Patrick Abbott Tests Savannah Vampires, Alien Religions, and UFOs

Patrick Abbott takes St. Paul’s advice to "test everything" seriously, whether the subject is a scheming flapper vampire, an alien civilization’s faith or a 1946 ghost rocket over Scandinavia. Patrick returns to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Factory after his first visit, when he and Mookie dug into his novels Fallen and Risen. This time the two Substack buddies explore how a writer holds faith and skepticism in the same hand, and why a little absurdity keeps us sane enough to take the serious things seriously.  The conversation opens in Savannah, where Patrick's Paranormal Detective Agency serves as his annual Halloween release valve. He traces Debra, Max and Fred back to his attorney father, the video game Grim Fandango, Flannery O'Connor's "Christ-haunted" South, and the Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas. From there, Patrick explains why he takes UFO and ghost claims seriously enough to demand evidence. His grandfather's unexplained cattle mutilation made it personal, and an intelligence-community method taught him to weigh probability against confidence. He and Mookie take on a media landscape where institutions have collapsed and confirmation bias has rushed in to fill the vacuum. Then come the big questions: Pope Leo's take on AI, and why Patrick refuses to let a machine write his stories. Autonomous drones and the future of warfare. The Fallen saga, now growing into a four-book series, and the deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan that shaped its hero. Patrick tells the overlooked story of America getting it right: the Potawatomi and Pawnee alliances, Vice President Charles Curtis, and tea with tribal elders that accomplished what force couldn't. The episode closes on the Fermi paradox, possible traces of life on Mars, the 1946 ghost rockets over Scandinavia, Black Elk, and whether aliens might worship the same God we do. Grab Savannah Paranormal Detective Agency 1 and 2 on Amazon. Book 3 posts a new chapter every Wednesday this October at patrickabbott.net, with the finale landing on Halloween. The Guest Patrick Abbott writes speculative fiction and investigative nonfiction with a Catholic heart and an analyst's eye. His Fallen series (Fallen, Risen, Dormition, and the upcoming Assumption) is a psychological military sci-fi saga about first contact. It draws on his deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and his work with people living with combat-related PTSD. His comic paranormal series, The Savannah Paranormal Detective Agency, returns every October as his Halloween gift to readers. On Substack, he digs into UFO history, religion and culture with an evidence-first approach.  Find him at patrickabbott.net. Want to be on the show? Have feedback? Send Mookie a text! Support the show