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The Grays

A novel by
Whitley Strieber


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Synopsis

The Grays
Published 22 August 2006 (paperback 29 May 2007)
Also available on audio (abridged 4cds/5hrs, and unabridged 10cds/11hrs);
feature film in development at Sony Pictures for 2008


Millions of people are confronting aliens that authorities say do not exist. Now Whitley Strieber, author of the #1 bestseller Communion, which detailed his own close encounters, returns with The Grays, a mind-bending journey behind the curtain of secrecy that surrounds the subject of aliens. Drawing from a lifetime of research and his own experiences, Strieber offers up a fictional account of a conspiracy behind the alien presence on Earth while also giving us a startling look inside the alien mind that will astound, frighten, and enthrall readers. This book will make you think deeply, not only about the mystery of who the Grays are, but who exactly we are.
     Meet the Three Thieves: a group of Grays assigned to duty in a small Kentucky town. They've been occupying this town for decades, abducting its residents and manipulating bloodlines in an attempt to create an ultra-intelligent human being. Eleven-year-old Conner Callahan will face the ultimate terror as he struggles to understand who he has been bred to be and what he must do to save humanity.
     Meet Colonel Michael Wilkes, a government official who has monitored the Grays' presence for years. He's done everything in his power to keep the secret of the Grays from reaching the public, but when the Grays begin to reveal themselves, Wilkes' fear of ultimate occupation forces him to set in motion a sinister plan to ensure the survival of humanity. But at what cost?
     
The fate of the human race lies in one woman, Lauren Glass. Her father was the only man to communicate with the Grays. His untimely death leaves Lauren the unique ability to communicate with the last remaining captive Gray, known as A for Adam, and she may be the only one to truly unravel the Grays' ultimate plan.

The Grays is the novel Whitley Strieber was born to write. The aliens feel so authentic, and their collaborators—our own high-ranking government officials—are so unforgettable, they will forever change the way you view the world. The Grays will freeze your marrow. As with all of Whitley’s books, you are in for the ride of your life.”
    —Douglas Preston, New York Times bestselling author of Tyrannosaur Canyon


Notes

Pre-publication comments about the novel The Grays and the upcoming Sony Pictures film:
     “I'm working on fiction about the grays now,” Whitley announced on his message board (5 October 2004). “I've discovered that there's a LOT down inside me that comes slipping out when I am in the trance-like state that writing fiction involves. ...I think you'll find it interesting. What I am after is getting my inner self to tell me what I really know about the grays, and keep hidden. There is no way to do this in nonfiction. But in a novel, it will come out.” “The book about the Grays is an attempt to access meaning at a deeper level. I am hoping that facts will emerge through the fictional process. I am convinced that there is a lot I know – and everybody knows – that we cannot put into words. But MAYBE, if I write fiction about the grays, I will expose some of that hidden material that I know is there, but have never been able to say.” (11 October 2004) “What are they, I wonder? At least, on the surface of my mind, I wonder. I'm hoping that the sort of incantational sense that comes from writing fiction – storytelling – will allow some of the hidden truth to emerge into the book. I think we all know what this is, every one of us, including the people who think that they have no connection with it, or who know nothing about it at all. The question is, where, in our inner beings, do we find the truth...and why have we hidden it from ourselves so totally?” (10 October 2004)
     The May 28, 2004 edition of Publishers Weekly says “His novel portrays the Grays as powerful and enigmatic alien forces struggling with humanity for control of the earth.”
     Tor/Forge won North American rights to the story, which they described as “a major novel based on his recollections of the aliens he says abducted him and who, he believes, are still among us,” with the “control of our planet” at issue. Bob Gleason of Tor reported a tentative publication date of fall 2005. The “Literary Life” section of the Sunday Telegraph (UK) reported that The Grays will not be a personal memoir, but rather will be a fiction book based on fact, a la Majestic, where elements of truth are conveyed through an invented narrative structure (“Don't bother to panic though: this time the work is billed as fiction” says book reviewer Mark Sanderson, June 13, 2004).
     “Whitley Strieber's 'The Grays' is a fictional account of interaction with these mysterious presences, that, like 'Majestic' reveals more than he could with a strictly factual book. It appears in stores on August 25, 2006” according to a form letter sent out by the Striebers in early 2006.
     In August 2005 it was learned that Sony Pictures secured feature film rights to The Grays; “It's not clear who'll star in The Grays,” says Variety, “but insiders say the lead role is intended for a female.” Click here for more information about the film.


A note from BeyondCommunion.com
Whitley is not expected to return to writing memoirs about his own alien encounters. Whether there is more to say may depend more upon the visitors than upon Whitley; he has said that his contact experiences essentially ended when he left upstate New York in late 1997.
     Many experiencers have reported a sense that the abduction project has concluded, though some sort of mental contact seems to have continued; the question now is whether open contact will occur, and whether humankind's perceptual abilities will expand in a meaningful way.
     “What's really interesting [is] two years ago all these close encounters abruptly ended,” Whitley told the University of Colorado student newspaper in 2001 — referring not to own experiences, but rather to experiences among the people in general.
     A realted observation was made by the Times Herald-Record, a newspaper which covers New York's Hudson Valley — the area where Whitley Strieber's cabin was located. In an article headlined “Pine Bush outgrows UFOs” (Times Herald-Record, Steve Israel, 9 December 2005), the paper asks “Pine Bush - Where have all the UFOs gone? Check out the list of sightings on the menu of the Cup and (Flying) Saucer diner. The list stops in 1999.”
     In June 2003 Whitley affirmed that mental contact continues: “Most abductees and close encounter witnesses have had the experience of mental communication with the visitors. Indeed, this seems to be the primary form of communication, as so many have reported. I experienced this myself, and continue to experience it.”