BLUTOPIA
​VISIONS OF THE FUTURE AND REVISIONS OF THE PAST BY SUN RA, DUKE ELLINGTON & ANTHONY BRAXTON

WRITTEN BY GRAHAM LOCK
DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS
​1999​​


COSMO-BIOGRAPHY OF SUN RA (A GREAT SUN RA INTRODUCTION FOR CHILDREN)
WRITTEN BY CHRIS RASCHKA
CANDLEWICK BOOKS
​2014


EARTHLY RECORDINGS OF SUN RA DISCOGRAPHY
WRITTEN BY ROBERT CAMPBELL AND CHRISTOPHER TRENT
CADENCE BOOKS
​1997

​​This is the second and greatly expanded edition of Robert Campbell's definitive look at the recorded works of Sun Ra. This massive book, 850 pages, chronicles, through discography and commentary, the life and recordings of Sun Ra. It includes separate indexes for albums, CD's, commercial films, videos, musicians, Saturn matrix & serial numbers, and titles. This will remain the essential reference of one of the Twentieth Century's most legendary musical personalities well into the 21st century.

EXECUTION OF SUN RA – THE MYSTERIOUS TALE OF A DARK BODY SENT TO EARTH
WRITTEN BY THOMAS STANLEY
LIGHTNING SOURCE BOOKS U.K.
​2014​​​​​

​​Ethnomusicologist Thomas Stanley's book is intended to bring Sun Ra's philosophy and message into classrooms, workplaces, homes, and hearts around the world. Titled in homage to a Sun Ra pun on the double meaning of the English word execute, Dr. Stanley's work offers less an exegesis of the copious legacy of the iconoclastic artist's unique cosmo-speak than an active intellectual response to Sun Ra's thickly layered take on the condition and fate of intelligent life on Earth. Stanley, who has previously coauthored an oral history on rhythm and blues revolutionaries Parliament/Funkadelic, takes on Ra's kingdom with a well-sourced rhiz-o-matic reading that interweaves discussions of topics ranging from clinical definitions of death, slave spirituality in the Antebellum South, and the potential ramifications of civilization-crippling coronal mass ejections with a thorough review of Sun Ra's signature ideas.

Stanley positions Sun Ra's work with live musical performance as history-altering participatory ritual in opposition to the somber atomic consequences of the Manhattan Project, launched, interestingly enough, at nearly the exact same time and place as Ra's prime creative vessel - his Arkestra. Greg Tate wrote the foreword. There are two appendices including the first published transcript of Stanley's October 1990 interview with Sun Ra and several transcriptions of similar previously unpublished material. There's also a recommended playlist of Sun Ra music to enhance your reading pleasure.

IMMEASURABLE EQUATIONS VOL 1 – SUN RA POETRY
COMPILED BY ADAM ABRAHAM & JAMES L. WOLF
PHAELOS BOOKS
​2003​​​​

​​
A talented pianist and composer in his own right, Sun Ra (1914 - 1993) founded and conducted one of jazz's last great big bands from the 1950s until he left planet Earth. Few only know that he also was a gifted thinker and poet. Sun Ra's poetry leaves everything behind what's called contemporary, and flings out pictures of infinity into the outer space. These poems are for tomorrow. This is the only edition of Sun Ra's complete poetry and prose in one volume. 

​IMMEASURABLE EQUATIONS​​​​​​​​ VOL 2 – SUN RA POETRY 
COMPILED AND EDITED BY JAMES L. WOLF AND HARTMUT GEERKEN ​
WAITAWHILE BOOKS
​2006​

THE IMMEASURABLE EQUATION comprises all previously known but also unknown texts by the African-American poet and musician Sun Ra (1914 - 1993), who, like no other, has influenced the development of jazz. The musician Sun Ra has an enthusiastic audience worldwide, but his lyrics are only known to insiders so far. Sun Ra has consistently pursued his musical-philosophical path, a path that was characterized by sophisticated musical works, combined with a spirituality that finds its expression primarily in his poetry. As director of a big band he could hold for 40 years, Sun Ra is in line with Duke Ellington or Count Basie. His significant influence on, for example, John Coltrane and the collaboration with John Cage or with rock musicians testify to a rare musical universality. The book contains, in addition to five introductory contributions by renowned musicologists and philosophers, many unknown photographs, as well as a commented bibliography of Sun Ra's private library.
​​​
INTERVIEWS & ESSAYS
COMPILED BY JOHN SINCLAIR
HEAD PRESS
2010​​​

​​Composer, bandleader, pianist and space philosopher, Sun Ra was a unique individual and one of the most colorful and enduring of musical legacies, transcending time, place and culture. From the mid 1950s until his death in 1993, Sun Ra led The Arkestra , a fluid collective that lived and played together under the despotic tutelage of their leader, who claimed to hail from Saturn. Their music was jazz, but Avant Garde compositions in which players were instructed to adhere to a space key improvising without regard for conventional tonal centers was symptomatic of an altogether different direction in sound: electronic music, space music and free improvisation. But Sun Ra s legendary status was earned as much for his eccentricities as for his unique artistic vision. He developed and propagated a mystifying sci-fi mythology which he weaved into both the music and Dadaist performances of The Arkestra (performances which inspired artists as diverse as George Clinton and MC5). This book collects together for the first time interviews with Sun Ra, the people that knew him, and his contemporaries, alongside illuminating essays and conversational pieces regarding his prolific musical output, mystique, philosophy, fans, and much more.​​

LAST TEMPTATION OF SUN RA
WRITTEN BY MARC KAPLAN
XLIBRIS CORPORATION BOOKS
​2011​​​​​

​​
Sun Ra (aka Herman "Sonny" Blunt or Blount) has returned to his native Birmingham, Alabama which has recently (summer of 1963) been the target of demonstrations led by Martin Luther King and others. Sonny has not come because of the demonstrations. Musician, composer, bandleader and modern religious visionary, perhaps the most idiosyncratic of all avant-garde jazzmen, he believes in following his intuitions, and he has recently been disturbed by a chatter of voices within his own mind --- a problem he had experienced in his youth, but thought he had left behind when he left Birmingham nearly two decades earlier. In an effort to understand the voices, he begins looking up people whom he knew before. In the meantime, a second narrative thread explores the world of white Birmingham, on display at Leon Fine's Big Pig, a barbecue mecca where members of all the white social classes mingle at lunchtime. Worlds in Collision by Immanuel Velikovsky is one of Sonny's favorite books. The worlds of white and black Birmingham do indeed collide in the aftermath of a traditional children's minstrel show which Sonny revises in a most untraditional way.

OMNIVERSE (2ND PRESSING) – A COLLECTION OF UNPUBLISHED PHOTOS, RECORDS, ALBUM COVERS & MORE
WRITTEN BY HARTMUT GEERKEN & CHRISTOPHER TRENT
ART YARD
​2016

Revised and expanded second edition of Hartmut Geerken and Chris Trent's comprehensive reference Omniverse Sun Ra, originally published in 1994. Full-color 304-page hardcover book. French fold cover with metallic silver foil blocking on cyan Faimei cloth. 290mm x 245mm portrait. Omniverse Sun Ra features many previously unpublished photographs of Sun Ra and His Arkestra in New York in 1966 and Germany in 1979 by Val Wilmer, and Hartmut Geerken's previously unpublished photographs from Heliopolis in Cairo, Egypt, in 1971, in addition to an updated comprehensive pictorial and annotated discography by Chris Trent, including chronological discography and alphabetical record title, composition, personnel, and record label indexes, as well as indexes of shellac 78RPM records, 45 RPM singles, jackets, and labels. Also includes essays and photo documents by Hartmut Geerken, Chris Trent,Amiri Baraka, Robert L. Campbell, Chris Cutler, Gabi Geist, Sigrid Hauff, Karl Heinz Kessler, Robert Lax, and Salah Ragab.

PATHWAYS TO UNKNOWN WORLDS – EL SATURN AND CHICAGO'S AFRO-FUTURISTIC UNDERGROUND (1954-1968)
EDITED BY JOHN CORBETT, ANTHONY ELMS, TERRI KAPSALIS
CONTRIBUTIONS BY ADAM ABRAHAM, GLENN LIGON​ & CAMILLE NORMENT
WHITE WALLS BOOKS
​2007​​
​ ​​​

PROPHETIKA VOL 1 – THE COSMIC WISDOM OF SUN RA
TRANSCRIBED & COMPILED BY MICHAEL D. ANDERSON​​​​​
KICKS BOOK
​2014​


The prophetic poetry and prose of the one-and-only Sun Ra – and the first of a promised trilogy of unpublished predictions, prognostications and end-times visions from one of the most distinctive artists ever! If you're a fan of the cosmic jazz of Sun Ra, or even his earlier sci-fi Doo Wop R&B work, you'll be amazed at how ingeniously his poetry fits in alongside his musical canon, in a thematic sense. The prose and poems touch hit oft-traveled territories – from ancient Egypt to the outer realms of the cosmos – and it's truly brilliant stuff. Kicks Books has been one of our favorite i​​ndependent publishers for the the get-go, doing it with genuine love for their authors/artists/raconteurs, and printing on cool little back pocket-sized paperbacks, the way you might find a seedy pulp press back in the day. They get better and better with each new book – and we can't praise 'em enough for giving us rare Sun Ra writings! Paperback, 106 pages, and featuring a foreword by Charles Plymwell.

SPACE IS THE PLACE – THE LIVES AND TIMES OF SUN RA (BIOGRAPHY & DISCOGRAPHY

WRITTEN BY JOHN F. SZWED
PANTHEON BOOKS
​1997

​​
Always riveting, Space Is the Place is the definitive biography of "one of the great big-band leaders, pianists, and surrealists of jazz"  (New York Times)--unparalleled for his purposeful outlandishness, a man who exerted a powerful influence over a vast array of artists.

Sun Ra--a/k/a Herman Poole "Sonny  Blount--was born in Alabama on May 22, 1914. But like Father Divine and Elijah Muhammad, he made a lifelong effort to obscure many of the facts of his early life. After years as a rehearsal pianist for nightclub revues and in blues and swing bands, including Wynonie Harris's and Fletcher Henderson's, Sun Ra set out in the 1950s to find a way to impart his views about the galaxy, black people, and spiritual matters through the various incarnations of the Intergalactic Arkestra. His repertoire ranging from boogie-woogie, swing, and bebop to free form, fusion, and whatever, Sun Ra was above all a paragon of contradictions: profundity and vaudeville; technical pianistic virtuosity and irony; assiduous attention to arrangements and encouragement of collective improvisation; respect for tradition and celebration of the fresh.

Some might have been bemused by his Afro-Platonic neo-hermeticism; others might have laughed at his egregious excesses. But Sun Ra was at once one of the great Avant-Gardists of the latter half of the twentieth century and a black cultural nationalist who extended Afrocentrism from ancient Egypt to the heavens.

​SPACE IS THE PLACE – THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION DVD & HARDCOVER BOOK
JIM NEWMAN PRODUCER
HARTE RECORDINGS RELEASE
​2015​

​​
Harte Recordings released the 40th Anniversary limited edition SPACE IS THE PLACE film which includes a hardcover 125 page book, a DVD of the film with new producer commentary, and a CD of the soundtrack. It was forty years ago when SPACE IS THE PLACE was released. For the first time fans are able to look into the reality of Sun Ra; jazzman, alien, legend…spaceman as the film takes you beyond explanation, and yet still remains one of the craziest, psychedelic, music-powered head-twisting fest ever filmed. NTSC all region, 153 minutes.

​SUN RA AND THE BIRTH OF AFRO-FUTURISM
WRITTEN BY PAUL YOUNGQUIST
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS
2016​

Paul Youngquist's new book reveals that this multidisciplinary approach was a constant in all of Sun Ra's exploits, whether that meant using a poem to explain the intricacies a specific song or using musical reinterpretations of standard spiritual hymns to critique the bible. Beginning with his youth in Alabama and stretching all the way to his final days in Philadelphia, the book is organized chronologically, but the chapters each contain a different pursuit or interest of the artist. Through analysis and creative re-imagining of Sun Ra's personal writings, as well as in-depth looks at various texts the musician referenced in his work, Youngquist illustrates how Sun Ra formed his personal philosophy of AFRO-FUTURISM, which entails an optimistic, Afrocentric envisioning of a technologically superior future.​​

THIS PLANET IS DOOMED – THE SCIENCE FICTION POETRY OF SUN RA
FOREWORD BY AMIRI ARAKA​​​
KICKS BOOKS
​2011

THIS PLANET IS DOOMED serves up a traumatic torrent of future shock from Afro-futurist Sun Ra's deeply personal and critical commentary and unsettling advice to the people of Earth, who fail to acknowledge this planet's role in the universe. These lost poems, culled from the vaults by Sun Ra Music Archive director Michael Anderson, are available for the first time in this hip pocket paperback from KICKS BOOKS. Poet Amiri Baraka's estimable foreword, together with science fiction historian Bob Stewart's revealing introduction, set the stage for the heavy dose of the real and the unreal, which are delivered in the pages of THIS PLANET IS DOOMED.​

TRAVELING THE SPACEWAYS ​– THE ASTRO BLACK & OTHER SOLAR MYTHS
EDITED BY JOHN CORBETT
WHITE WALL INC.
​2010​​

​​The remarkable illustrations and essays of Traveling the Spaceways confront the visual manifestation of Sun Ra’s philosophy and demonstrate how graphics and design were essential to his message of self-determination. The influence of Sun Ra’s openness to new technologies and experimentation, his sense of personal identity as a construct rather than a given, and his playful attitude towards history and myth making are all evidenced by the remarkable writers and artists who have contributed to this volume, including Pedro Bell, My Barbarian, Dave Muller, and Charlemagne Palestine. A refreshing reconsideration of the impact of Sun Ra’s life on American history and visual culture, Traveling the Spaceways is an unforgettable look at the Ra persona in the context of contemporary art.

WISDOM OF SUN RA - A COLLECTION OF POEMS, FLIERS AND STREET CORNER LEAFLETS
COMPILED AND INTRODUCED BY JOHN CORBETT
WHITE WALLS BOOKS
​2006

​​This new volume unveils over forty newly discovered typewritten broadsheets on which Sun Ra expounded his wholly unique philosophical message. 

While in Chicago during the mid-1950s, Sun Ra preached on street corners and occasionally created scripts to accompany his lectures—intricate texts that invoke science fiction, Biblical prophecy, etymology, and black nationalism. Until this point, the only broadsheet known to exist was one given to John Coltrane in 1956. These newly unearthed writings attest to the provocative brilliance that inspired Coltrane. Sun Ra annotated many of them by hand, and together the sheets reveal fascinating new aspects of his worldview.

The Wisdom of Sun Ra is an invaluable compendium of writings by one of the most intriguing and influential jazz figures of the century.


BOOKS SUN RA READ - ALPHABETICAL LISTING


A NEW MODEL​​​​​​​​​ OF THE UNIVERSE
WRITTEN BY P.D. OUSPENSKY
​​PRINTED
​1931

Along with Aleister Crowley, Madame Blavatsky, and George Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky (1878 1947) was one of the most important and influential figures in the occult movements of the twentieth century. With such books as "The Fourth Dimension" (incorporated in this present volume), "Tertium Organum," "In Search of the Miraculous," and "The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution," he earned a loyal following among those seeking a deeper knowledge of themselves and their lives, and of the meaning of human existence.

​​In the present book, Ouspensky analyzes certain older schools of thought, of both East and West, connects them with modern ideas and explains them in the light of twentieth-century discovery and speculations in physics and philosophy. In the process he explores relativity, the fourth dimension, Christian symbolism, the tarot, yoga, dreams, hypnotism, eternal recurrence, and various psychological theories.

​​The book closes with an examination of the role of sex in the evolution of man toward superman. Anyone interested in the occult, mysticism and the relationship of those elements to scientific developments in the modern world will find much to ponder in these stimulating, thought-provoking pages."
Foremost occultist analyzes certain older schools of thought, of both East and West, connects them with modern ideas and explains them in the light of 20th-century discoveries and speculations in physics and philosophy. Fascinating discussions of relativity, the fourth dimension, Christian symbolism​​

ARK OF BONES AND OTHER STORIES
WRITTEN BY HENRY DUMAS
PRINTED
​1974

​​A free-lance writer, active in the area of “little magazine” writing and publishing, and a member of the teaching staff of the Experiment in Higher Education at Southern Illinois University in East St. Louis, Henry Dumas had amassed a considerable body of work at the time of his death in 1968 at the age of thirty-four. These two volumes (Ark of Bones and Other Stories and Poetry for my People), comprise most of his work, published and unpublished. They amply show the sensitivity and skill with which he approached the themes of blackness and youth, the preoccupations of the stories, and, in the themes and techniques of the poems, demonstrate the awareness of what an African heritage can mean to an American writer.

​​​​CHILDREN OF MU

WRITTEN BY JAMES CHURCHWARD
PRINTED
​1931​​​​​

In this, his second book, Churchward tells the story of the colonial expansion of Mu and the influence of the highly developed Mu culture on the rest of the world. Her first colonies were in North America and the Orient, while other colonies had been started in India, Egypt and Yucatan.​

COSMIC FORCES OF MU VOL 1
WRITTEN BY JAMES CHURCHWARD
PRINTED
​1934

​​The fourth book in the internationally acclaimed series, explains the sciences as they were taught in Mu: the Universal Laws at work, as an Orderly Procession of powers creating the Universe and the Earth and whichever cause change.

COSMIC FORCES OF MU VOL 2
WRITTEN BY JAMES CHURCHWARD
PRINTED
​1935​​​​

​​The fifth book in the famous series traces the birth of the Earth, The Universal Laws at work as Geologic Forces within the Earth, their creation and interaction, the Great Gas Belts, mountain formation, and Earth changes.

EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
WRITTEN BY E.A. ​​​​​​​WALLIS BUDGE
PRINTED
​1895

​​The Papyrus of Ani is the most beautiful, best-preserved, and complete example of ancient Egyptian philosophical and religious thought. Written and illustrated some 3,300 years ago, The Egyptian Book of the Dead is an integral part of the world's spiritual heritage. It is an artistic rendering of the mysteries of life and death. For the first time since its creation, this ancient papyrus is now available in full color with an integrated English translation directly below each image.

This publication opens the door to one of humanity's earliest and finest spiritual treasures. The Chronicle Books edition of The Book of Going Forth by Day was first published in 1994 and revised in 1998. This twentieth anniversary edition has been revised and expanded to include significant improvements to the display of the images of the Papyrus, a survey of the continuing importance of ancient Egypt in modern culture, a detailed history of Egyptian translation and philology since the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799, and a state-of-the-art Annotated Bibliography and Study Guide for Ancient Egyptian studies.

For the first time in 3,300 years, The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day: The Papyrus of Ani is showcased in its entirety in seventy-four magnificent color pages. With this third revised edition, the entire corpus of this critical work is given its most accessible and lavish presentation ever.

INVISIBLE MAN
WRITTEN BY RALPH ELLIS
PRINTED 
1952

​​​First published in 1952 and immediately hailed as a masterpiece,Invisible Man is one of those rare novels that have changed the shape of American literature. For not only does Ralph Ellison's nightmare journey across the racial divide tell unparalleled truths about the nature of bigotry and its effects on the minds of both victims and perpetrators, it gives us an entirely new model of what a novel can be.

As he journeys from the Deep South to the streets and basements of Harlem, from a horrifying "battle royal" where black men are reduced to fighting animals, to a Communist rally where they are elevated to the status of trophies, Ralph Ellison's nameless protagonist ushers readers into a parallel universe that throws our own into harsh and even hilarious relief. Suspenseful and sardonic, narrated in a voice that takes in the symphonic range of the American language, black and white,Invisible Man is one of the most audacious and dazzling novels of our century.​​
​​​​
LOST CONTINENT OF MU
WRITTEN BY JAMES CHURCHWARD
PRINTED
​1926

​​All matters of science in this work are based on the translations of certain ancient Naacal tablets which Churchward discovered in India many years previously. These tablets were written either in Burma or in Mu, the lost continent, and their extreme age was attested by the fact that legendary history says that the Naacals left Burma more than 15,000 years prior. Some of the subjects embodied in these tablets are: an account of the creation of the earth; life and its origin; the origin and workings of the forces. Profusely illustrated.

​​NATIVE SON
WRITTEN BY RICHARD WRIGHT
PUBLISHED
​1940

Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic.

Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.​

POETRY FOR MY PEOPLE
WRITTEN BY HENRY DUMAS
PRINTED
​1970

​​A free-lance writer, active in the area of “little magazine” writing and publishing, and a member of the teaching staff of the Experiment in Higher Education at Southern Illinois University in East St. Louis, Henry Dumas had amassed a considerable body of work at the time of his death in 1968 at the age of thirty-four. These two volumes (Ark of Bones and Other Stories and Poetry for my People), comprise most of his work, published and unpublished. They amply show the sensitivity and skill with which he approached the themes of blackness and youth, the preoccupations of the stories, and, in the themes and techniques of the poems, demonstrate the awareness of what an African heritage can mean to an American writer.

SACRED SYMBOLS OF MU
WRITTEN BY JAMES CHURCHWARD
PRINTED
​1933

​​Occultist James Churchward was obsessed with the lost continent of Mu, home to the original human civilization, after learning of this mysterious and forgotten paradise from an Indian priest, who shared several ancient tablets written by the Naacals, the inhabitants of Mu. Or so Churchward claimed. Here, in this work first published in 1933, Churchward discusses his contention that all religions from across Earth share a common origin in Mu. In particular, he explores how symbols of Mu-gleaned, supposedly, from the ancient tablets-bear startling resemblances to everything from the Egyptian ankh and Chinese pictograms to Native American calendar glyphs. The reality of Mu aside, students of comparative mythology and fans of esoterica will find this a fascinating book. British inventor, engineer, and author COLONEL JAMES CHURCHWARD (1851-1936), the elder brother of mystic author Albert Churchward, also wrote The Lost Continent of Mu Motherland of Man (1926), The Children of Mu (1931), The Lost Continent of Mu (1931), Cosmic Forces of Mu (1934), and Second Book of Cosmic Forces of Mu (1935).

SUBMERGED CONTINENTS OF ATLANTIS AND LEMURIA – THEIR HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION
​​WRITTEN BY RUDOLF STEINER
​PRINTED
​1911

​​This early writing reconstructs events between the origin of the earth and the beginning of recorded history and include a core investigation of the origins, achievements and fate of the Atlantians and Lemurians. These remarkable "lost" root races developed the first concepts of "good" and "evil," manipulated the forces of nature, laid the groundwork of all human legal and ethical systems, and defined and nurtured the distinctive yet complementary powers of men and women that brought humankind, many centuries ago, to its highest artistic, intellectual, and spiritual attainments.

The subject matter of this book pertains to the social, economic, cultural, etc. life of very ancient times. This work cannot be called scholarly in the usual narrow sense of the word in that its method of obtaining information is not the usual scholarly one. However, responsible investigative technique and recording are emphasized.

TWO BABYLONS
WRITTEN BY ALEXANDER HISLOP​
PRINTED
​1903​

Originally a pamphlet published in 1853, The Two Babylons is Hislop's most famous work. In this book he argues that the Roman Catholic Church is nothing more than pagan cult, with roots in Babylonian mystery cults, which have a bank of secret knowledge only available to those who have been formally accepted into the cult. Roman Catholics, Hislop argues, are descendants from early Christians who adopted the Roman religion descended from the worship of Semiramis, the wife of the founder of Babylon. By discrediting the true Christianity of Catholics, Hislop hoped to bolster the legitimacy of the Protestant and Scottish Reformations. Students of theology and those interested in the complex history of Christianity will find Hislop's arguments provocative enough that they may be moved to further research of their own. Scottish minister ALEXANDER HISLOP (1807-1865) became an ordained clergymen in the Free Church of Scotland in 1844. As a Presbyterian minister, Hislop was famously critical of.​​


RECOMMENDED BOOKS ABOUT ARKESTRA MEMBERS​​

​​
PAT PATRICK – AN AMERICAN MUSICIAN AND CULTURAL VISIONARY
WRITTEN BY BILL BANFIELD / FOREWORD BY ROBIN KELLY
PRINTED
​2016​

​​Saxophonist, multi-wind player, arranger, composer, music director, theater works producer, educator, and visionary, Pat Patrick performed with Duke Ellington’s and Quincy Jones’ orchestras, Thelonious Monk, Mongo Santamaria, Nat King Cole, James Moody, Eric Dolphy, Marvin Gaye, Patti Labelle, and Billy Taylor. Most of his career, however, was spent laying down the baseline grooves on the baritone saxophone with the indefinable Sun Ra Arkestra for over 35 years.

Based on research in the recently opened archive of personal papers, artifacts, scrapbooks, music, news clippings and photographs, Pat Patrick: American Musician and Cultural Visionary, explores the life and influence of this important musical man-behind-the-scenes. Musicologist Bill Banfield weaves a treasure trove of primary source material—including interviews with Patrick's family, friends, and associates—into a tapestry of Patrick’s remarkable life as the musical right hand of some of America’s greatest Black musical artists.

OTHER RECOMMENDED NON-SUN RA BOOKS

​​ALIENS AND UFO'S IN ANCIENT CHINA
WRITTEN BY YIN ZHE
PUBLISHED
​2016

The search for evidences of the "Ancient Aliens, UFOs, and Extraterrestrial Events" bring us to the most unlikely and inaccessible of sources: the ancient Chinese records. This book documents historical accounts of extraterrestrial encounters from times of antiquity in ancient China, rigorously researched and compiled into a volume of anomalous abundance, that will surely intrigue the most fervent of ufologists, ancient alien theorists, and alternative historians, and serve as a testimony to exemplify the important roles that ancient China play in the development of the "Ancient Aliens" theories.

APPALACHIAN CASE STUDY VOL 1 - UFO SIGHTINGS, ALIEN ENCOUNTERS & UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENA
WRITTEN BY KYLE LOVERN
PRINTED
​2008

The state of West Virginia has a long prominent history of unexplained happenings and bizarre sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Perhaps it's because we are a rural state--geographically covered with harsh mountains and rolling hills, being far from more densely populated territories--that makes this phenomena even more fantastic. Maybe the people here are just more observant of such oddities, or more willing to report such experiences to authorities. Then again, it could be that the Mountain State is in somewhat close proximity to the nation's capitol, Washington, DC, or to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Dayton, Ohio, that makes such sightings probable.

​​Regardless of the reasons for the increased activity in Appalachia, it remains a fact that citizens of the state have recorded an astounding number of UFO sightings over the last fifty years. Among these have been high profile incidents such as the famed Braxton County Monster. Additionally, the legendary Moth Man sightings, near Point Pleasant, still mystify investigators and enthusiasts. There were the infamous "Men in Black" investigators that have garnered international attention to the Appalachian Mountains.

​​Hundreds of lesser-known cases exist where solid citizens of upright character claimed to have witnessed strange flying objects over the state's airspace. Many of these sightings have been reported to county law enforcement or to federal investigative agencies, often with lackluster results. However, it's likely that an even greater percentage of eyewitnesses have kept their experiences secret to avoid public ridicule or harassment from non-believers. To this day, the whole UFO situation is often viewed as an erroneous and suspect enigma. Of course, author Kyle Lovern tends to see things differently, and so do millions of others like him. This work includes 16 fresh sightings and interviews with the individuals who experienced the unexplained.

APPALACHIAN CASE STUDY VOL 2 - UFO SIGHTINGS, ALIEN ENCOUNTERS & UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENA
WRITTEN BY KYLE LOVERN
PRINTED
​2008

West Virginia journalist Kyle Lovern is at it again-putting together another fascinating book about eyewitness accounts of UFOs and strange encounters from the Appalachian region. His first book, Appalachian Case Study: UFO Sightings, Alien Encounters, and Unexplained Phenomena, became a cult favorite and took readers on an amazing journey of exploration through the eyes of many down-to-earth people. Using his background in newspaper and radio, Lovern conducted in-depth interviews with citizens about their unusual encounters and experiences. Although that book focused solely on West Virginia, this new project, Volume 2, expands into the larger Appalachian mountain region, where many people from neighboring states have experienced unusual events and circumstances they cannot fully explain. Lovern's books are yet more pieces of the mysterious puzzle regarding UFOs, alien abductions, and other unusual phenomena.

CLOSE EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENCOUNTERS - POSITIVE EXPERIENCES WITH MYSTERIOUS VISITORS
WRITTEN BY RICHARD & LEE BOYLAN
WILD FLOWER PRESS
PRINTED
1994​​

A clinical psychologist analyzes the extraterrestrial abduction phenomenon, finding that the experience can be far more positive than many professionals realize. Dr. Boylan traces much of the trauma that other researchers have associated with extraterrestrial contact to earlier, and altogether earthly, experiences in the individual's life. After dealing with previous traumatic reactions, he defines a new treatable disorder, Close Extraterrestrial Encounter Syndrome, and identifies the 20 signs that justify the diagnosis. Nine fascinating case histories illustrate abstract theory with solid clinical evidence.

ETIDORHPA – THE END OF THE EARTH
WRITTEN BY JOHN URI LLOYD
PRINTED
​1898

It has been ordained that a select few must from time to time pass over the threshold that divides a mortal's present life from the future. Written well over a century ago, John Uri Lloyd was a visionary who spoke of far distant worlds, dead civilizations, other dimensions and in particular, a world few of us will ever get to visit. A world hidden beneath our feet inside the earth. Inspired by the fantastic -- in particular the art of alchemy -- the author reveals in this long lost manuscript how he joined a secret society and was introduced into the sphere of mysticism. A part of this spiritual journey included the opportunity to establish contact with a super-human, eyeless being, inside a cave in Kentucky. Together they journey to another realm filled with magic and wonderment. Some have placed it in the category of Alice in Wonderland; where does the mind magic start and end? You decide.

EXTRATERRSTRIAL ENCOUNTERS

WRITTEN BY RANDALL FITZGERALD
PRINTED
​​1979

The existence of UFO's and the possibility of alien visitations to earth are explored by Carl Sagan, Erich von Daniken, Billy Graham, Carl Jung, John C. Lilly, John G. Fuller, and others

LOST BOOK OF ENKI - MEMOIRS & PROPHECIES OF AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL GOD

WRITTEN BY ZECHARIA SITCHIN
PRINTED
​2002

Will the past become our future? Is humankind destined to repeat the events that occurred on another planet, far away from Earth? Zecharia Sitchin’s bestselling series,The Earth Chronicles, provided humanity’s side of the story--as recorded on ancient clay tablets and other Sumerian artifacts--concerning our origins at the hands of the Anunnaki, “those who from heaven to earth came.” In The Lost Book of Enki, we can view this saga from a different perspective through this richly conceived autobiographical account of Lord Enki, an Anunnaki god, who tells the story of these extraterrestrials’ arrival on Earth from the 12th planet, Nibiru. The object of their colonization: gold to replenish the dying atmosphere of their home planet. Finding this precious metal results in the Anunnaki creation of homo sapiens--the human race--to mine this important resource.

In his previous works, Sitchin compiled the complete story of the Anunnaki’s impact on human civilization in peacetime and in war from the fragments scattered throughout Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite, Egyptian, Canaanite, and Hebrew sources--the “myths” of all ancient peoples in the old world as well as the new. Missing from these accounts, however, was the perspective of the Anunnaki themselves. What was life like on their own planet? What motives propelled them to settle on Earth--and what drove them from their new home? Convinced of the existence of a now lost book that formed the basis of ancient Sumerian texts holding the answers to these questions, the author began his search for evidence. Through exhaustive research of primary sources, he has here re-created tales as the memoirs of Enki, the leader of these first “astronauts.” What takes shape is the story of a world of mounting tensions, deep rivalries, and sophisticated scientific knowledge that is only today being confirmed. An epic tale of gods and men unfolds, challenging every assumption we hold about our creation, our past, and our future.

An eminent Orientalist and Biblical scholar, ZECHARIA SITCHIN (1920-2010) was distinguished by his ability to translate ancient Sumerian and other ancient texts. He was a graduate of the University of London and worked as a journalist and editor in Israel for many years before making his home in New York City.​​​

MELCHIZEDEK TRUTH PRINCIPLES
CHANNELED BY FRATER ACHAD​​​​​​
​​​​PRINTED
​1963

​​In our search beyond the self consciousness of man, into that cosmic realm of regenerated thinking, to really see with the eyes of God, we were blessed by the light of illumination which came to us through these visits from the Ancient Mystical White Brotherhood. They give the reader a new concept of the Universal brotherhood of man and a much clearer understanding of how to apply with greater ease these mental and spiritual laws for positive good... to know the truths that set one free from the common confusion of today's world.

UFO'S OVER AFRICA
WRITTEN BY CYNTHIA HIND
PRINTED
​1997

Africa's foremost ufologist sums up in detail a lifetime of work spent in careful investIgation of a host of most unusual cases. Cynthia Hind leads us through the strange appearance of silvery-suited aliens and unique light phenomena at the La Rochelle estate, through the abduction chronology of two Johannesburg women and, for the first time, tells the complete story of the Ariel school UFO landing with firsthand accounts by over a dozen young students. Many cases highlighted feature Cynthia Hind's special extended-intervew technique.

UFO'S OVER ARIZONA
WRITTEN BY PRESTON DENNETT
PUBLISHED
​2016

Arizona has been a UFO hotspot for more than 100 years. This first-time comprehensive history of extraterrestrial encounters in the Grand Canyon State includes 81 locations that provide a dazzling array of sightings, landings, face-to-face encounters, abductions, and even UFO crash/retrievals. Read about some of the world’s most influential alien events that have taken place in Arizona, including the Paradise Valley UFO crash, the Travis Walton Abduction, the Phoenix Lights, and many others. Explore both well-known and never-before-published cases. Examine the research of pioneering investigators James McDonald, one of the first scientists to explore UFOs, and Coral and Jim Lorenzen, who formed the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), the first successful UFO citizens group. Connect with the ongoing story of Sedona, one of Arizona’s major UFO areas. Join in on an exploration into the magic and mystery of Arizona’s UFOs.

UFO’S OVER CALIFORNIA – A TRUE HISTORY OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENCOUNTERS IN THE GOLDEN STATE
WRITTEN BY PRESTON DENNETT
PRINTED
​2005

Step aside Roswell: California leads the nation in UFO sightings and encounters, with over 5000 reported incidents from the late nineteenth through the early twenty-first centuries. Documented here are diverse early accounts, including native American UFO encounters, the 1896 California Airship Mystery, and the 1942 Battle of Los Angeles. Hundreds of verified sightings include luminaries, such as Sammy Davis Jr., Cliff Robertson, Jill Ireland, and Ronald Regan. Sightings and landings at California Air Force bases include Edwards, George, Norton, and Hamilton, as well as some over Los Angeles International Airport. Cases are described of healing and surgical implants along with UFO landings, on dry land and off the coast. Color photographs of UFOs in flight and illustrations by award-winning artist Kesara will leave every reader searching the skies, seeking the truth!

UFO'S OVER NEVADA - A TRUE HISTORY OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENCOUNTERS IN THE SILVER STATE
WRITTEN BY PRESTON DENNETT
PRINTED
​2015

Nevada has been a UFO hotspot for more than 100 years. In this first book to ever present a comprehensive history of extraterrestrial encounters in the Silver State, you will find a dazzling array of sightings, landings, face-to-face encounters, abductions, and even UFO crash/retrievals arranged by decades. With eighty-four percent of the state owned by the Federal Government (more than any other state) Nevada's military bases have been deluged by sightings. UFOs hovering in the heart of Las Vegas, dramatic UFO-car chases in the remote Nevada deserts, cases of aliens walking among us--they're all here, and more. Read about Truman Betherum, who had a series of encounters with friendly humanoids, and country singer Johnny Sands, who had a face-to-face visitation with strange ETs in the desert outside Las Vegas. Find out about the 1962 UFO crash over Las Vegas and what really is going on inside the super-secret Area 51. The truth is so strange, it will be difficult to accept.

UFO'S OVER NEW MEXICO - A TRUE HISTORY OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENCOUNTERS IN THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT
WRITTEN BY PRESTON DENNETT
PRINTED
​2012

With more than 130 years of UFO activity, New Mexico has produced some of the world's most famous and influential UFO encounters. In this first book to present the complete history of extraterrestrial encounters in the Land of Enchantment, read about the Farmington UFO wave, the landing at Socorro, new developments concerning the Roswell crash, and the government's struggle to deal with an unknown presence hovering over sensitive atomic installations and military bases. Sightings, landings, UFO car chases, face-to-face encounters, abductions, and UFO crashes (of which New Mexico has had more than any other state) are featured along with encounters documented by the military (including Project Bluebook). Other uniquely New Mexican mysteries such as cattle mutilations and the phenomenon known as "the Taos Hum" are explored in depth. Eyewitness testimony and startling photographs will leave you wondering about the skies over New Mexico and the strange things that frequent them.

UFO'S OVER NEW YORK - A TRUE HISTORY OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENCOUNTERS IN THE EMPIRE CITY
WRITTEN BY PRESTON DENNETT
PRINTED
​2008

New York State is one of the most famous and influential places on the planet, so it should come as no surprise that it has a rich UFO history. The state's first UFO sighting came more than 150 years ago, but it doesn't end there! From important government military intelligence and commercial airline reports to downtown NYC sightings of flying saucers on Broadway and at the Empire State Building, UFOs have been witnessed in the New York State skyscape by some of the most credible people in history. Police officers, movie stars, business men and women, and others have all been privy to strange UFO encounters. Whether it's Jimi Hendrix saved by aliens in upstate New York or geologists investigating crop circles on the north shore of Oneida Lake, people are stepping up to tell their stories. It's been said that famous blackouts, abductions, and special visitations have all occurred while normal New Yorkers have lead their daily lives. So search the skies with us in this comprehensive history of UFOs Over New York.


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