Kenn Thomas on CONSPIRINORMAL

The Autumnal Equinox of 2026 marks the third anniversary of Kenn Thomas' death. Besides being the editor of STEAMSHOVEL PRESS, Thomas was also the author of several fine parapolitical books including THE OCTOPUS: SECRET GOVERNMENT AND THE DEATH OF DANNY CASOLARO (written in collaboration with Jim Keith) (1996), MAURY ISLAND UFO: THE CRISMAN CONSPIRACY (1999), and TRUMPOCALYPSE NOW! (2017). To mark this anniversary, I suggest listening to the September 7, 2017 episode of Adam Sayne's CONSPIRINORMAL podcast in which Thomas is interviewed at length about his final book, TRUMPOCALYPSE NOW! To listen to the entire conversation, click HERE.

 

EQUINOX!!!

 Equinox - This Unholy Bible:

Even Long Extinct Grandparents Love THE EXPECTANT MOTHER DISINFORMATION HANDBOOK!

Here's a photograph of Yours Truly and my dear grandfather taken shortly after the old codger finished reading my Wonderland Award-winning book, THE EXPECTANT MOTHER DISINFORMATION HANDBOOK! As you can see from the joyous expression on his roadmap of a face, even one's long dead grand pappy can be delighted by the unexpected explosions of pure wonder contained within THE EXPECTANT MOTHER DISINFORMATION HANDBOOK! To avail yourself of the same volatile energy seen here being absorbed by Grandpa's living corpse as his ancient brain soaks up the healing wisdom contained within THE HANDBOOK, you need simply buy a copy from the publisher (Madness Heart Press) and/or the evil multinational corporation that peddles such contraband online. Do you know anyone who needs to be restored to life instantly? If so, here's an opportunity of a lifetime... indeed, of several lifetimes! To purchase one or more copies of THE EXPECTANT MOTHER DISINFORMATION HANDBOOK (guaranteed to resurrect lost loved ones under certain astronomical conditions [details available upon request]), then simply click HERE... or HERE!!!

 

PRAISE FOR THE EXPECTANT MOTHER DISINFORMATION HANDBOOK:

"Robert Guffey’s The Expectant Mother Disinformation Handbook is weirder than parthenogenesis, weirder than the Republican Party, weirder than the fetishizing of pregnancy that suffuses our culture, weirder than all the back issues of Weird Tales combined. You will laugh, gasp, and scratch your head in pleasurable bemusement. I can’t recommend this tongue-in-cheek tour de force too highly."

—James Morrow, award-winning author of Only Begotten Daughter and Behold the Ape


"Here it is. THE perfect baby-shower/gender reveal party gift. Forget all the binkies, blankies, cute little onesies, and diaper-service subscriptions. Those are so overdone and boring. Want to make a REAL impact? This book. This book right here [...].

"Well-written, lively, engaging, easy to read, and tons of fun. If I were a truly evil imp with plenty of money, I’d sneak copies into every OB/GYN office and ‘Parenting and Family’ bookstore section in the country."

—Christine Morgan, award-winning author of Spermjackers from Hell and Lakehouse Infernal 

 

"We've got plenty of people who think that they know best--better even than a given pregnant woman. We don't need more of them, but we could damn well use more examples of them turned into buffoons just like we get to see in the Handbook [...]. [The Expectant Mother Disinformation Handbook] is often weird, often funny, frightfully well written, and it gives us that unique satisfaction that only fiction can provide by putting the bastards into a magic circle of their own disinformation and locking them away. Isn't it sweet to think that they'd stay there."

 —Géza A. G. Reilly, Dead Reckonings 

 

You can hear me talking about the secret origins of THE EXPECTANT MOTHER DISINFORMATION HANDBOOK on multiple podcasts and radio shows including Steven Snider's THE FARM, Matthew M. K. Hopewell's THE AP STRANGE SHOW, and Seriah Azkath's WHERE DID THE ROAD GO? 

ICE Deaths Reach Their Highest Level in Decades

From Sofia Leyba's 8-28-26 COUNTERPUNCH Op-Ed piece entitled “We’re Getting Awfully Used to ICE’s Abuses”:

Jose Chajon-Raxon, an immigrant from Guatemala, died this August at Delaney Hall, a controversial ICE facility in New Jersey. His death marks more than 50 deaths in ICE custody since President Trump took office last year.

Despite all the controversies, ICE keeps killing people — a sentence that should never feel normal. We should never find ourselves counting the days between deaths or waiting for the next headline. But somehow, we have.

Earlier this year it was Renee Good, then Alex Pretti. This summer it was Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero. Before them were Silviero Villegas Gonzalez and Ruben Ray Martinez. Those are only the names we know— many others will never make national news [...].

In June 2026, ICE arrested more than 43,000 people, about 1,400 every day. By July, nearly 68,000 people were being held in immigration detention. The overwhelming majority of those arrested had no criminal convictions.

This includes over 6,000 children. Children who are spending their birthdays behind bars. Children who should be back in school, safe and protected. Many have been detained for 100 days or more — five times longer than the 20-day limit for detaining immigrant children.

They’re being held in facilities like Delaney and others, where human rights groups have warned repeatedly that dangerous conditions are leading to preventable deaths. ICE deaths reached their highest level in decades last year, and this year is on track to be no better [...].

No matter where you were born, what political party you belong to, or whether you support stricter immigration enforcement, no government should have the power to kill or imprison people with so little accountability. 

To read Leyba's entire article, click HERE. 

Surveillance and Harassment in Minneapolis

From Matt Sledge's 8-15-26 THE INTERCEPT article entitled "Secret ICE Agent Tried to 'Entice' Minneapolis Activists into Confrontational Tactics":

Organizers in Minneapolis long suspected they were being surveilled by the federal government during the height of the winter protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It was not until a court filing on Thursday, however, that the youth-led Sunrise Movement and other groups learned the depths of infiltration.

The Sunrise Movement has long preached nonviolence even as it pursues aggressive tactics, such as making a racket outside of the hotels where ICE agents sleep.

But the group’s public commitment to peaceful protest did not spare it from a months-long, aggressive campaign of government snooping that included ICE agents attending its meetings and protests undercover, subpoenas of its financial records, and at least one apparent attempt to entice an organizer into backing more confrontational tactics [...].

Shortly after federal agents killed Alex Pretti on January 24, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations opened two investigations it called “Operation Puppet Master” and “Project Whipple Shield,” the latter a reference to the federal building that was the site of many ICE protests.

Supposedly, those probes would focus on a network supporting “violent opportunists and agitators.” In reality, the investigative reports that the federal government has turned over to defense attorneys show that undercover ICE agents secretly recorded at churches, libraries, and schools even when organizers stressed the importance of nonviolence.

In the case of Sunrise, undercover agents were already targeting the group before the killings of Pretti and Renee Good [...].

One week after Pretti’s slaying, two undercover agents attended a Sunrise Movement Twin Cities training on “resistance skills” hosted at a public library.

The meeting included primers on deescalation at protests, and the ICE agent noted that it was “made clear that the Sunrise Movement organization focused on ‘peaceful’ protests.”

That did not stop the undercover agent from making a private approach to one of the organizers, according to a report the agent produced. The agent told the organizer that he worked in construction and “could build items that might assist other groups with more ‘direct-action’ protests.” When the undercover agent declared that “going to jail did not bother him,” the organizer “acknowledged” the agent’s comments and took down his phone number, according to the report.

Kevin Riach, the attorney representing one of the defendants in the indictment targeting Minneapolis activists, said in a court filing this week that that report was one of several showing that ICE’s undercover agents “actively participated in organizing and directing the groups they were surveilling, at times working to entice people into discussing or committing crimes.”

To read Sledge's entire article, click HERE. 

In regard to the connection between organized surveillance and ICE, I suggest taking a look at this 1-4-25 CryptoPost entitled "Anti-surveillance Graffiti."

Announcing... CryptoScat Press!

I'm proud to announce the launch of my own publishing imprint, CryptoScat Press! The first volume released under the esteemed CryptoScat Press banner is a brand new edition of my Rondo Award-nominated novel, DEAD MONKEY RUM, which has been praised by the likes of writer/magician Alan Moore, filmmaker Irek Dobrowolski, painter Robert Williams, graphic novelist Jim Woodring, film scholar Gary D. Rhodes, and cryptozoologist Loren Coleman! The ripple effects of this novel's initial publication back in 2023 have been pleasantly unexpected. For example, I was proud to discover recently that DEAD MONKEY RUM has been taught in English classes at the university level. Equally encouraging were the positive reviews for the novel featured in such diverse publications as FORTEAN TIMES and EXOTICA MODERNE, both of which I read on a regular basis. Cryptoscatology correspondents sometimes sent me photos of the book found in the wild (see below)... 

 

Alan Moore's enthusiastic response to this modest epic was heartening, to say the least. And DEAD MONKEY RUM'S nomination for a Rondo Award in the category of "Best Classic Monster Fiction" alongside the likes of such luminaries as Tim Lucas and Craig Russell represented the Rondo-Hatton-sized cherry on top of the rum cake. Alas, regardless of this attention, the novel has been unavailable for the past year or so due to mysterious circumstances beyond my control. 

 

Despite the sinister and conspiratorial efforts of the half-human Yetinsyny to keep this novel out of your hands, the terrible truth about the Sons of the Yeti refuses to be suppressed! To prevent the imminent destruction of the human race, you must buy a copy of this new edition of DEAD MONKEY RUM... today!!!

A mixture of urban fantasy and Los Angeles noir, DEAD MONKEY RUM revolves around a stolen Tiki idol that contains the ashes of visionary artist Stanislaw Szukalski. Our heroes, an alcoholic monkey named Robert Mclintlock and a beautiful bartender named Stephanie Waterfall, must locate the missing statue in the wilds of Los Angeles before a tribe of pissed-off Yetis can get their massive, dirty paws on it. Because the obsidian idol possesses magical properties, the cryptozoological beasts intend to use it to kickstart the destruction of the entire human race.

DEAD MONKEY RUM is an alcohol-fueled voyage through the heart of Los Angeles. This tumultuous odyssey amidst the Tiki bars, illicit casinos, exclusive hotels, trains, buses, and hidden tunnels and grottoes that lay beneath the City of Angels propels our hero, Robert McLintock (who just so happens to be a wiseacre simian conman from a small island called Koshima located off the coast of Japan), from his comfort zone in Orange County, into the violent byways of Hollywood, and far beyond Southern California to the Rano Rarako volcanic crater on the remotest island in the world, Rana Nui, also known as Easter Island, where our heroes ultimately engage in a final, fierce, knockout battle with an army of homicidal Abominable Snowmen for the control of Planet Earth.

Here's your first glimpse at the proof copy of DEAD MONKEY RUM, which arrived here at the highly fortified Cryptoscatology Compound only a couple of days ago. Please take a good long look at this fabulous Tiki-centric cover created by artist extraordinaire, Joseph Dunn:

 

PRAISE FOR DEAD MONKEY RUM:

"A remarkable rush of entertainment and thrills."

--Alan Moore (V for Vendetta and Watchmen) 

 

"Robert Guffey's fantastic novel, DEAD MONKEY RUM, will at least bring your brain out of a coma, if not get your imagination off the couch. This is a thinly masked tribute/adventure to the late Stanislaw Szukalski and his boundless imagination. This book is a mental gymnasium."

-- Robert Williams (Visual Addiction, Hysteria in Remission, and Through Prehensile Eyes)

 

"A fantastically rich and entertaining piece of work with an original sharp edge."

 -- Jim Woodring (writer/artist of Weathercraft, The Frank Book, and One Beautiful Spring Day)

 

"Stanislaw Szukalski would love DEAD MONKEY RUM. This novel is addictive like a heavy drug. Make space in your calendar to read it all."

-- Irek Dobrowolski (director of the Netflix documentary, Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski)

 

 "Yetis, Tiki Gods, Cryptozoology, and rum-filled adventure! Sign me up and tell me when the ship sails! I'm recommending this Robert Guffey novel to all my friends, family, and foes to take their minds completely off whatever they are thinking about. Wonderful."

-- Loren Coleman (Mysterious America, The Field Guide to Lake Monsters and Sea Serpents, The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Curious Encounters, and 40 other books - Director of the International Cryptozoology Museum)

"The wild ride of wild rides... this may be Guffey's best novel, which is saying a lot. The humor is as strange as it is dark as it is priceless."

-- Gary D. Rhodes (The Perils of Moviegoing in America, Tod Browning's Dracula, and Weirdumentary)

 
"DEAD MONKEY RUM succeeds at being a pursuit thriller, with suspense and tension as the monkey and Stephanie evade their cryptid enemies, and comedy as the two exchange jabs at each other. It is cinematically fast. DEAD MONKEY RUM should be adapted to a [...] Ralph Bakshiesque animated film where both the zaniness of the narrative and the latent satire would really flourish."

-- Exotica Moderne

 

"One of the weirdest romps you'll ever read."

-- Fortean Times

 

Coincidentally, it turns out that this is an auspicious time for the relaunch of this particular novel, as DEAD MONKEY RUM has been spotlighted in the latest issue of MEN'S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY (Issue No. 14) published by Robert "Bob" Deis. Entitled "Popsquatch!: A Crash-course on Where the Pop Cultural Bigfoot Has Gone in the 21st Century," Stephen R. Bissette's incisive feature article explores the most important cryptozoological fiction released in our current century (yes, including the Zermatism-inspired DEAD MONKEY RUM). I highly recommend this issue, which is overflowing with fascinating, Bigfoot-themed articles by such writers as Loren Coleman, Keith Roysdon, MAQ Co-Editor Bill Cunningham, the aforementioned Steve Bissette, and the late Ivan T. Sanderson!

Rest assured, future volumes in the CryptoScat Press series will be announced very soon! 

Jon Rappoport on "Christian End Times Groups Rooting for Armageddon"

In my previous CryptoPost, I included a link to Harlan Ellison's May 1987 radio interview with investigative journalist Jon Rappoport, who recently passed away at the age of 88. Ellison's interview focused on Rappoport's April 1987 LA WEEKLY article about the efforts of extreme right-wing evangelicals to program Armageddon in the Middle East. Though I heard this interview when it first aired, I had never seen Rappoport's original article until yesterday when Tom Kudla (Rappoport's Editorial Steward) published the entire text on Rappoport's Substack page. Entitled "The Christian End Times Groups in the US Who Were Rooting for Armageddon" (Part 2), the post includes Rappoport's article as well as multiple images from the LA WEEKLY. Though the specific names of the politicians have changed, far too many aspects of Rappoport's piece (entitled "TV Evangelism’s Bottom Line") are disturbingly relevant in 2026. 

Here's a brief excerpt from Rappoport's article:

"Because these people believe in the literality of the Old Testament—that the Jews are, in fact, God’s chosen people—support of Israel is of unquestionable importance. A familiar saying goes, 'To support God’s chosen is to gain God’s favor; turn away from the Chosen and God will turn away from you.' But more important, the timetable of Bible prophecy places the formation of the Jewish state of Israel as the major event, signifying the world’s readiness for Armageddon. When the scattered tribes of Hebrews are brought back together, then the scene will be set for the greatest confrontation of all time—God vs. Satan, nuclear style. And the longed-for prophecy of Armageddon (read, the return of Jesus) will have been realized.

"'You have to understand that the mindset of religious fundamentalists in this country is that peace is impossible to attain,' says Will Whittle, author of the book How To Stop Believing in War [...]. The heightening of tensions in the Middle East is an intentional strategy of the American religious right. Several fundamentalist leaders close to the White House are currently raising funds to destroy Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock (the world’s most sacred Moslem shrine) and replace it with the Third Jewish Temple—an act sure to incite a holy war. When asked if he would feel remorse if such a war broke out, James De Loach (pastor of Houston’s Second Baptist Church, who recently raised $50,000 to defend a group of Israelis who tried to blow up the Dome) replied, 'No, [it would be] God’s will.'

"Indeed, America’s religious right sees religion as a military campaign waged by the greatest general of all time, Jesus Christ. It’s no wonder that the military mind is fascinated by the evangelical position, no wonder that the Pentagon and the intelligence services are replete with born-agains."

If you want to check out Rappoport's 1987 article, then click HERE.