From Roswell With Love: Do Aliens Hold the Key to World Peace?

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BOOK REVIEW
From Roswell With Love

This summer a UFO frenzy hit the news when more than a million people signed up to storm Area 51, the secretive military base in the Nevada desert. The scheduled date for "They Can't Stop All Of Us" was in September. It ended up being a party celebrating all things alien, and not a mass trespassing.  You can read the July Time magazine story about this, which includes additional links to related stories, including this link to info about the annual Roswell U.F.O. Festival.

As is readily apparent by the quantity of people who signed up or indicated interest to this Facebook event (more than 2 million), fascination with UFOs in general, and Roswell specifically, has never really subsided.

One of the reasons for much of the drama around Roswell has to do with the reality that the government's lack of transparency regarding some of the events that occurred in this area shortly after the war. The testing of new, top secret aircraft and other things did not go entirely unnoticed, and we all know how wild our imaginations are when unrestrained.

FROM ROSWELL WITH LOVE

The title of Bill Rebane's sci fi novel From Roswell With Love appears to be an intentional take-off on Ian Fleming's From Russia With Love. With his love of film and Hollywood background, Rebane reaches for a story big in scope. Here's a little background on the author, followed by a review of the book.

Born in Latvia, 1937, he and his family fled their home in Latvia when the Red Army rolled West in 1944. The Rebanes settled in West Germany after the war. Like most who grew up in Eastern Europe, Rebane spoke several languages. Estonian and Latvian, his parent's tongues, as well as German and Russian. Only eight years old when the war ended he eventually learned English by watching television in Hamburg. He came to the States from Germany in 1952, eventually creating a career for himself in the movie business.

While still in his early 20's he brought to Hollywood a new technology for producing a 360-degree filming using a single camera. (They were previously using 16 cameras shooting out like spokes from a wheel axle.) This made him a millionaire. Once you get let the movie bug bite you it's hard to shake it.

In the 1960's Rebane moved his family to Central Wisconsin where he transformed 200-acres into his own movie studio where he wrote, produced and directed campy horror films like The Giant Spider Invasion. A stroke in 1989 forced him to close the studio, and for a time his family lived in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. (UP)

Knowing Mr. Rebane's backstory helped me see From Roswell With Love in a different light. The chapters are short, each one designed to move the story forward. In fact, as I read the 248-page novel, it had the feel of being written to be produced as a film. (He has directed 10 feature length films.) And sure enough, on the copyright page it states that the story was originally written as a screenplay in 2002.

The setting for much of the story is a Bed & Breakfast in the Upper Peninsula. A mysterious stranger arrives in the dead of winter, not your usual season for visitors to this remote area. Then again, Arturo Smith is not your usual guest either.

Author/director Bill Rebane

As the title suggests, the novel attempts to unravel the backstory on what really happened at Roswell, what the government has concealed from the public and what it really means for planet earth.  It's no secret that our country has more than its share of secrets. Can there be more to the UFO crash of 1947 than our government's claim that it was "just a weather balloon"? Though "thoroughly debunked" there's still a conviction among many that something real has been covered up. Bill Rebane sets about toward giving us a glimpse of what really happened, based on facts obtained from government sources and the International Starlight Society.

It was a fun read. You can see how Rebane's personal experience living in the Upper Peninsula contributed to the story line. As you can imagine, if you want a story to have suspense, why not have the future of humanity to be what's at stake. Can we, as a race, change our ways?

Disclaimer: The book is self-published with a fair quantity of typos and editing errors. I myself found the story to be a page turner and an enjoyable story. Some readers will be put off by the lack of editing but I can honestly say that if you accept this shortcoming and overlook it, the book is an easy, engaging read. 

From Roswell With Love claims to be based on facts obtained from Government sources and members of the International Starlight Society. The author has simply attempted to connect some dots.

Related Links
From Roswell with Love at Amazon.com
Campy Horror-Flick Producer Director Bill Rebane Did It His Way
Industry Veterans Bill Rebane and Robert Wilhelm III in Superior to Shoot First Episode of Masters of Valor