Mac Tonnies | |
|---|---|
| Born | 20 August 1975 |
| Died | 22 October 2009 (aged 34) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Writer |
Mac Tonnies (20 August 1975 – 22 October 2009[1]) was an American author and blogger whose work focused onfuturology,transhumanism and paranormal topics.
Tonnies grew up inIndependence, Missouri, and attendedWilliam Chrisman High School andOttawa University.[2] He lived in Kansas City, Missouri. Tonnies had an active online presence and a "small, but devoted" readership, but supported himself by working at Starbucks and other nine-to-five jobs. In 2009 he died ofcardiac arrhythmia at the age of 34.[1]
His first book, a collection of science fiction short stories titledIllumined Black, was published by Phantom Press Publications in 1995, when Tonnies was in college.[2][3] It carried a cover blurb byBruce Sterling and was positively reviewed inBooklist.[2] His second book,After the Martian Apocalypse, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2004.[4] His third book,The Cryptoterrestrials, was published posthumously by Anomalist Books in 2010.[5]
In November, 2012, Redstar Books published the first volume ofPosthuman Blues, which contains excerpts from Tonnies' long-running blog of the same name.[6] In the introduction, historian Aaron John Gulyas writes that, "Posthuman Blues is of a piece with the Lost Generation of the 1920s and the Beat Generation of the 1950s. Tonnies spoke for his generation with passion, eloquence, and a rare insight."[7]
In 2007 the playDoing Time, which he co-wrote with Canadian filmmakerPaul Kimball (who was working on a documentary about Tonnies),[8] premiered inHalifax,Nova Scotia.[9] He also appeared in the documentaryBest Evidence: Top 10 UFO Sightings,[10] and an episode of the Canadian television seriesSupernatural Investigator.[11]
His blog, "Posthuman blues" was described byThe Pitch as "one of Kansas City's best blogs, filled with well-written, intelligent takes on offbeat news items and humorous rants from a left-leaning political perspective."[2]
He appeared onCoast to Coast AM in September 2009,[12] and was a frequent guest onThe Paracast.[13]
Tonnies developed the cryptoterrestrial hypothesis in his blog, and later in his third and last bookCryptoterrestrials, which was published posthumously with a foreword byNick Redfern. In it, Tonnies proposes that the beings that are speculated to be behindUFOs andalien abductions are actually mysterious and secretive races of earthly origin, technically speaking a type ofcryptid (hence the name, fromAncient Greek: κρυπτός,kryptós "hidden, secret" andLatin:terrestris, "related to the Earth"). According to Tonnies' theory, these races have existed on Earth for at least as long as humanity, and present themselves as extraterrestrials or occult beings.This theory has some elements in common with certain aspects of theInterdimensional UFO hypothesis, such asJacques Vallée's control system,[14] something Tonnies himself remarked in his work multiple times.[15] Some[who?] have also suggested that it is an extension of the ideas ofRichard Shaver.
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