The annual Fortean Times 'UnConvention' is scheduled for the weekend of November 1 and 2 this year, at the University of Westminster in London. Speakers include some of our good friends: Mark Pilkington of Strange Attractor, The Anomalist's Patrick Huyghe, Theo Paijmans, Jon Downes, David Clarke and Andy Roberts. You can purchase tickets through the website. Anybody want to shout me an airfare to London...

The latest issue of Fortean Times (#239) is now on news-stands, with the usual collection of articles on the strange and msyterious:

• Origins of the Illuminati: The hidden history of the most notorious conspiracy of all time.
• Irish Wildcat: Uncovering the real identity of a weird, elusive and often controversial cryptid.
• White Witch of Rose Hall: Does the vengeful spirit of a cruel and sensual murderess haunt the Caribbean mansion that was once hers?
• Intelligent Dinosaurs: The debate over hypothetical big-brained dinosaurs, and the feathery new kid on the smart dino block.
• Motty - An Elephant Surprise: The son of an Asian and African elephant, born in Chester Zoo in 1978.

Full details, and free articles from archived issues, are available at the FT website.

The good folk at New Dawn Magazine have released their annual 'Special Issue' (#5 in the series), and is chock-full of the strange and mysterious:

UK authors John Pickering & Katie Hall examine the phenomenon of Orbs, asking is the veil to the Spirit World lifting? The world’s leading expert on sacred sites Freddy Silva looks at Crop Circles and Sacred Geometry. NASA whistle-blower & best selling author Richard Hoagland speaks out about the US space agency’s secret agenda. Kosta Kovalenko introduces the story of Anastasia and the Ringing Cedars of Russia. There’s Neil Freer on the Anunnaki & Zecharia Sitchin on Adam’s Alien Genes. Also Victoria LePage on Javanese mysticism & Louis Proud on Hungry Ghosts.

Ordering details are available at the website. New Dawn have been terrific supporters of The Daily Grail over the past couple of years, so if the above content interests you, why not return the favour.

Update: David from New Dawn informs me that they have now made this issue available in electronic format - for just $US5, you can download the PDF of the complete issue.

The latest issue of Fortean Times (#238) has been released on news-stands, so pick yourself up a copy if the contents catch your eye:

• The Golem of Prague: Seeking the truth behind the ghetto legend - and the secrets in the attic.

• Spring-heeled Jack in Liverpool: The bogeyman who terrorised Victorian streets.
• Retro UFO Conference: Journeying back to Giant Rock.
• When Aliens go to College: What happens when fortean subjects get the academic treatment?
• Central Park in the Dark: Conspiracies, cockatrices, Martians and monster koi carp in the middle of Manhattan.

Full details, and archived material from previous issues, are available at the FT website.

The latest issue of New Dawn (#108) has been released, and the ND website has the list of articles with a few freebies thrown in online:

• "The Beijing Games, Confucius and the Very Great US Depression", by Reg Little.
• "The “Bloody” Baron von Ungern-Sternberg", by Richard Spence.
• "GM Foods: Are We the Global Test Tube", by Huw Griffiths.

Full details at the ND website.

The latest issue of Fortean Times (#237) has been released, and as is to be expected at this time, the cover story is on the crystal skulls. Plenty of other topics covered as well though:

For this issue we sent Gordon Rutter the nearest thing we could find to Indiana Jones - in search of the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the truth behind one of the 20th century's most popular and enduring mysteries. And we look back at the history of forteanism, with an extract from Jim Steinmeyer's new biography of Charles Fort and an overview of America's trailblazing "Fate" magazine.

Also this month we tell of the strange events of 170 years ago when the last armed uprising in Britain took place outside a small village near Canterbury, puzzle over the unsolved mystery of an unknown aircraft repeatedly spotted in Scandinavian skies in the 1930s, wonder how Romanian office workers could have taken two days to notice that one of their colleagues had died at her desk, and go all warm and fuzzy over stories of animals looking after their fellow creatures.

Full details via the above link. As always plenty of archived articles and other features at the Fortean Times website.

The latest issue of New Dawn magazine has been released, and as usual there are a few free articles to give you a taste for the entire mag.

• "The British Occult Secret Service": Since the days of Queen Elizabeth I the British secret service has had a strange relationship with the world of magic and the occult - Michael Howard investigates.
• "The Financial Tsunami (Part 1)": Author and economist F. William Engdahl takes a behind the scenes look at the economic collapse now underway and the origins of the global financial system.
• "G.I. Gurdjieff & the Hidden History of the Sufis": Victoria LePage sheds light on the little known influence of the Sufi mystical tradition and its connection to the remarkable spiritual teacher George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff.
• "The Masters of Gary Renard": Around Christmas of 1992, Gary Renard had an extraordinary life-changing meeting with a man and a woman who claimed to be ascended masters. Richard Smoley investigates his incredible story.
• "In Search of Invisible Masters": The arcane lore of the East tells of an ancient community of wise men who possess divine knowledge and mystic powers. Mehmet Sabeheddin examines the role played by Hidden Masters in the Western esoteric tradition.

Full details, including subscription instructions, at the ND website.

The latest issue of Fortean Times (#236) has been released, with articles on 'the copycat effect', magic numbers, crop circles and 'Mrs Satan'. You can pick up a copy at good newsagents, or alternately you could subscribe to the mag. As always, plenty of archived free content on the website (though registration may be required).

The latest issue of Fortean Times has been released (#235), here's a quick rundown of the content within:

• The Last Alchemist: Has Art Kunkin created the mythical Philosopher's Stone?
• Infectious Insanity: How the concept of folie à deux could be useful to fortean investigators
• Localised Weirdnesss: A critical look at the notion of 'Window Areas'
• Walking in the Shadow of Sasquatch: Would you tell anyone if you saw Sasquatch?
• China's War on Terror: The Chinese authorities' clampdown on aliens, demons, ghosts and other evil entities

As always, plenty of older content can be found freely available on the FT website (though user registration may be required).

The website of Nexus magazine has had a complete (and much needed) redesign, and now is a lot easier to navigate. New features abound, not least a new multi-language capacity, and also the ability to purchase individual articles from the magazine in electronic format, direct from the website. Nexus covers...

...health breakthroughs, future science and technology, suppressed news, free energy, religious revisionism, conspiracy, the environment, history and ancient mysteries, the mind, UFOs, paranormal and the unexplained.

While at the new website, check out the contents list for the latest issue of the mag, Volume 15 No. 3.