Sunday, July 8, marks the 60th anniversary of the “UFO crash” at Roswell, New Mexico; there’s been renewed interest lately thanks to supposed deathbed confessions of some of the people involved. The real news is that little desert town is marking the occasion with a big bash, the Amazing Roswell UFO Festival, which runs from Thursday July 5th through Sunday the 8th. Naturally, with the interest that Cosimo — and our publishing partner, Paraview — have in the paranormal, our authors will be represented at the conference in a big way. Appearing in person will be:

• Nick Redfern, author of Paraview titles Body Snatchers in the Desert: The Horrible Truth at the Heart of the Roswell Story, A Covert Agenda: The British Government’s UFO Top Secrets Exposed, and Strange Secrets: Real Government Files on the Unknown (written with Andy Roberts). Nick is a major name in the field of exposing government secrets and conspiracies we in the general public aren’t supposed to know about, and if we’re ever going to learn the truth — whatever the truth may be — behind the epidemic of UFO sightings in the post-World War II era, it will be because of the diligent efforts of guys like him.

• Peter Robbins, author of the Cosimo book Left at East Gate: A First-hand Account of the Rendlesham Forest Ufo Incident, Its Cover-up, and Investigation, (written with Larry Warren), an in-depth look at an infamous UFO incident in the U.K. that is commonly referred to by UFO buffs as “the British Roswell.”

• Adam Gorightly, gonzo chronicler of the modern conspiracy culture and author of the Paraview title The Prankster and the Conspiracy: The Story of Kerry Thornley and How He Met Oswald and Inspired the Counterculture.

• Greg Bishop, author of the Paraview title Project Beta: The Story of Paul Bennewitz, National Security, and the Creation of a Modern UFO Myth. The scoop on Bennewitz is here; basically, he was instrumental in shaping contemporary UFO/government-coverup conspiracy theory.

If you can’t make the conference — and man, it sounds like fun — then you can at least read about state of UFO “research.” And check out the Cosimo book The Flying Saucers Are Real. Published just a few years after the Roswell event in 1947, it is a clear-headed and straightforward look at the UFO phenomnon as it was understood at the time.

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