Randle, Kevin D. 1949-

views updated

RANDLE, Kevin D. 1949-

PERSONAL:

Born 1949, in Cheyenne, WY. Education: Attended Humboldt State University.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.

CAREER:

Science fiction writer. UFOlogist. Military service: U.S. Army, assault helicopter companies, 1968-69; Iowa National Guard, helicopter pilot, 1971-73; Air Force ROTC, University of Iowa, 1973-75; Air Force, intelligence officer, 1975-91, became captain.

WRITINGS:

"SEEDS OF WAR" SERIES; WITH ROBERT CORNETT

Seeds of War, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1988.

Aldebaran Campaign, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1988.

The Aquarian Attack, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1989.

"REMEMBER!" SERIES; WITH ROBERT CORNETT

Remember the Alamo!, Diamond Books (New York, NY), 1986.

Remember Gettysburg!, Diamond Books (New York, NY), 1988.

Remember Little Big Horn!, Diamond Books (New York, NY), 1990.

"JEFFERSON'S WAR" SERIES

The Galactic Silver Star, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1990.

The Price of Command, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1990.

The January Platoon, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1991.

Death of a Regiment, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1991.

Chain of Command, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1992.

OTHER FICTION

(With Richard J. Randisi) Once Upon a Murder, Bantam (New York, NY), 1987.

Spanish Gold, M. Evans (New York, NY), 1990.

Dawn of Conflict, Bantam (New York, NY), 1991.

(With Richard Driscoll) Star Precinct, Ace (New York, NY), 1992.

(With Richard Driscoll) Star Precinct 2: Mind Slayer, Ace (New York, NY), 1992.

(With Richard Driscoll) Star Precinct: Inside Job, Ace (New York, NY), 1993.

Galactic MI, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Galactic MI #2: The Rat Trap, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Operation Roswell, Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

Signals, Ace Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Starship, Ace Books (New York, NY), 2003.

NONFICTION

The October Scenario: UFO Abductions, Theories about Them, and a Prediction of When They Will Return, Middle Coast Publishing (Iowa City, IA), 1988.

UFO Casebook, Warner (New York, NY), 1989.

(With Donald R. Schmitt) UFO Crash at Roswell, Avon (New York, NY), 1991.

(With Donald R. Schmitt) The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, M. Evans (New York, NY), 1994.

Lost Gold and Buried Treasure: A Treasure Hunter's Guide to One Hundred Fortunes Waiting to Be Found, M. Evans (New York, NY), 1995.

A History of UFO Crashes, Avon (New York, NY), 1995.

Roswell UFO Crash Update: Exposing the Military Cover-up of the Century, Global Communications (New Brunswick, NJ), 1995.

Project Blue Book Exposed, Marlowe & Company (New York, NY), 1997.

Conspiracy of Silence, Avon (New York, NY), 1997.

(With Russ Estes) Faces of the Visitors: An Illustrated Reference to Alien Contact, Fireside (New York, NY), 1997.

The Randle Report: UFOs in the '90s, M. Evans (New York, NY), 1997.

Project Moon Dust: Beyond Roswell—Exposing the Government's Continuing Covert UFO Investigation in Cover-Ups, Avon (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Russ Estes and William P. Cone) The Abduction Enigma: An Investigation of the Alien Abduction Phenomenon, Forge (New York, NY), 1999.

Scientific UFOlogy: How the Application of Scientific Methodology Can Analyze, Illuminate, and Prove the Reality of UFOs, Avon (New York, NY), 1999.

(With Russ Estes) Spaceships of the Visitors: An Illustrated Guide to Alien Spacecraft, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2000.

The Roswell Encyclopedia, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.

Case MJ-12: The True Story behind the Government's UFO Conspiracies, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS:

After nearly twenty years in the armed services, Kevin D. Randle began writing science fiction series in the late 1980s. His "Seeds of War" series, coauthored with Robert Cornett, drew heavily on his own extensive military service—as a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War and an Air Force intelligence officer—to create solid and believable military sci-fi. In Seeds of War, which launched the series, a punitive expedition is sent to a planet in the Tau Centi system after a peaceful probe from Earth is destroyed. Fantasy Review contributor Glenn Reed found it a "competently written novel for those who enjoy war adventure." About the same time, Randle and Cornett also produced the "Remember!" series, a trio of time-travel books in which modern soldiers travel to famous battles to prevent a corporation's attempted alterations in history. "Well worth your time," wrote a Science Fiction Chronicle reviewer of Remember the Alamo!, the first of the series.

Randle returned to straightforward military sci-fi with The Galactic Silver Star, first of the "Jefferson's War" series, which chronicles the adventures of the United States Space Infantry, and particularly Colonel Jefferson. In a review of The Price of Command, Booklist contributor Roland Green noted Randles's "keen insight into the internal politics of the military" as one of the series' highlights. Randle followed this up with the "Star Precinct" series, a trio of sci-fi stories about an intergalactic police force, coauthored with Richard Driscoll, and two "Galactic MI" books, which tell of an undercover team that travels to alien worlds before official contact is made. In addition, Randle produced a mystery, Once Upon a Murder, and a Western adventure, Spanish Gold.

While establishing a solid reputation in genre fiction, Randle also emerged as a prominent figure in the study of UFOs and related fields, particularly the Roswell crash and the alien abduction phenomenon. In the 1970s he investigated animal mutilations as a field investigator for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization. In the 1980s, he became especially interested in the question of the alien crash that many claim happened in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico, interviewing hundreds of participants connected to that mystery. In 1991, he and fellow-investigator Donald Schmitt produced UFO Crash at Roswell, which set forth in meticulous detail the evidence for the crash, including a great deal of testimony from witnesses. Writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, John Lord wrote, "the first thing that this reviewer notes is the authors' attention to facts.… And this is where the book begins to fall short, mainly because there are too many details repeated too many times." Still, Lord admitted, the book "has no glaring problems" and thought readers would find it "interesting and even exciting." In 1994, Randle and Schmitt followed up with The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, "the most thorough and objective account currently available," according to Library Journal contributor Gary Barber, a SUNY professor. This update included new witnesses, adding a number who claimed to have been threatened by the military, and a revised event chronology. In 1997, Randle went on to produce The Randle Report: UFOs in the '90s, a comprehensive and rigorous examination of various UFO sightings and contact, debunking some famous examples but leaving room for accepting some of the lesser-known claims. A Publishers Weekly reviewer praised Randle as one of the few UFO researchers "willing to weigh the evidence for what it's genuinely worth."

In addition to Roswell, Randle has taken a strong interest in the alien abduction claims that have proliferated in recent decades. In Faces of the Visitors: An Illustrated Reference to Alien Contact, he and coauthor Russ Estes sort through the various sightings and compile sketches and descriptions of over one hundred different types of aliens that supposedly have visited Earth. In addition, they attempt to rate the credibility of the sightings. New Scientist contributor David Barrett found the book "a complete waste of a good tree."

In 1999, Randall and Estes teamed up with psychotherapist William P. Cone to take a more critical look at the wide-ranging field of abduction claims. Together, they published The Abduction Enigma: An Investigation of the Alien Abduction Phenomenon, "A well-written anti-abduction perspective on alien encounters that systematically examines and refutes each argument used by abduction proponents," according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor. The book sets forth a short history of alien abductions, the role of folklore, popular culture, and false memory syndrome in creating the present-day image of alien visitations, and examines the alleged physical proofs, such as implants and scars. In addition, they analyze the more well-known abduction investigators, combing through numerous transcripts and uncovering numerous examples of leading questions, pseudoscientific analysis, and possible fraud. The book "should convince even the most dedicated believer in aliens and alien abductions that he not only has been badly misinformed over the past five decades but also been sorely misled by the popular press, the abduction researchers, and even by the abductees themselves," wrote Robert Baker in the Skeptical Inquirer.

Randle would probably not go that far. Although a skeptic when it comes to abductions, he remains a key figure in the study of UFO claims and a firm believer in the military cover-up of the events at Roswell. He has even produced a thinly-veiled fictionalization of what may have happened, titled Operation Roswell. He writes and lectures widely on UFOs and remains one of the most visible, and most respected, figures in that controversial field.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 1, 1990, Roland Green, review of The Price of Command, p. 720; May 15, 1994, George Eberhart, review of The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, p. 1646; September 15, 2002, Roland Green, review of Operation Roswell, p. 212; March 15, 2003, Roland Green, review of Signals, p. 1286; January 1, 2004, Roland Green, review of Starship, p. 840.

Fantasy Review, December, 1996, Glenn Reed, review of Seeds of War, p. 37.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 1999, review of The Abduction Enigma: An Investigation of the Alien Abduction Phenomenon, p. 705; August 15, 2002, review of Operation Roswell, p. 1184.

Library Journal, June 1, 1994, Gary Barber, review of The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, p. 152; September 15, 2002, Jackie Cassada, review of Operation Roswell, p. 97.

New Scientist, January 24, 1998, David Barrett, review of Faces of the Visitors: An Illustrated Reference to Alien Contact, p. 45.

New Yorker, January 10, 2000, C. Niemann, review of The Abduction Enigma, p. 14.

Publishers Weekly, April 14, 1997, review of The Randle Report: UFOs in the '90s, p. 68; September 16, 2002, review of Operation Roswell, p. 55.

Science Fiction Chronicle, December, 1986, review of Remember the Alamo!, p. 48; April, 1992, review of Star Precinct, p. 30.

Skeptical Inquirer, January, 2000, Robert Baker, review of The Abduction Enigma, p. 49.

Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 1991, John Lord, review of UFO Crash at Roswell, p. 340.

Washington Post Book World, January 4, 1988, Elaine Showalter, review of Faces of the Visitors, p. 1.