Martin Keller, who grew up in Dickinson, has written a memoir on the topic of UFOs.

Nearly 52 years ago on Oct. 24, 1968, military members from Minot Air Force Base in the missile field and a B-52 bomber reported sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

Martin Keller, who grew up in Dickinson in the 1960s, includes the sightings at Minot AFB plus information about renown UFO researchers and others in his new book, “The Space Pen Club.”

A former pop culture journalist, published author and unproduced screenplay writer, for the past 25 years, Keller, of Minneapolis, has worked as a public relations specialist, including a stint for The Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI).

Keller said he wrote the book for several reasons.

“I’ve had a lifelong interest in outer and inner space generally and the UFO topic specifically. I’ve had several sightings – including two growing up in Dickinson, North Dakota – and some genuinely ‘high strangeness’ events in my Minneapolis home in the ’90s. These are all recollected in the book and are part of the greater narrative, which includes trying to determine if all, or some, are possibly related to the ET (extraterrestrial) world, or if they are part of some uncharted reality or paranormal realm that we have yet to understand. It could be both,” he said.

In noting he was the media liaison for Dr. Steven Greer’s Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) and its Close Encounters of the 5th Kind Initiative (human-initiated contact) and a public disclosure process, he said, “Part of the book is set in that period, where we had some intriguing adventures in the volcano zone of Mexico, on a South Dakota Indian reservation, in the nation’s capital and elsewhere.

“But ‘The Space Pen Club’ book also includes the more recent official government initiatives to be more transparent about the UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena/UFO issue, especially since the 2017 New York Times front page story about a secret government program to study ‘the phenomenon,’ and the subsequent release of the so-called Tic Tac videos and the international media coverage that ensued up until the nine-page government ‘report’ dropped on June 25, 2021. Unfortunately for many, it revealed very little, other than the public’s — and finally the media’s — appetite for conclusive answers, evidence and strategy for dealing with this complex subject,” Keller said.

The book took Keller 10 years to write, although it was not a continuous project. He wrote two other books during that time — “HIJINX & HEARSAY: Scenester Stories from Minnesota’s Pop Life,” his memoir “about covering the torrid Twin Cities music and comedy scenes from the late ’70s to the early ’90s.” His other book was a private project for someone he knew with the music business.”

The book is finished but Keller said in many ways he’s still writing it. He said his semi-regular blog www.thespacepenclub.com is “an extension of the many themes found in the book.

“The Space Pen Club” includes an endorsement from fellow UFO ‘enthusiast’ Dan Aykroyd. The book is available at Amazon or Kindle.