Review by: KEN KORCZAK

So here we go again – another person emerges from the ordinary walks of life to tell of personal encounters with the UFO phenomenon. His story is extremely weird and easily qualifies for the designation of HIGH STRANGENESS.

Canadian STEVE BOUCHER today is a 60-something who has spent most of his life keeping a lot of incredible secrets. Since he was a toddler, Boucher has been interacting with what we commonly call “aliens.” In his case, they are the classic “greys,” or at least a type of grey ET. Seasoned folks within the UFO community now deem it a standard feature that greys come in distinct varieties.

Much of Steve Boucher’s accounts encompass the broad elements that have become routine aspects of the UFO abduction scenario. But what makes his tale different are the unique and iconoclastic elements he brings to the events. A significant departure of note is a sensational story in which the aliens conduct a mass abduction on a college campus that – super weirdly – Boucher appears to have been only tangentially involved. It was like he came upon the event by accident – and yet, perhaps no event in this guy’s life can be said to be coincidental or accidental.

In recent years, I have been reading and reviewing stories of personal encounters with the UFO phenomenon that involve people like Steve Boucher. That is — otherwise normal individuals who have lived their days in the mainstream. They have maintained successful careers, or moderately so, and who have, you know, just soldiered on with the same life pursuits as anyone else. The difference is that they have done so while enduring a hidden, outlandishly bizarre shadow life on the side.

It’s worth pausing here to mention just a few other books I have reviewed on this site because they possess this same general quality of “normal-person-leads-secret-life-of-alien-contact” scenario:

Nancy Tremaine: Michigan woman abducted at age 12 by reptilian beings, interacted with them throughout her life, kept her secret for 50 years and finally told her story in two books: SYMBIOSIS and PREORDAINED.

Roger Kvande:  Minnesota man with a lifetime of abduction/interaction with alien beings. He developed a cooperative interactive relationship; they taught him to pilot a flying saucer! He experienced voluminous ancillary phenomenon, including OBEs, reincarnational experiences, time travel and much more. His book: EXTRATERRESTRIAL ODYSSEY.

Terry Lovelace: Yet another altogether normal guy, enjoyed a successful career as an attorney. He began being abducted while a small boy and faced a lifetime of similar encounters, including a massive confrontation with aliens who abducted him and a friend with a gargantuan triangular craft. His book, like the others, only released after retirement: INCIDENT AT DEVIL’S DEN.

Dave Shoup: A Ph.D. professor of agricultural engineering with a successful academic/research record who completed a distinguished career at the top of his field while also keeping an astonishing secret of persistent alien interaction throughout his life. Like Kvande and Lovelace, he waited until retirement to come clean with his book, UFOS: FIRST PERSON.

Leo Dworshack: He grew up on a humble North Dakota farm during the Great Depression and made contact with a flying saucer crew of human-like aliens at age 8, maintained contact with them for the rest of his life. An amazing story about a hard-working “every-man” kind of guy with a remarkable secret he revealed only near the end of his long life. His book: UFOS ARE WITH US: TAKE MY WORD

I differentiate these people from other abductees whose cases made them famous, such as Whitely Strieber, Travis Walton, Calvin Parker, Charlie Hickson, Barney and Betty Hill, Jim and Jack Weiner and others. They had encounters that made them household words (at least among the UFO community) but some also garnered A-list media attention platforms, including Hollywood movies and/or TV documentaries, endless radio interviews with big-name venues like Coast to Coast AM hosted by Art Bell and so on.

Steve Boucher and the others I mention managed to stay well under the radar until the time came when they opted to seize control of their own destinies. They consciously decided to tell their stories to the world. By the way, if you think they are making significant money selling their books – think again. Take it from a guy like me who has been around the publishing business for decades – there’s precious little money to be made with these kinds of books.

Rather, Boucher and the others are putting their stories out there simply because they think it’s time. They come to the conviction that they have an obligation to let the world know what is happening to ordinary people in Anytown USA or Canada or Mexico or Brazil or Europe, etc. They understand it’s likely that a lot of other people are enduring secret lives of confusion, terror, alienation (no pun intended), but also sometimes wonder, redemption, joy and spiritual transformation.

All the above is the case with Steve Boucher. His experience with “The Others” led him down a path that caused him to re-evaluate everything he had been taught to believe by parents, teachers and society as he grew up in Canada. That included reluctantly but necessarily abandoning his former grounded acceptance of the Christian faith as a legitimate pathway to spiritual growth.

Let me say as a matter of a book reviewer’s housekeeping that this book is well-written and cleanly edited, a rarity in micro-small market UFO books. Boucher is a naturally gifted artist and an accomplished musician. His day job as a designer and draftsman reflects his native gift of expression. He has a facility to communicate complex topics to others clearly and in a way that not only helps us understand but even entertains a bit along the way.

Even so, I surmise that Boucher’s skills were put to the test in telling this complex story of the enormous fallout and consequential developments that can result when two “alien cultures” clash, mix, interact and then endeavor to find a common purpose.

Notice that I say, “two alien cultures.” As Boucher implies, we must consider that from the perspective of the ETs, we are the aliens. Our “otherness” is just as weird and confounding to them as they are to us. In fact, the aliens also fear us in many ways. They see us as a fundamentally violent and aggressive species with a persistent modus operandi to kill each other in endless wars and conflicts. Our knee-jerk reaction to any perceived threat — or even something we don’t understand — is often violence.

Finally, in addition to telling his basic story of his encounters, Boucher offers a grand vision that spells out what the implications are for all humanity and the fate of the planet based. It’s a lot to ponder, but never tedious or boring. Yes, I found some of it subject to debate – such as his proposal of an apocalyptic/global transformational scenario – a common outcome of the abduction experience reported by many. As I have frequently said elsewhere, I think end-of-times scenarios are a typical trap for experiencers and are demonstrably false – but I could be wrong and all these experiencers could be right.

It really doesn’t matter what I think, however, because each reader will benefit greatly from confronting the amazing story of Steve Boucher. Contemplating the subsequent viewpoint he developed is mind-expanding. Read this book and you’ll be illuminated about what might really be going on all around you — and maybe to a friend or neighbor — whether you know it or not.

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Ken Korczak is a former newspaper reporter, government information officer, served as an advocate for homeless people as a VISTA Volunteer, and taught journalism at the University of North Dakota for five years. He is the author of BIRD BRAIN GENIUS

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