JOHN KEEL NOT AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING

Arrasate / Mondragón Sanderson wrote to his agent, Oliver Swan, on April 12, 1966, filling him in on the proposed UFO book.  He gave his reasons for the title, and discussed his working relationship with Keel.  I should mention that, in fact, John didn’t have a commission from Playboy to write the definitive UFO article; he had agreed to a short article on spec.  Also, he didn’t write regularly for the magazine, but had only been published in the letters column.

On April 15, John also wrote to Swan.  There was trouble brewing: he was already balking at Sanderson’s chatty style.  John was an American journalist, and Sanderson a Scottish raconteur; and they had very different approaches to their material and to their audience.  Ideally, they should have complemented one another, but ideals don’t always materialize.