From Orwell Prize winner Daniel Lavelle comes a wild road trip through the UFO heartlands into the dark heart of America

The US government has been investigating unidentified aerial phenomena in a secret division of the Department of Defence. President Obama admitted there are things happening in our skies that government cannot explain. A former intelligence official urged the US to disclose evidence of UFOs after saying the government has possession of ‘intact and partially intact’ alien vehicles. What, exactly, was going on?

Setting off on a road trip through the UFO heartlands to get some answers, Daniel Lavelle encounters government whistle-blowers and Harvard scientists who apparently have evidence of extra-terrestrial life, as well conspiracy theorists, amateur fanatics and Starseeds (those individuals who claim to be actual aliens), but where’s the line between a legitimate source and a harebrained grifter? He talks to those who claim to have been abducted by aliens, attends ‘sky watches’, as well as venturing into the fringes of the far-right and clandestine ranches run by the Pentagon where the truth – the long-awaited moment of disclosure – is jealously guarded.

Chasing Aliens is a wildly insightful journey into the dark heart of America, filled with adventure and hilarity, which will change how we think about UFOs, our (possible) neighbours in space and the ongoing search for meaning in a vast, unknowable universe.

About the Author

Daniel Lavelle is an Orwell Prize-winning freelance feature writer from Manchester. His first book, Down and Out, was published in 2022 and won a Royal Society of Literature award for non-fiction writing. He has covered topics such as mental health, homelessness and culture for the Guardian (where he co-authored the series ‘The Empty Doorway’), New Statesman and the Independent. He received the Guardian’s Hugo Young Award for an opinion piece on his experience of homelessness. ‘The Empty Doorway’ won Feature of the Year at the British Journalism Awards 2019 and was nominated for the same award at the National Press Awards 2020.