The UFO Files

by Ed Gorman (Editor / Contributor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Marthayn Pelegrimas (Contributor)

UFO's have long been a topic of fascination and speculation, generating best-selling books, blockbuster movies, popular TV shows, and questionable tabloid articles. Now tapping into the public's insatiable interest in the subject, these all-new stories by some of today's top writers explore close encounters of a thrilling kind. The truth is out there…and revealed in the pages of The UFO Files.

• In the tradition of the hit television series "The X-Files"
• Includes stories by such top writers as Gregory Benford, Ed Gorman, Peter Crowther, Alan Dean Foster, Kristine Rusch, and David Bischoff
• Alien contact has long been among the most popular themes in science fiction
• Public interest in alien contact has never been greater
• Co-editor Martin H. Greenberg is the leading anthologist in the genre, and is credited with over 600 top-selling collections
• Co-editor Ed Gorman has written several national bestsellers in a variety of genres, from mainstream thrillers to riveting horror novels
• Stunning cover art by Peter Gudynas

Ordinary aliens by Gregory Benford
Observer by Robert Charles Wilson
Diplomatic exchange by Will Murray
Secret service by Edward Lee
Survivals by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Emma Baxter's boy by Ed Gorman
Chasing the mist by Tracy Knight
Amid the walking wounded by Dallas Mayn
Outside looking in by John Helfers
End of winter by Russell Davis (as by R. Davis)
Heirloom by Jim Combs
Bug-eyed methodists by Bob Morrish
Some burial place, vast and dry by Peter Crowther
Daddy dearest by Jack Cady
Renewing the option by Elizabeth Engstrom
One that got away by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Man with X-ray eyes by Richard T. Chizmar
Closed: Due to curiosity by Robert Randisi and Marthayn Pelegrimas
Here's looking at UFO, kid by Lawrence Schimel and Mark A. Garland
Love lies bleedin by Billie Sue Mosiman
Scientific romance by Kevin J. Anderson
S-files by David Bischoff
Kindness of strangers by Alan Dean Foster

Genres: Horror

314 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1998

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. was a prolific American author and anthologist, widely recognized for his contributions to crime, mystery, western, and horror fiction. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gorman spent much of his life in the Midwest, drawing on that experience to set many of his novels in small towns. After working over two decades in advertising, political speechwriting, and industrial filmmaking, he published his first novel, Rough Cut, in 1984 and soon transitioned to full-time writing. His fiction is often praised for its emotional depth, suspenseful storytelling, and nuanced characters. Gorman wrote under the pseudonyms Daniel Ransom and Robert David Chase, and contributed to publications such as Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and Black Lizard. He co-founded Mystery Scene magazine and served as its editor and publisher until 2002, continuing his “Gormania” column thereafter. His works have been adapted for film and graphic novels, including The Poker Club and Cage of Night. In comics, he wrote for DC and Dark Horse. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002, he continued writing despite his illness until his passing in 2016. Critics lauded him as one of the most original crime writers of his generation and a “poet of dark suspense.”

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an anthology of twenty-three original short stories packaged to take advantage of the popularity of The X-Files and the general resurgence in the popularity of flying saucers at the time. The spine and cover credit Martin H. Greenberg as the editor, but Ed Gorman's name is listed with his on the title page. Most of the stories are of the short, one-punch variety, with little in the way of change or development, and the results are varied. I much preferred Greenberg's Alien Abduction, which was similarly themed. I remember enjoying the ones in this one by Gregory Benford, Billie Sue Mossiman, and Alan Dean Foster.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a collection of short stories by various authors, all dealing with the science fiction theme of aliens encountering humans.
The first story was very inventive, Ordinary Aliens by Gregory Benford – the concept of aliens coming to earth solely to spread their religion the way Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses do, door-to-door, was very unique. The Observer, by Robert Charles Wilson, the story of a young girl who was abducted by aliens and turns to the famous Hubble for help, is also a strong story.there was also the story of a hot air balloon this who the government consigns to return the body of a dead alien, the story of a Secret Service agent who has to babysit a president with Alzheimer’s and who discovers the president still has some secrets that can be revealed, a strange, talking flying saucer that encounters a young girl, a mutant creature Hidden in the basement and protected by strange couple, the story of a pilot who has an encounter with the unknown, a lonely man who finds a strange creature which inspires him to have confidence, a man who won’t shut up even after death (I don’t know what that had to do with aliens) a train where all the passengers are marked for death, a man who hunts aliens even when they look surprisingly human, the story of a dying town in the wake of a UFO landing the story of two men who kidnap a woman to get more than they bargained for, and others

[Coraline · Rating 2 out of 5]

blah some of the stories were pretty eventual though but you know read only if you want cliche UFO scuzz

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very good, only like one or two stories in it that I didn't like. I highly recommend it.