Editions, a Canadian publisher that closed its doors in December of 2006. The two books are part of a planned Fátima Trilogy authored by Joaquim Fernandes & Fina D’ Armada. The books have been translated from Portuguese by Eva M. Thompson and Alexandra Bruce, and edited by Andrew D. Basiago. Heavenly Lights: The Apparitions of Fátima and the UFO Phenomenon argues convincingly that the famed Fátima incident of 1917 did not involve “Marian apparitions,” as is commonly believed, but actually dealt with a series of close encounters with alien beings.

Celestial Secrets: The Hidden History of the Fátima Incident reveals the story of the “cover-up” by the Catholic church that has both shaped our modern view of the Fátima incident and obscured its true significance as the first major close encounter case of the 20th century. When they first appeared, both books were well-reviewed in Fortean Times by Bob Rickard, who called Heavenly Lights “priceless” and Celestial Secrets “an important archive.” The third volume in the trilogy — Fátima Revisited: The Apparition Phenomena in Myth, Religion, and Science — is due out at the end of the year and contains contributions by 20 Ufologists and academics.