Area 51 novels

The Area 51 novels are a series of science fiction novels by American author Robert Mayer writing under the pseudonym Robert Doherty.

In the opening book of the series it is revealed that in the late 1940s 2 flying saucers (bouncers)and a mile long spacecraft with an interstellar drive is discovered in the remote Nevada desert, with information that leads to the locating of 7 more abandoned flying saucers (referred to as "Bouncers") hidden beneath the frozen tundra of Antarctica. As the massive "mothership" is too large to relocate, and so little is known about the alien technology, a secret military base is created around the area surrounding the mothership. This becomes known as Area 51. It is here that the United States government attempts for the next 60 years to try and unravel the secret of the alien technology, to obviously place it at an advatange over every other country on Earth.

Once information has been obtained by the base's commanding officer, General Gullick, an attempt is made to activate the mothership. When the ships drives are briefly activated, Dr. Werner Von Seeckt, a former Nazi scientist and original member of Majestic 12, gives a recounting of the history behind what he has seen since his involvement in the alien artifacts to Majestic 12's newest member (and the President's Scientific Adviser) Lisa Duncan. Von Seeckt reveals that there may have been a direct connection to the development of the first atomic bomb and an Airlia artifact that was found in the bowels of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The Airlia were a race of aliens that arrived on Earth thousands of years ago and it becomes quickly apparent that they had a profound influence on the development of human history. Von Seeckt feels that the flight of the mothership and the activation of the interstellar drives must be prevented at all costs. Confirming this fear we are introduced to an archaeologist named Professor Nabinger, whose studies on runes found in ancient Egypt have found a message that refers to "the power of the sun", "something forbidden", "home", "a chariot", and "death to all living things".

The hero of the series is a former Special Forces operative Mike Turcotte who joins the elite security force assigned to guarding Area 51 code named Nightscape. He knows nothing of the secrets the top-secret military instillation holds until he is caught up in the desperate series of events to stop the mothership flight after participating in a strange operation surrounding the government conspiracy aimed at keeping the American public in the dark lies in the Groom Lake complex.

The story then expands over the next 6 books to weave a more and more complex web of human history and Airlia influence that results in the unraveling of the ancient mysteries surrounding the pyramids, the Great Sphinx of Giza, Easter Island and its Moai and Rongorongo tablets, the Face on Mars in the Cydonia region, the Great Wall of China, the Foo Fighters, the Roswell UFO incident, the Tunguska event, the Black Death (also known as the bubonic plague), the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, Excalibur, and Stonehenge. The reader is taken all over the globe, visiting Africa's Great Rift Valley, the top of Mount Everest, Tunguska, an ancient Chinese tomb, and even into space as the events of the series unfold, eventually leading up to what will bring about World War III.

The final two books in the series ("Nosferatu" and "Legend") are related to the story, but do not follow the time line of the other books and for all intents and purposes "The Truth" is the conclusion of the main story.

"Nosferatu" is an attempt by Doherty to explain the origins of the myth of the vampire, owning it yet again to the alien race known as the Airlia. The first and last few chapters take place a few weeks after the events of "The Truth", but most of the action occurs in the past, in such locales as Egypt, Greece, Romania, and China. Because of the unusual timeframe, which does reveal plot elements from all previous books, knowledge of the mainstream Area 51 plotline is recommended.

"Legend" is similar in idea to "Nosferatu". Donnchadh and Gwalcmai are the main characters, and the book relates their adventures in Atlantis and ancient Earth to set up the major plot elements in Camelot.

Books

*"Area 51" (1997) ISBN 0-440-22073-4
*"Area 51: The Reply" (1998) ISBN 0-440-22073-4
*"Area 51: The Mission" (1999) ISBN 0-440-22381-4
*"Area 51: The Sphinx" (2000) ISBN 0-440-23494-8
*"Area 51: The Grail" (2001 ISBN 0-440-23495-6
*"Area 51: Excalibur" (2002) ISBN 0-440-23705-X
*"Area 51: The Truth" (2003) ISBN 0-440-23706-8
*"Area 51: Nosferatu" (2003) ISBN 0-440-23724-6
*"Area 51: Legend" (2004) ISBN 0-440-23725-4