Most Dangerous 'Game'
Best-selling author Steve Alten encounters unexpected hurdles amid the release of his post-9/11 thriller

Andrew Tallackson
The News-Dispatch

By the time he finished writing "The Shell Game," Steve Alten was convinced it was his best work.

He still feels that way.

He just didn't think the political thriller, which envisions another 9/11 on U.S. soil, would have so much trouble finding an audience.

"When I sat down to write the book, I thought, I will not have any trouble selling it or getting any publicity on this," Alten said. "I was wrong on both accounts.

"By the time it went to print, I discovered the 9/11 truth. This subject is a little taboo with the mainstream media ... and the problem is that the mainstream media is owned by these ivory towers that are in the war business.

. . . Reviews for "The Shell Game" have been positive, and like Alten's previous efforts, it landed on The New York Times' best-seller list.

Unexpected, however, are the harassing phone calls Alten has received at home from those opposing the book, often at 4 a.m. One person, in fact, included Alten's unpublished home phone number, his wife's name and other personal information on a Web blog, inviting people to pester the author. Alten has called the FBI four times to deal with the situation, but he's received no response . . .

But for now, Alten is pushing "The Shell Game." He refuses to be intimidated or silenced by those who oppose it, and hopes readers will give it a chance. More importantly, he hopes it gets them thinking, to question what they've been told by the government, specifically about 9/11.

"My goal, my daydream every day," he said, "is that enough people will read the book and cause enough of a furor to force a new investigation, or someone confesses something, and it will have a snowball effect."

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=22&SubSectionID=22&Article...

That I, or others on blogger have gotten money for this?

seems extremely coordinated in my opinion. Whether or not your promotion of him is out of the kindness of your own heart, I honestly don't know. But my guess is you posted this blog because of your Philly connection to the story. So sorry if you feel like I'm implicating you as a shill for Alten for financial reasons, Jon. I just chose to vent on this particular blog because it was the most recent Alten addition to the front page.

I personally can say that I've never made a nickel from any of my 9/11 activism. The same can't be said for many others who've made a nice living off of it.

____________________
"If I had just paid $20 million for the NIST report, I'd be asking for a refund!... The trouble with the NIST Report is that it isn’t even science because it's not capable of being verified or negated!" -Dr. Frank Greening

If you people would go to the damn WOT website you'd see STEVE ALTEN IS HELPING FIRST RESPONDERS!!!!!
STEVE ALTEN IS HELPING FEALGOOD FOUNDATION!

www.weekoftruth.org

Do you want to get the truth out or not? How about getting it out QUICKLY with an edu-fiction Thriller.
Reach LOTS of people quickly that might never have gotten to know there is another truth out there.
You can't turn people on to the Truth if they don't even know it exists!!

This isn't about Steve, its about the TRUTH!

Steve spent all of his advance on the design of the book cover, having the great trailers made (www.theshellgame.net), and publicists. And he is spending a LOT on travel to promote the TRUTH.

Watch both interviews again. Steve Alten and his great book The Shell Game are the VEHICLES to get the truth out QUICKLY. Steve is doing everything he can to get the truth out. Steve is offering himself up as a VEHICLE. And does he present himself WELL!! Help him out!

Why QUICKLY? Are you aware of all of the predictions of a coming next (NUCLEAR?) 9/11?

GO STEVE!! THANKS FOR THE GREAT BOOK AND ALL YOU ARE DOING!! WE ARE BEHIND YOU ALL THE WAY!!

Is that you, Bill?

Rep, if possible, can you please verify if Bill is using "david.watts" as a moniker? I mean they do look very similar to me. The use of CAPS and both showing up not too long from one another pimping "Shell Game" and all. Oh and I'm talking about the old Bill Douglas - before he recently (on this thread) stopped using CAPS obsessively.

____________________
"If I had just paid $20 million for the NIST report, I'd be asking for a refund!... The trouble with the NIST Report is that it isn’t even science because it's not capable of being verified or negated!" -Dr. Frank Greening

No, it's not the same person. Two different dedicated IPs.

You're wrong about that, too.

I've been an active member of this site for years now and I've seen a lot of people come and go and from my own personal observations IMHO I think he is. Or he's working very closely with a few others who are acting very similar to him and are promoting the same information (disinformation?).

Also, did you read my post further down this thread asking why many of Bill's blogs promoting Shell Game have been purged? Are you aware of this? I clicked on Bill's blog entries and several blogs dedicated to Shell Game (including many comments from members critical of him and the book) are now gone. Why?

____________________
"If I had just paid $20 million for the NIST report, I'd be asking for a refund!... The trouble with the NIST Report is that it isn’t even science because it's not capable of being verified or negated!" -Dr. Frank Greening

Unless he can travel time and space.

However, I have noticed one anomaly in the IP addresses, and if it's a sock-puppet, you'll be the first to know.

As far as purged blog entries, you may be mixing news items posted by moderators with Douglas' blog entries. Therefore, Douglas' blog entries are few.

Unless you have specific URLs? If so, I would appreciate it if you mailed those directly, that I would be very interested in seeing, as I don't currently see logged evidence of blog tampering.

But I could have sworn there were more by him. But I could be mistaken. Sorry for the confusion.

____________________
"If I had just paid $20 million for the NIST report, I'd be asking for a refund!... The trouble with the NIST Report is that it isn’t even science because it's not capable of being verified or negated!" -Dr. Frank Greening

regarding this whole Steve Alten push by people like "david.watts". Have a looky at this thread over at truthaction.org, starting on page 5 where "watts" pops up....

The Shell Game & Week of Truth - A critical view
http://truthaction.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=14772#14772

Who in the world is this "david.watts" person?

Well on page 6, Jan Hoyer quoted a "david.watts" who seemed very interested in "burned out cars" and "directed energy" LOL. Here's the quote...

"By the way, yesterday, I came upon a "directed energy" website. I looked at an awful lot of burned out cars -- many quite far from ground zero -- and its really bizarre. The very first thought is, this makes absolutely no sense. Robert, is there ANY sort of alternate explanation offered by anyone? I'll look a little further, but I think I could jump into your "directed energy" camp real quickly."
– David Watts Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 3:57:36 PM

http://truthaction.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=14801#14801

Hmmmm a curious comment INDEED, Jan!

Lemme ask you, "david.watts", when you're not inventing sockpuppets here at 911blogger...

http://www.911blogger.com/node/14783

and pimping "Shell Game"...

http://www.911blogger.com/blog/5042

how much of your time is devoted to this "directed energy camp"?

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, just in case you really didn't make that comment above. I understand that it's possible someone may have used your moniker and posted the comment somewhere in your name. For instance, a while back when I was severely criticizing the morons and disinfo artists who were pimping theories about "no planes at the world trade center" and "space beams destroying the WTC" - someone from their "camp" began posting their ludicrous theories using my moniker "stallion4" (if you google it, the first one that comes up is a video channel promoting these bogus theories). So I completely understand if this may have happened to you as well. If not, please elaborate for the readers of 911blogger about whether or not you've decided to "jump into the directed energy camp".

And what's this I hear about people's names being put on "Week on Truth" flyers who didn't give their permission to do so?

____________________
"If I had just paid $20 million for the NIST report, I'd be asking for a refund!... The trouble with the NIST Report is that it isn’t even science because it's not capable of being verified or negated!" -Dr. Frank Greening

That whenever this movement tries to do something as a movement, or "coordinated", there must be some devious reason behind it.

I can almost guarantee stallion4, that I've spent $1000's more on 9/11 Truth than you have, and have made even less, so next time you want to try and implicate me as a shill, think twice about it.

But if you want to act like I'm the bad guy here go right ahead. No one is stopping you. Oh and how much will the first responders receive from book sales when Shell Game doesn't crack the top 10? I hear there is a "commission" that will go to them from each book sold? How much, do you know?

____________________
"If I had just paid $20 million for the NIST report, I'd be asking for a refund!... The trouble with the NIST Report is that it isn’t even science because it's not capable of being verified or negated!" -Dr. Frank Greening

I have no idea what Steve Alten is going to donate if he doesn't make the top 10. All I know is what he'll donate if he does. I'd say $5000 a week is a nice prospect for the responders, and a good incentive to try and make it happen don't you? Incidentally, if you read my original post on the subject, you'll see that I said with regard to the conference call that "we also talked about future collaborations having to do with getting the NYC Ballot Initiative off the ground, and many other things as well." In other words, who's to say that on the next conference call, we don't decide to have yet another "Week Of Truth" where we try to get Dr. Griffin's latest book on the top 10? I also knew that there would be people who would criticize the money that's to be made from this for Steve. "I know that this might look like to some as a way to make Steve Alten some money. I know that some people might have a hard time promoting a fictional book that incorporates 9/11 facts in it. All I can say is, if Steve Alten manages to get on the TV often, and says all of the right things often, then I don't care how much money he makes. Especially if some of it goes to help the responders." We would have figuratively KILLED for the kind of attention Steve has gotten recently 3 years ago. Now we're arguing about whether or not we should try and help it continue? WHAT?!? It's only one week for crying out loud. If you don't want to buy the book, don't, but don't make insinuations (that are not true) about people that are actually trying to do something positive, and are so far succeeding.

And I know nothing of commission.

liars, disinformationalists, who will say anything you want to hear? Remember Fetzer? Remember Morgan Reynolds? Judy Wood? Should I go on? They said a whole lot of stuff that many in the so-called "truth" movement liked hearing until... well you know the rest. Sorry but I DO NOT TRUST what is going on here. Something smells damn fishy.

"I read your post"

Well why did you say this then....

"so next time you want to try and implicate me as a shill, think twice about it."

I clearly stated in my earlier post that I wasn't and said I was sorry if you thought I was implicating you as being a shill for Alten.
____________________
"If I had just paid $20 million for the NIST report, I'd be asking for a refund!... The trouble with the NIST Report is that it isn’t even science because it's not capable of being verified or negated!" -Dr. Frank Greening

And I also remember watching Steve interact with kids at Barnes & Noble who loved reading his "Meg" series. I also remember friends and family coming to see Steve at Barnes & Noble. Steve does not come across as a Fetzer, Reynolds or Wood. He comes across exactly as he is perceived to be. Do you think I didn't have my doubts about this? Do you think Steve Alten is the one I would choose (if I had a choice) to represent the movement nationally? I would much rather have Lorie Van Auken, Patty Casazza, Mindy Kleinberg, Bob McIlvaine, Donna Marsh O'Connor, Christina Kminek (who I just talked to on the phone, and she knows what she's talking about), Michele Little, Sally Regenhard, Monica Gabrielle, etc... etc... and Paul Thompson plastered on the TV sets of America. However, the media hasn't exactly been asking for those people. They have been asking for Steve, and as long as Steve continues to do his best, then more power to him. Just out of curiosity, if we do a "Week Of Truth" for Dr. Griffin, and we manage to make him enormous sums of money, will you not trust that as well?

I stated that because... you know... call me crazy, but I don't like when someone insinuates something about me that isn't true. You should apologize to everyone in my opinion. Michael Wolsey is not a shill, I know that for a fact, and he's 100% behind this effort. Neither are several other people involved in this effort. If Steve turns out to be a a Fetzer, I will be the FIRST one to call him out.

All I can say is, if Steve Alten manages to get on the TV often, and says all of the right things often, then I don't care how much money he makes. Especially if some of it goes to help the responders

The key phrase here is " says all the right things".

My concern is with message management and this starts with the book and moves on to Mr. Alten's presentation in the msm.

Some seem to want to elevate Mr. Alten to be THE spokesperson for 9/11 truth in the msm. He is very new to 9/11 truth (as he has admitted) and his performance's to date have shown that he is not quite ready for prime time. Thus, some vetting and coaching is in order, yes?

You only get one chance to make a first impression.

I could care less about how much money he makes, that is not the point here (not for me, anyway).

As for truth weeks, I'd love to have a week when we bombard Mr. Waxman's offices all day, every day on behalf of Ms. Edmonds. Another week when we pound Congress on behalf of the first responders would be wickedly cool, too.

Keep up the great work, Jon!

The truth shall set us free. Love is the only way forward.

And I comment on it when I post. He is VERY Ruppert oriented (as I used to be), and states things as Ruppert would state them. I don't think he should state theories as fact, but rather put the facts out there on their own. Most of them speak for themselves. Rest assured, Steve Alten is NOT the person I would pick to be "THE spokesperson for 9/11 truth in the msm". I stated my picks above. I mean no disrespect to Steve.

(yea!, LOL)

While I know that Peak Oil is fact I would not lead with it or even feature it prominently in a short interview format. It scares the bejeebers out of most folks, especially in the present environment. Introducing folks to the questions of 9/11 is hard enough without terrorizing them with the implications of Peak Oil first.

I, too, have a real problem with his stating theories as facts.

It would be great if Mr. Alten could meet with a group of "old wise heads" from the movement and get a well-rounded education and create a carefully crafted message to take on the road.

I like your picks, keep up the great work and I hope to see you at a conference or event sometime before the fall election.

Cheers!

The truth shall set us free. Love is the only way forward.

He will be reading these comments that are meant to help him (most of them).

... so it would be quite difficult not to talk about that in the interviews...

I don't know, but to me he did well in the interview I watched.

Still, surely someone can contact Steve with the guidance presented here?

just not lead with it, is all I'm saying.

It all comes down to message management.

Cheers, Vesa!

The truth shall set us free. Love is the only way forward.

Sorry to disappoint, stallion, not a penny.

If Alten chooses to run an ad here it will be in the blog ads section.

It seems like every time I come here (for the last few months anyway) that there are multiple blogs for Steve Alten on the front page on a daily basis. IMO it reeks of a concerted effort to set this Alten guy up as the new 9/11 truth guru. Why I really don't know. Perhaps it's a financial reason. But whatever the reason may be, it doesn't appear to be uncoordinated.
____________________
"If I had just paid $20 million for the NIST report, I'd be asking for a refund!... The trouble with the NIST Report is that it isn’t even science because it's not capable of being verified or negated!" -Dr. Frank Greening

I can only speak for myself and I'm an unabashed supporter of Steve Alten and his book because I sincerely believe it is our best chance to break the mainstream glass ceiling. Already this interview on Philly ABC6 is proof of this on a small scale.