Gabriela Cowperthwaite's THE GRAB

CHAMELEO readers might want to check out the official trailer for Gabriela Cowperthwaite's documentary THE GRAB, which follows the travails of an investigative journalist who uncovers "the money, influence and alarming rationale behind covert efforts to control the most vital resource on the planet." Pay special attention to the 1:43 mark in the trailer...

THE GRAB | Official HD Trailer (2024) | DOCUMENTARY | Film Threat Trailers

"How I went from food and water to invisibility cloaks—there's no bigger story that will impact more people than this story."

--award-winning investigative journalist Nate Halverson, the subject of THE GRAB

Recommended Reading: "The Green Wall Plot" by Nick Mamatas

Nick Mamatas, who generously provided a fantastic blurb for my latest book, CRYPTOPOLIS & OTHER STORIES, published a brand new short story earlier today on INTERZONE DIGITAL. The story is a dystopian satire entitled "The Green Wall Plot" that evokes memories of Bernard Wolfe's LIMBO (1952). Here's a brief excerpt: 

The residents of the United State are the most remarkable of all human beings – they are members of the first literate society to actually forsake ‘freedom’. The quote marks are vital here; almost every civilization forsakes freedom sooner or later, and to a greater or lesser extent, but it happens by way of contradiction. Every other society we monitor eliminates freedom by claiming that oppression is freedom. They change the definition of freedom to mean various and multifarious unfreedoms. The Ciphers of the United State rejected the very word ‘freedom’ and instead exult in unfreedom, and even seek to spread their peculiar stance elsewhere, elsewhere beyond the nation-laboratory in which we have them housed.

To read Mamatas' entire short story, click HERE.

HAPPY MOON DAY!

Everyone knows the legendary story of the brave American astronauts who walked on the moon fifty-five years ago today... but how many people know that Charles Manson and his infamous Family also landed on the moon that same day? To read the entire story about what happened when Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong encountered the Manson Family in the Sea of Tranquility, check out WIDOW OF THE AMPUTATION, the title novella of my Wonderland Award-nominated collection, WIDOW OF THE AMPUTATION & OTHER WEIRD CRIMES (released by Eraserhead Press in 2021). You can buy it on Amazon right HERE!

Robert Guffey & Erica Lukes Perform an Autopsy on the Republican National Convention!

Yesterday I appeared on Erica Lukes' EXPANDING FRONTIERS podcast to discuss all four days of the 2024 Republican National Convention, which I somehow managed to watch without my brain completely melting into the floor. Due to a technical glitch, the first twenty minutes or so of the interview weren't recorded, but the conversation picks up right after I begin talking about the palpable cognitive dissonance on full display throughout the GOP convention. For about two and a half hours, Erica and I perform a deep dive on Trump's ongoing OPERATION MINDFUCK...

Erica Lukes | Expanding Frontiers: Robert Guffey

Keith Haring: Radiant Vision

If you happen to find yourself anywhere near Long Beach, CA within the next couple of months, I recommend checking out the Keith Haring exhibit at the Long Beach Museum of Art. Entitled "Radiant Vision," the exhibit includes not just paintings but also pen-and-ink drawings, political posters, commercial advertisements, sculptures, silkscreens, photographs, and even dinner napkins. It was impressive to see such familiar and iconic images up close and personal for the first time. "Radiant Vision," described by journalist Brian Addison as "the most intimate exhibition of the artist’s work to have been shown this century," is the first Keith Haring solo show to be hosted in Long Beach. It runs through August 25. If you want to know more about the exhibit, visit the museum's website by clicking HERE.

...AND OPERATION MINDFUCK FOR ALL!!!

Well, the Republican Party is two weeks away from officially choosing a convicted felon to be their presidential nominee, the Supreme Court just decided that presidents enjoy the privilege of absolute immunity from prosecution for "core official acts," and the latest Harvard CAPS/Harris poll shows Trump leading Biden by six percentage points. If you're at all puzzled as to how the hell we got to this point, I suggest listening to the in-depth interview Marc Maron conducted with me on his WTF PODCAST exactly one year ago today. The main topic of our freewheeling conversation is my 2022 nonfiction book, OPERATION MINDFUCK: QANON & THE CULT OF DONALD TRUMP, which maps out the anatomy of this eight-year-long campaign of asymmetric warfare directed against the American people by Trump and the sadistic cabal of right-wing nutjobs who support him. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND, FOLKS!!!

If you want to check out the entire interview, click HERE!

 

"It's great."

--Marc Maron, WTF Podcast

"Voltaire suggested that those who can make us believe absurdities can make us commit atrocities, and QAnon provided the practical demonstration. Robert Guffey’s razor-sharp postings illuminate how a collage of Shaver mysteries, Discordian prankster politics and recreational conspiracy theory played out as dissociative American fugue. Jaw-dropping and essential."

—Alan Moore, author of V for Vendetta and Watchmen

"One of the most difficult aspects of confronting QAnon conspiracism is finding the time and resolve to delve into its ever-expanding network of self-reinforcing connections and concepts. Robert Guffey does that work for you in OPERATION MINDFUCK, a codex to madness and a critical examination of how a massive fraction of our culture has imbibed a counter-reality. Guffey also explores underground sources lost on many mainstream historians, bringing us into an (occasionally ingenious) netherworld of outsider thought forms. Guffey is the Ernest Shackleton of paranoia—and one hopes his journey will result in a happier ending."

—Mitch Horowitz, PEN Award-winning author of Occult America and Uncertain Places

"It's practically a guide to your character to discover whether you find this expose of possibly the stupidest political movement in human history funny, alarming, or infuriating.... Highly recommended."

—Richard Smoley, author of Supernatural: Writings on an Unknown History and How God Became God

"OPERATION MINDFUCK: QANON & THE CULT OF DONALD TRUMP by Robert Guffey tackles the conspiracy theories Q draws from, the history of the Q phenomenon, and the eventual attempts by mobs at least partially influenced by Q, and certainly influenced by Donald Trump, to overturn the 2020 Presidential election. The book is well-researched, with a full Bibliography of notes that reference and identify each quote from each source that Guffey cites. Guffey, additionally, has a long background studying conspiracy theories and their origins [...]. Guffey is not a lightweight."

—Steve Henn, author of And God Said Let There Be Evolution

"Whether QAnon is a religion, a cult, a joke, a political movement, or just an online game gone awry, Robert Guffey's OPERATION MINDFUCK: QANON & THE CULT OF DONALD TRUMP is his attempt to figure it all out. Guffey's pedigree in this area is unmatched [...]. Throughout OPERATION MINDFUCK, Guffey follows Theodore Sturgeon's advice he quoted in his book CHAMELEO: 'Always ask the next question.'"

—Roy Christopher, author of Dead Precedents: How Hip-Hop Defines the Future

 

 "[Guffey's] expertise shines through in every chapter of this book. Operation Mindfuck: QAnon and the Cult of Donald Trump is not only a well written and well researched look into the abyss of bullshit known as QAnon, but it is also very funny and quite sad at the same time—an interesting, entertaining, and sometimes frightening read."

 

--Razorcake 

"If you are still dazed from this [QAnon] business, then Robert Guffey has written a book just for you. In readable yet well researched fashion, he lays it all out: where it began, who, why, how. He can’t make it go away for you—or me, for that matter—but he can make the whole bizarre business a bit less confusing... [T]his book is what you need. Get your fire lit, your cup of coffee (or something far stronger), curl up (in fetal position, if necessary), and prepare to learn."

 

--Seattle Book Mama

ROLLING STONE ON STEVE DITKO

From Jay Deitcher's 7-2-24 ROLLING STONE article entitled "The Secret Life of Steve Ditko: Spider-Man Co-Creator’s Family Opens Up":

Journalists called him the J.D. Salinger of comics and portrayed him as an Ayn Rand-obsessed recluse. Neil Gaiman referred to him as “impossibly uptight.” Peers refused to work with him. Fans harassed him, slamming their fists on his office door, trying to catch a glimpse. Pulling from the little he offered them, people dehumanized him, to the point it seemed unfathomable to think he had a life with friends and family. Critics jeered at his moral absolutism. [Stan] Lee talked about him as if he were a stubborn quack who sabotaged his own career, and fans acted as if he were a traitor for leaving Spider-Man.  

With a recent settlement over the rights of Ditko’s Marvel characters behind them, the extended Ditko family wants people to recognize that their uncle was a normal guy. But what is deemed normal is constantly fluctuating — and in this case, is defined in relation to the way Lee spoke of him to the press.

Today, Ditko would probably be looked at with more empathy, as a vulnerable character similar to Spider-Man. In exclusive interviews with Rolling Stone, family members and friends describe a driven artist who never fit into social norms, yet cultivated thriving relationships. Similar to how Peter Parker never lets loved ones get too close for fear it would put them in danger, Ditko compartmentalized his life, keeping work and family distinct to retain some power in a world that overwhelmed him. And the same way Spider-Man’s neuroticism makes him amazing, the traits that people marginalized Ditko for are what transformed comics forever.

To read the entire article, click HERE. On a related note, Alex Grand's recent interview with Pat and Patrick Ditko is well worth watching...

Steve Ditko Biographical Interview with Pat & Patrick Ditko by Alex Grand: