Donna Kossy
Encyclopedia
Donna J. Kossy is a U.S.
writer
, zine
publisher, and online used book dealer based in Portland, Oregon
. Specializing in the history of "forgotten, discredited and extreme ideas", which she calls "crackpotology and kookology", she is better known for her books Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief (1994, featuring the first biography of Francis E. Dec
) and Strange Creations: Aberrant Ideas of Human Origins from Ancient Astronauts to Aquatic Apes (2001). Kossy was also the founder and curator of the Kooks Museum (1996–1999, online), and the editor-publisher of the magazine Book Happy (1997–2002, about "weird and obscure books").
Described by Wired
as "an expert on kooks [who] has a genuine, if sometimes uncomfortable, affection for her subjects", Kossy wrote books reviewed in publications ranging from Fortean Times
to New Scientist
. Journalist Jonathan Vankin
named her "the unchallenged authority on, well, kooks", and writer Bruce Sterling
noted that she "boldly blazes new trails in the vast intellectual wilderness of American writers, thinkers and philosophers who were or are completely nuts".
s in sixth grade
, co-editing Kid Stuff with a friend: "It had gossip, fashions, poetry, jokes and even movie reviews. It sold for 5 cents. My mom typed it up and Xeroxed it at work!" After graduating college in 1979, Kossy became involved in punk culture via collage art, color xerox postcards and mail art.
Kossy eventually became a computer programmer, but also published zines because "Publishing is power, pure and simple", and turned "author and folklorist."
. She attuned Chicago writer Dan Kelly to cult "kook" Francis E. Dec
. In the early 1980s, she was part of the Processed World (PW) magazine, then romantically involved with anti-PW and ex-SubGenius anarchist Bob Black
until 1987, moving with him to Boston
in 1985.
In 1989, research for her Kooks Magazine led Kossy to abandon much of her other work. She is now married to Ken DeVries (a.k.a. Orton Nenslo), also a member of the Church of the SubGenius and contributor to their books, who provided some illustrations for her books and some articles for her website.
which ran for eleven issues. Each issue focused on one topic (such as technology, sex, Japan, cars, crime, kooks, food & drugs) and featured related book excerpts, satire, collages, drawings, etc.
The zine and Kossy were quoted by Discordianism
co-founder Kerry Thornley
(alias Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst) in his 1991 foreword to the 5th edition of the Principia Discordia
, reprinting the "Manifesto of the Artistic Elite of the Midwest". Kossy said that her "career as a crackpotologist" started there with the "Kooks Pages" within each issue and the two special all-kooks issues.
by SubGenius co-founder Rev. Ivan Stang
(who later praised the collected book) and featured obscure "kooks" as well as some better-documented "crank
s" such as reclusive Spider-Man
co-creator Steve Ditko
in its final issue (#8, November 1991).
In Factsheet Five
, the zine magazine, founder-editor Mike Gunderloy described it as "A collection of bizarre literature and semi-scholarly research on kooks: those folks who have all the answers that science and the authorities have been trying to suppress. This issue features [...] progress towards a theory of kookdom." then reported one year later that it "keeps getting better; you can spend hours lost in the worldviews here." SubGenius and writer Richard Kadrey
described it as "indispensable for anyone interested in the real bleeding edge of thought." Research for the topic even led Kossy to attend a recruitment meeting of Heaven's Gate (when it was calling itself Human Individual Metamorphosis), the cult that ended in a 1997 mass suicide.
published Kossy's first book, Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief, an anthology containing updated articles from her zine along with articles written exclusively for the book, with the cover illustration painted by her husband. Organized into seven parts (Religion, Science, Metaphysics, Politics, Conspiracy, Enigmas; plus Outtakes in the 2nd ed.), it documented the rants and ravings of "kooks" such as Richard Brothers
(Anglo-Israelism alias British Israelism
), Charles E. Buon (God's Envoy to the U.S.A.), Ray Crabtree (The Philosopher King), the first biography of Francis E. Dec
(Your Only Hope against the Gangster Computer God), Professor Arnold Ehret
(Mucusless Diet Healing System), Joe Gould
alias Professor Seagull (The Longest Book Ever Written), Jim and Lila Green (Aggressive Christianity Missionary Training Corps
), Hillman Holcomb (Well Regulated Militia of Christian Technocracy), Les U. Knight (Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
), alien abductee artist Paul Laffoley
(Third Generation Lunatic Fringe), Alfred Lawson
(Lawsonomy: The Base for Absolute Knowledge), David Linton (How Men Can Have Babies), Emil Matalik (World/U.S. Presidential Candidate Since 1964), the MIT
's crank files (The Archive of Useless Research), Rose Mokry (Jewish Poisoners Are the Sole Producers of All the Diseases, Sudden Deaths and Birth Defects), Dr. Cyrus Teed
(not Cyrus Tweed) alias Koresh (Koreshanity
: We Actually Live on the Inside of the Earth), black supremacist Dwight York alias Malachi Z. York et al. (Ansaaru Allah Community of Nuwaubianism
), etc.
The book was praised as "a rich compendium of looniness" by the Los Angeles Times
, "indispensable for anyone interested in the real cutting edge of thought" by the San Francisco Chronicle
, and a "delight" by Fortean Times
. In Factsheet Five
, the new editor R. Seth Friedman recommended it with, "I've been anxiously awaiting this book ever since Donna Kossy told me about her plans several years ago. [...] Don't miss out on this book." Jay Kinney
, publisher of Gnosis Magazine
, found it "Compulsively readable. The 'kooks' collected in this volume are our true American originals and Donna Kossy chronicles their jaw-dropping messages with a rare mix of objectivity, sympathy, and wit." And a 1995 Wired
review described Kossy as "an expert on kooks [who] has a genuine, if sometimes uncomfortable, affection for her subjects."
The Museum was listed in the MetroActive guide to "the most interesting, unusual, weird or otherwise alternative sites on the World Wide Web" by journalist and writer on conspiracies Jonathan Vankin
, who named Kossy "the unchallenged authority on, well, kooks."
The magazine was complemented by her web site (later becoming its domain name) and the formation of Book Happy Booksellers an online used book business specializing in unusual and hard-to-find items, with inventory listed on various book listing sites including Abebooks, Biblio, Alibris, Choosebooks and others. Book Happy was reviewed positively by English artist Mark Pawson (creator of Die-Cut Plug Wiring Diagram Book
) in a 1999 review for the British cultural magazine Variant.
Organized into seven parts (Extraterrestrial Origins, De-evolution, Race, Eugenics, Creationism, The Aquatic Ape Theory, and Urantia/Szukalski/H.I.M.), the book documented the fringe
and pseudoscientific theories of "crackpots" such as David Barclay (mankind as dinosaurs pets), Helena Blavatsky (The Seven Root Races of Theosophy
), Darwin's cousin Francis Galton
(inventor of eugenics
against regression toward the mean
), Henry H. Goddard
(inventor of moronism with The Kallikak Family
), Madison Grant
(Nordicism and scientific racism
), Finnvald Hedin (The Thorians), Brinsley Le Poer Trench (UFOs from Hollow Earth
), slave trader Edward Long (Polygenism
: Man Comes From God, Negroes Come From Apes), Oscar Kiss Maerth
(The Beginning Was the End
: ape brain cannibalism), Alfred W. McCann (creationism
), Elaine Morgan
(aquatic ape hypothesis
), Raël
(creation by extraterrestrials), B. H. Shadduck (de-evolution), Zecharia Sitchin
(ancient astronauts
), Lothrop Stoddard
(Pan-Aryanism and racial purity), Stanisław Szukalski (Zermatism: post-deluge Easter Island vs. Yetis), the Urantia Book (intelligent design
by Life Carriers), George Van Tassel
(Space Brothers aliens), Erich von Däniken
(Ancient Astronauts
from the Chariots of the Gods?), etc.
The book was praised from Fortean Times
to Booklist
and from the Washington City Paper
to Counterpoise
. In a mixed review, the New Scientist
noted that "Donna Kossy's Strange Creatures [sic!] is about people who have spent rather more time on these problems than most, visiting some of the weirder reaches of the human imagination". And Rev. Ivan Stang
remarked: "To write entertainingly for 'nonkooks' about so-called kooks, crackpots, and possible visionaries requires walking a tightrope between tolerant understanding of 'outsider' psychology and graceful sarcasm, balancing both a solid grounding in the mainstream scientific paradigm, and a healthy distrust of the status quo."
Science-fiction writer Bruce Sterling
, who also touched upon online cranks in his essay "Electronic Text", commented that "Donna Kossy boldly blazes new trails in the vast intellectual wilderness of American writers, thinkers, and philosophers who were or are completely nuts. Kooks ranks with such sociological classics as Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Dudley's Mathematical Cranks. This, for obvious reasons, is a book which every science fiction writer should possess." In her own words, Kossy has stated, "I seek not to debunk strange ideas, but to present them as a necessary segment of the full spectrum of human thought."
Kossy is currently focused on her bookselling business and from November 2007 to September 2008 wrote a blog, "The Cutthroat World of Book Scouting" (http://bookhappy.easyjournal.com) , which chronicled her experiences in the book trade.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
publisher, and online used book dealer based in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. Specializing in the history of "forgotten, discredited and extreme ideas", which she calls "crackpotology and kookology", she is better known for her books Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief (1994, featuring the first biography of Francis E. Dec
Francis E. Dec
Francis E. Dec was a U.S. lawyer from Hempstead Village, New York, disbarred for fraud in 1959, and later known for the bizarre socio-political tracts of conspiracy theories he mass-mailed to the media...
) and Strange Creations: Aberrant Ideas of Human Origins from Ancient Astronauts to Aquatic Apes (2001). Kossy was also the founder and curator of the Kooks Museum (1996–1999, online), and the editor-publisher of the magazine Book Happy (1997–2002, about "weird and obscure books").
Described by Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
as "an expert on kooks [who] has a genuine, if sometimes uncomfortable, affection for her subjects", Kossy wrote books reviewed in publications ranging from Fortean Times
Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
to New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
. Journalist Jonathan Vankin
Jonathan Vankin
-Biography:Vankin was formerly a news editor of San Jose, California's Metro newspaper and is the author of several books and comics. He has also written for the TV series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven. His graphic novel, Tokyo Days, Bangkok Nights was published in January, 2009...
named her "the unchallenged authority on, well, kooks", and writer Bruce Sterling
Bruce Sterling
Michael Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre.-Writings:...
noted that she "boldly blazes new trails in the vast intellectual wilderness of American writers, thinkers and philosophers who were or are completely nuts".
Early life
Donna J. Kossy was born in 1957. She started doing zineZine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
s in sixth grade
Sixth grade
Sixth grade is a year of education in the United States and some other nations. The sixth grade is the sixth school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 11 – 12 years old...
, co-editing Kid Stuff with a friend: "It had gossip, fashions, poetry, jokes and even movie reviews. It sold for 5 cents. My mom typed it up and Xeroxed it at work!" After graduating college in 1979, Kossy became involved in punk culture via collage art, color xerox postcards and mail art.
Kossy eventually became a computer programmer, but also published zines because "Publishing is power, pure and simple", and turned "author and folklorist."
Adult life
At one time, Kossy was the housemate of fellow zine maker Pagan KennedyPagan Kennedy
Pagan Kennedy is an author and pioneer of the 1990s zine movement, along with writer/publishers like Lisa Crystal Carver of Rollerderby, Jim Goad of ANSWER Me! and Larry Crane of Tape Op. Her autobiographical zine Pagan's Head detailed her life...
. She attuned Chicago writer Dan Kelly to cult "kook" Francis E. Dec
Francis E. Dec
Francis E. Dec was a U.S. lawyer from Hempstead Village, New York, disbarred for fraud in 1959, and later known for the bizarre socio-political tracts of conspiracy theories he mass-mailed to the media...
. In the early 1980s, she was part of the Processed World (PW) magazine, then romantically involved with anti-PW and ex-SubGenius anarchist Bob Black
Bob Black
Bob Black is an American anarchist. He is the author of The Abolition of Work and Other Essays, Beneath the Underground, Friendly Fire, Anarchy After Leftism, and numerous political essays.-Writing:Some of his work from the early 1980s includes...
until 1987, moving with him to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1985.
In 1989, research for her Kooks Magazine led Kossy to abandon much of her other work. She is now married to Ken DeVries (a.k.a. Orton Nenslo), also a member of the Church of the SubGenius and contributor to their books, who provided some illustrations for her books and some articles for her website.
False Positive (1984–1988)
In 1984, Kossy started publishing False Positive (1984–1988), a Xeroxed zineZine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
which ran for eleven issues. Each issue focused on one topic (such as technology, sex, Japan, cars, crime, kooks, food & drugs) and featured related book excerpts, satire, collages, drawings, etc.
The zine and Kossy were quoted by Discordianism
Discordianism
Discordianism is a religion based on the worship of Eris , the Greco-Roman goddess of strife. It was founded circa 1958–1959 after the publication of its holy book the Principia Discordia, written by Malaclypse the Younger and Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst after a series of shared hallucinations at a...
co-founder Kerry Thornley
Kerry Thornley
Kerry Wendell Thornley is known as the co-founder of Discordianism, in which context he is usually known as Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst or simply Lord Omar...
(alias Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst) in his 1991 foreword to the 5th edition of the Principia Discordia
Principia Discordia
Principia Discordia is a Discordian religious text written by Greg Hill and Kerry Thornley . It was originally published under the title "Principia Discordia or How The West Was Lost" in a limited edition of 5 copies in 1965...
, reprinting the "Manifesto of the Artistic Elite of the Midwest". Kossy said that her "career as a crackpotologist" started there with the "Kooks Pages" within each issue and the two special all-kooks issues.
Kooks Magazine (1988–1991)
In 1988, Kossy started publishing Kooks Magazine (1988–1991), now using offset printing and running for eight issues. A spinoff of the kooks pages of her zine, it was in line with the 1988 book High Weirdness by MailHigh Weirdness By Mail
High Weirdness by Mail, by Ivan Stang is a 1988 book dedicated to an examination of "weird culture" by actually putting the reader in touch with it by mail....
by SubGenius co-founder Rev. Ivan Stang
Ivan Stang
Rev. Ivan Stang, born Douglass St. Clair Smith August 21, 1953 in Washington, D.C., raised in Fort Worth, Texas, and attended the St. Mark's School of Texas. He is best known as the author and publisher of the first screed of the Church of the SubGenius...
(who later praised the collected book) and featured obscure "kooks" as well as some better-documented "crank
Crank (person)
"Crank" is a pejorative term used for a person who unshakably holds a belief that most of his or her contemporaries consider to be false. A "cranky" belief is so wildly at variance with commonly accepted belief as to be ludicrous...
s" such as reclusive Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
co-creator Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
in its final issue (#8, November 1991).
In Factsheet Five
Factsheet Five
Factsheet Five was a periodical mostly consisting of short reviews of privately produced printed matter along with contact details of the editors and publishers....
, the zine magazine, founder-editor Mike Gunderloy described it as "A collection of bizarre literature and semi-scholarly research on kooks: those folks who have all the answers that science and the authorities have been trying to suppress. This issue features [...] progress towards a theory of kookdom." then reported one year later that it "keeps getting better; you can spend hours lost in the worldviews here." SubGenius and writer Richard Kadrey
Richard Kadrey
Richard Kadrey is a novelist, freelance writer, and photographer based in San Francisco.Kadrey's novels are Sandman Slim, Kill the Dead, Aloha From Hell, Metrophage, Kamikaze L'Amour, and Butcher Bird: A Novel Of The Dominion...
described it as "indispensable for anyone interested in the real bleeding edge of thought." Research for the topic even led Kossy to attend a recruitment meeting of Heaven's Gate (when it was calling itself Human Individual Metamorphosis), the cult that ended in a 1997 mass suicide.
Kooks (1994)
In 1994, Feral HouseFeral House
Feral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
published Kossy's first book, Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief, an anthology containing updated articles from her zine along with articles written exclusively for the book, with the cover illustration painted by her husband. Organized into seven parts (Religion, Science, Metaphysics, Politics, Conspiracy, Enigmas; plus Outtakes in the 2nd ed.), it documented the rants and ravings of "kooks" such as Richard Brothers
Richard Brothers
Richard Brothers was born in Port Kirwan, Newfoundland and Labrador and became well known as both an early believer and teacher of Anglo-Israelism...
(Anglo-Israelism alias British Israelism
British Israelism
British Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent, particularly those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The concept often includes the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David...
), Charles E. Buon (God's Envoy to the U.S.A.), Ray Crabtree (The Philosopher King), the first biography of Francis E. Dec
Francis E. Dec
Francis E. Dec was a U.S. lawyer from Hempstead Village, New York, disbarred for fraud in 1959, and later known for the bizarre socio-political tracts of conspiracy theories he mass-mailed to the media...
(Your Only Hope against the Gangster Computer God), Professor Arnold Ehret
Arnold Ehret
Arnold Ehret was a German health educator and author of several books on diet, detoxification, fruitarianism, fasting, food combining, health, longevity, naturopathy, physical culture and vitalism.- Background :...
(Mucusless Diet Healing System), Joe Gould
Joe Gould (Bohemian)
Joseph Ferdinand Gould was an American eccentric, also known as Professor Seagull. Often homeless, he pretended to be the author of the longest book ever written, an Oral History of the Contemporary World...
alias Professor Seagull (The Longest Book Ever Written), Jim and Lila Green (Aggressive Christianity Missionary Training Corps
Aggressive Christianity Missionary Training Corps
The Aggressive Christianity Missionary Training Corps is an American absolutist, military structured, intentional community. Founded in 1981 by "Generals" Jim and Lila Green, it is based in a remote area of Cibola County, New Mexico...
), Hillman Holcomb (Well Regulated Militia of Christian Technocracy), Les U. Knight (Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, or VHEMT , is a movement which calls for the voluntary gradual self-extinction of the human species through abstaining from reproduction. VHEMT's motto is "May we live long and die out."...
), alien abductee artist Paul Laffoley
Paul Laffoley
Paul Laffoley is a U.S. artist and architect. As an architect working for Emery Roth & Sons, Laffoley worked for 18 months on design for the World Trade Center Tower II. As a painter, his work is usually classified as visionary art or outsider art...
(Third Generation Lunatic Fringe), Alfred Lawson
Alfred Lawson
Alfred William Lawson was a professional baseball player, manager and league promoter from 1887 through 1916 and went on to play a pioneering role in the US aircraft industry, publishing two early aviation trade journals...
(Lawsonomy: The Base for Absolute Knowledge), David Linton (How Men Can Have Babies), Emil Matalik (World/U.S. Presidential Candidate Since 1964), the MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
's crank files (The Archive of Useless Research), Rose Mokry (Jewish Poisoners Are the Sole Producers of All the Diseases, Sudden Deaths and Birth Defects), Dr. Cyrus Teed
Cyrus Teed
Cyrus Reed Teed was a U.S. eclectic physician and alchemist turned religious leader and messiah. In 1869, claiming divine inspiration, Dr...
(not Cyrus Tweed) alias Koresh (Koreshanity
Koreshanity
Not to be confused with the teachings of David KoreshKoreshanity is the set of religious/scientific beliefs put forth by Cyrus Teed...
: We Actually Live on the Inside of the Earth), black supremacist Dwight York alias Malachi Z. York et al. (Ansaaru Allah Community of Nuwaubianism
Nuwaubianism
The Nuwaubian Nation or Nuwaubian movement led by Malachi York,...
), etc.
The book was praised as "a rich compendium of looniness" by the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, "indispensable for anyone interested in the real cutting edge of thought" by the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, and a "delight" by Fortean Times
Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
. In Factsheet Five
Factsheet Five
Factsheet Five was a periodical mostly consisting of short reviews of privately produced printed matter along with contact details of the editors and publishers....
, the new editor R. Seth Friedman recommended it with, "I've been anxiously awaiting this book ever since Donna Kossy told me about her plans several years ago. [...] Don't miss out on this book." Jay Kinney
Jay Kinney
Jay Kinney is an American author, editor, and former underground cartoonist. A member, along with Skip Williamson, Jay Lynch and R. Crumb, of the original Bijou Funnies crew, Kinney also edited Young Lust, a satire of romance comics, in the early 1970s with Bill Griffith...
, publisher of Gnosis Magazine
Gnosis (magazine)
Gnosis was an American magazine published from 1985 to 1999, devoted to the western esoteric tradition.Gnosis was published by the Lumen Foundation, a non-profit organization incorporated in California by Jay Kinney and Dixie Tracy-Kinney. It had offices in San Francisco. 5,000 copies were...
, found it "Compulsively readable. The 'kooks' collected in this volume are our true American originals and Donna Kossy chronicles their jaw-dropping messages with a rare mix of objectivity, sympathy, and wit." And a 1995 Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
review described Kossy as "an expert on kooks [who] has a genuine, if sometimes uncomfortable, affection for her subjects."
Kooks Outtakes (1995)
In 1995, Kooks Outtakes followed its namesake, being a 36-page supplement of material Kossy had left out for space reason; it was later merged with the second edition of the book in 2001, which the editor of Ink 19 praised, noting that "Kossy's style is direct and surprisingly unjudgemental. [...] Kossy is quite systematic in her research, and margin comments abound, along with a lush bibliography. This is serious stuff."Kooks Museum (1996–1999)
In 1996, Kossy founded and curated on her web site the Kooks Museum (an online summary and extension of her book Kooks, updated until mid-1999 when it was discontinued and kept as an archive), explaining: "As curator and founder of the first Kooks Museum in history I am fulfilling a half-life-long goal of housing kook ideas from all over the world under one crumbling roof. [...] The point of all this excess is neither to debunk nor to proselytize. Rather, my intent is to document and study the vast cornucopia of forgotten, discredited and extreme ideas, with all due consideration to social and cultural context. Nor do I think all ideas are equally valid. Rather, I try to be both open-minded to and skeptical of them."The Museum was listed in the MetroActive guide to "the most interesting, unusual, weird or otherwise alternative sites on the World Wide Web" by journalist and writer on conspiracies Jonathan Vankin
Jonathan Vankin
-Biography:Vankin was formerly a news editor of San Jose, California's Metro newspaper and is the author of several books and comics. He has also written for the TV series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven. His graphic novel, Tokyo Days, Bangkok Nights was published in January, 2009...
, who named Kossy "the unchallenged authority on, well, kooks."
Book Happy (1997–2002)
In 1997, Kossy started editing and publishing Book Happy (1997–2002), a printed magazine which ran for seven issues. Written by Kossy and others (recurrent contributors includes Greg Bishop, Ken DeVries, Dan Howland, Dan Kelly, John Marr, Chris Mikul, David C. Morrison, Chip Rowe, Brian Tucker, Robert Tucker), it was dedicated to reviewing "weird and obscure books".The magazine was complemented by her web site (later becoming its domain name) and the formation of Book Happy Booksellers an online used book business specializing in unusual and hard-to-find items, with inventory listed on various book listing sites including Abebooks, Biblio, Alibris, Choosebooks and others. Book Happy was reviewed positively by English artist Mark Pawson (creator of Die-Cut Plug Wiring Diagram Book
Die-Cut Plug Wiring Diagram Book
Die-Cut Plug Wiring Diagram Book is an artist's book by the English artist Mark Pawson, originally published in early 1992. Originally consisting of 36 full-size reproductions of British AC power plug wiring diagrams printed in various colours, the book has become celebrated as an example of...
) in a 1999 review for the British cultural magazine Variant.
Strange Creations (2001)
In 2001, Feral House published Kossy's second full-length book, Strange Creations: Aberrant Ideas of Human Origins from Ancient Astronauts to Aquatic Apes (right after reprinting Kooks in an expanded edition). As of August 1998, Kossy had already announced the manuscript for her second book as being finished (with a tentative title balancing between "Aberrant Anthropology" and "Nazis, Saucers and Aquatic Apes") and its publication at Feral House scheduled for "Fall, 1999"; it would however be two more years before the actual release.Organized into seven parts (Extraterrestrial Origins, De-evolution, Race, Eugenics, Creationism, The Aquatic Ape Theory, and Urantia/Szukalski/H.I.M.), the book documented the fringe
Fringe science
Fringe science is scientific inquiry in an established field of study that departs significantly from mainstream or orthodox theories, and is classified in the "fringes" of a credible mainstream academic discipline....
and pseudoscientific theories of "crackpots" such as David Barclay (mankind as dinosaurs pets), Helena Blavatsky (The Seven Root Races of Theosophy
Theosophy
Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
), Darwin's cousin Francis Galton
Francis Galton
Sir Francis Galton /ˈfrɑːnsɪs ˈgɔːltn̩/ FRS , cousin of Douglas Strutt Galton, half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an English Victorian polymath: anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician, and statistician...
(inventor of eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
against regression toward the mean
Regression toward the mean
In statistics, regression toward the mean is the phenomenon that if a variable is extreme on its first measurement, it will tend to be closer to the average on a second measurement, and—a fact that may superficially seem paradoxical—if it is extreme on a second measurement, will tend...
), Henry H. Goddard
Henry H. Goddard
Henry Herbert Goddard was a prominent American psychologist and eugenicist in the early 20th century...
(inventor of moronism with The Kallikak Family
The Kallikak Family
The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness was a 1912 book by the American psychologist and eugenicist Henry H. Goddard. The work was an extended case study of Goddard's for the inheritance of "feeble-mindedness," a general category referring to a variety of mental...
), Madison Grant
Madison Grant
Madison Grant was an American lawyer, historian and physical anthropologist, known primarily for his work as a eugenicist and conservationist...
(Nordicism and scientific racism
Scientific racism
Scientific racism is the use of scientific techniques and hypotheses to sanction the belief in racial superiority or racism.This is not the same as using scientific findings and the scientific method to investigate differences among the humans and argue that there are races...
), Finnvald Hedin (The Thorians), Brinsley Le Poer Trench (UFOs from Hollow Earth
Hollow Earth
The Hollow Earth hypothesis proposes that the planet Earth is either entirely hollow or otherwise contains a substantial interior space. The hypothesis has been shown to be wrong by observational evidence, as well as by the modern understanding of planet formation; the scientific community has...
), slave trader Edward Long (Polygenism
Polygenism
Polygenism is a theory of human origins positing that the human races are of different lineages . This is opposite to the idea of monogenism, which posits a single origin of humanity.- Origins :...
: Man Comes From God, Negroes Come From Apes), Oscar Kiss Maerth
Oscar Kiss Maerth
Oscar Kiss Maerth was born in what was then Hungary but what was, in 1974, Yugoslavia.He was the author of The Beginning Was the End , a pseudo-scientific book written in a Chinese monastery that claimed modern man devolved from a species of brain-eating apes...
(The Beginning Was the End
The Beginning Was the End
The Beginning Was the End is a 1971 pseudo-scientific book written by Oscar Kiss Maerth that claims that humankind evolved from cannibalistic apes...
: ape brain cannibalism), Alfred W. McCann (creationism
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
), Elaine Morgan
Elaine Morgan (writer)
Elaine Morgan OBE is a Welsh writer for television and also the author of several books on evolutionary anthropology, especially the aquatic ape hypothesis: The Descent of Woman, The Aquatic Ape, The Scars of Evolution, The Descent of the Child, The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis, and The Naked Darwinist...
(aquatic ape hypothesis
Aquatic ape hypothesis
The aquatic ape hypothesis is an alternative explanation of some characteristics of human evolution which hypothesizes that the common ancestors of modern humans spent a period of time adapting to life in a partially aquatic environment. The hypothesis is based on differences between humans and...
), Raël
Raël
Claude Maurice Marcel Vorilhon is the founder and current leader of the UFO religion known as Raëlism....
(creation by extraterrestrials), B. H. Shadduck (de-evolution), Zecharia Sitchin
Zecharia Sitchin
Zecharia Sitchin was an Azerbaijani-born American author of books promoting an explanation for human origins involving ancient astronauts. Sitchin attributes the creation of the ancient Sumerian culture to the Anunnaki, which he states was a race of extra-terrestrials from a planet beyond Neptune...
(ancient astronauts
Ancient astronauts
Some writers have proposed that intelligent extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth in antiquity or prehistory and made contact with humans. Such visitors are called ancient astronauts or ancient aliens. Proponents suggest that this contact influenced the development of human cultures,...
), Lothrop Stoddard
Lothrop Stoddard
Theodore Lothrop Stoddard was an American historian, journalist, racial anthropologist, eugenicist, political theorist and anti-immigration advocate who wrote a number of books which are cited by historians as prominent examples of early 20th-century scientific racism.- Biography :Stoddard was...
(Pan-Aryanism and racial purity), Stanisław Szukalski (Zermatism: post-deluge Easter Island vs. Yetis), the Urantia Book (intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
by Life Carriers), George Van Tassel
George Van Tassel
George Van Tassel was an American contactee, ufologist, and paranormal research leader who commenced building the Integratron in 1958 in Landers, California.- History :...
(Space Brothers aliens), Erich von Däniken
Erich von Däniken
Erich Anton Paul von Däniken is a Swiss author best known for his controversial claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, in books such as Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968...
(Ancient Astronauts
Ancient astronaut theory
Some writers have proposed that intelligent extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth in antiquity or prehistory and made contact with humans. Such visitors are called ancient astronauts or ancient aliens. Proponents suggest that this contact influenced the development of human cultures,...
from the Chariots of the Gods?), etc.
The book was praised from Fortean Times
Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
to Booklist
Booklist
Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...
and from the Washington City Paper
Washington City Paper
The Washington City Paper is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Founded in 1981, and published for its first year under the masthead 1981, taking the City Paper name in volume 2, by Russ Smith, it shared ownership with the Chicago Reader from 1982...
to Counterpoise
Counterpoise
Counterpoise is an alternative review journal based in Gainesville, Florida . It was founded in 1997 by Charles Willett, as a project of the AIP Task Force of the American Library Association's Social Responsibilities Round Table. In January 2001, Counterpoise became a project of the Civic Media...
. In a mixed review, the New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
noted that "Donna Kossy's Strange Creatures [sic!] is about people who have spent rather more time on these problems than most, visiting some of the weirder reaches of the human imagination". And Rev. Ivan Stang
Ivan Stang
Rev. Ivan Stang, born Douglass St. Clair Smith August 21, 1953 in Washington, D.C., raised in Fort Worth, Texas, and attended the St. Mark's School of Texas. He is best known as the author and publisher of the first screed of the Church of the SubGenius...
remarked: "To write entertainingly for 'nonkooks' about so-called kooks, crackpots, and possible visionaries requires walking a tightrope between tolerant understanding of 'outsider' psychology and graceful sarcasm, balancing both a solid grounding in the mainstream scientific paradigm, and a healthy distrust of the status quo."
Science-fiction writer Bruce Sterling
Bruce Sterling
Michael Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre.-Writings:...
, who also touched upon online cranks in his essay "Electronic Text", commented that "Donna Kossy boldly blazes new trails in the vast intellectual wilderness of American writers, thinkers, and philosophers who were or are completely nuts. Kooks ranks with such sociological classics as Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Dudley's Mathematical Cranks. This, for obvious reasons, is a book which every science fiction writer should possess." In her own words, Kossy has stated, "I seek not to debunk strange ideas, but to present them as a necessary segment of the full spectrum of human thought."
Kossy is currently focused on her bookselling business and from November 2007 to September 2008 wrote a blog, "The Cutthroat World of Book Scouting" (http://bookhappy.easyjournal.com
Magazines
- 1984–1988: False Positive #1–11 (aka False Positive Magazine)
- #1 (1984), #2–4 (1985), #5–8 (1986), #9 (1987), #10–11 (1988). Allston, MA (Boston, MA for #1): Out-of-Kontrol Data Korporation, no ISSN . 8½" × 11", Xeroxed zine, about 20–52 p., was $3.
- 1988–1991: Kooks Magazine #1–8 (alias The Original Donna Kossy's Kooks Magazine for #1–4)
- #1 (1988), #2–4 (1989), #5–6 (1990), #7–8 (1991). Allston, MA: Out-of-Kontrol Data Institute, . 8½" × 11", offset magazine (except #1, 5½" × 8½", Xeroxed), 20–40 p., was $3–$5. — The OCLC's start date is incorrect.
- 1997–2002: Book Happy #1–7 (aka Book Happy Magazine)
- #1 (1997), #2–3 (1998), #4 (1999), #5 (2000), #6 (2001), #7 (2002). By Donna Kossy (ed., reviews) & various (reviews); Portland, OR: Book Happy, no ISSN . 8½" × 11", offset magazine, total 232 p., was $6.
Books
- 1994: Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief
- Portland, OR: Feral HouseFeral HouseFeral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
. ISBN 0-922915-19-9 (1st ed. pbk., 254 p., May 1994) and ISBN 0-922915-20-2 (1st ed. hbk., 254 p., May 1994). Reissued by Los Angeles: Feral House, ISBN 978-0-922915-67-5 (2nd exp. ed. pbk., 287 p., May 2001) — Collects material from her Kooks Magazine. The 2nd ed. was expanded with 1995's Kooks Outtakes.
- Portland, OR: Feral House
- 1995: Kooks Outtakes [supplement]
- 8½" × 11", 36 p. — Material cut from Kooks due to space, later added to its 2nd edition.
- 1996: The Kooks Museum [online]
- Web site , updated 1996–1999 (archived mid-1999), formerly at www.teleport.com/~dkossy, now at http://web.archive.org/web/20080215015348/http://www.pacifier.com/~dkossy/kooksmus.html — Updated summary and extension of Kooks.
- 2001: Strange Creations: Aberrant Ideas of Human Origins from Ancient Astronauts to Aquatic Apes
- Los Angeles: Feral HouseFeral HouseFeral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
. ISBN 978-0-922915-65-1 (1st ed. pbk., 264 (x, 253) p., June 2001).
- Los Angeles: Feral House
See also
Similar books- Extraordinary Popular Delusions (1841), Charles Mackay's debunking of popular folly
- Fads and Fallacies in the Name of ScienceFads and Fallacies in the Name of ScienceFads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, also known just as In the Name of Science, was Martin Gardner's second book, and has become a classic in the literature of entertaining scientific skepticism...
(1957), Martin Gardner's scientific skepticism - Mathematical Cranks (1992) and The Trisectors (1996), Underwood Dudley's crank math books
Sources
Main sources used for this article:- Bagato, Jeff (2002). "Kooks Chronicles: Strange Creations" (book review), Washington City PaperWashington City PaperThe Washington City Paper is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Founded in 1981, and published for its first year under the masthead 1981, taking the City Paper name in volume 2, by Russ Smith, it shared ownership with the Chicago Reader from 1982...
, May 17–23, 2002 (Vol. 22, #20) - Bennett, Colin (2001). "Strange Creations / Kooks" (book reviews), Fortean TimesFortean TimesFortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
Online, May 2001 - Feral HouseFeral HouseFeral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
(2009). "Kooks", feralhouse.com, consulted in March 2009 - Feral HouseFeral HouseFeral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
(2009). "Strange Creations", feralhouse.com, consulted in March 2009 - Gale Reference Team (2007). "Biography - Kossy, Donna J. (1957-)", Contemporary Authors, Thomson-Gale, December 16, 2007 (pay article via Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
) — Not consulted, but title provides birth date - Kossy, Donna (1998). "Introduction to the Kooks Museum" (Archive.org copy of 1998), updated August 17, 1998, at the old teleport.com/~dkossy — The introduction text was probably written in 1996, but this is the oldest snapshot.
- Kossy, Donna (1999). "The Kooks Museum Gift Shoppe" (Archive.org copy of 1999), at the old teleport.com/~dkossy — Holds pull quotes and bibliographical data.
- Kossy, Donna (2009). "Not Yet Asked Questions", consulted in March 2009
- Kossy, Donna (2009). "Ordering Information", consulted in March 2009 — Some bibliographical data.
- Turnaround (2009). "Kooks (2nd Edition)", Turnaround Publisher Services, www.turnaround-uk.com, consulted in March 2009
- Van Bakel, Rogier (1995). "Street Cred: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief" (book review), WiredWired (magazine)Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
, Issue 3.09, September 1995 - Vankin, JonathanJonathan Vankin-Biography:Vankin was formerly a news editor of San Jose, California's Metro newspaper and is the author of several books and comics. He has also written for the TV series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven. His graphic novel, Tokyo Days, Bangkok Nights was published in January, 2009...
(1996). "The Kooks Museum" (Archive.org copy of 1997), CyberScape: AlterNodes, MetroActive (online version of Metro Silicon Valley), 1996 - Zines (1997). "Donna Kossy, Kooks" (interview), The Book of Zines, www.zinebook.com, 1997
Further reading
- Kossy, Donna (1995–1997). Curator's Corner #1-7 (Archive.org copy of 1998, JavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
required) – Personal notes from the old Kooks Museum site, contains biographical data, including the Heaven's Gate cult meeting. - FOIA (2000). "Federal Bureau of Investigation - Freedom of Information Act - Case Log January, 2000 through December 31, 2000", The Memory HoleThe Memory Hole (web site)The Memory Hole was a website edited by Russ Kick; first launched on July 10, 2002, last post on May 11, 2009. Before being hacked in June 2009, the site was devoted to preserving and publishing material that is in danger of being lost, is hard to find, or is not widely known...
, www.thememoryhole.org, consulted in March 2009 — Shows that Kossy was granted a FOIAFreedom of Information Act (United States)The Freedom of Information Act is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure...
from the FBIFederal Bureau of InvestigationThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
about Kenneth GoffKenneth GoffKenneth Goff was a Christian Identity minister and anti-Communist crusader. He was the 1944 national chairman of Gerald L. K. Smith's Christian Youth for America. According to his biographical material, he was a member of the Communist Party of the United States of America from May 2, 1936, to...
(alias Oliver Kenneth Goff, 1909–1972; self-alleged ex-member of the Communist Party, proponent of the water fluoridation conspiracy theory, and one of the two possible authors, along Scientology founder L. Ron HubbardL. Ron HubbardLafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
, of the Brainwashing Manual). - Gale Reference Team (2007). "Biography - Kossy, Donna J. (1957-)", Contemporary Authors, Thomson-Gale, December 16, 2007 (pay article via Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
)
External links
- Book-Happy.com – Donna Kossy's official website (redirected to pacifier.com/~dkossy)
- Book Happy Booksellers at AbeBooksAbebooksAbeBooks is an online marketplace for books. Most books listed are used, many are rare or out-of-print, and a growing number are new books. The company is based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, with offices in Düsseldorf, Germany, and in the US. It was incorporated in 1995 and launched its...
- Donna Kossy at FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
- http://web.archive.org/web/20080215015348/http://www.pacifier.com/~dkossy/kooksmus.html