Donna Kossy

Works

False Positive (1984–1988) In 1984, Kossy started publishing False Positive (1984–1988), a Xeroxed zine which ran for eleven issues. Each issue focused on one topic (such as technology, sex, Japan, cars, crime, kooks, food & drugs) and featured related book excerpts, satire, collages, drawings, etc. reprinting the "Manifesto of the Artistic Elite of the Midwest". Kossy said that her "career as a crackpotologist" started there with the "Kooks Pages" within each issue and the two special all-kooks issues.

Kooks Magazine (1988–1991) In 1988 , Kossy started publishing Kooks Magazine (1988–1991), now using offset printing and running for eight issues. A spinoff of the kooks pages of her zine, the collected book) and featured obscure "kooks" as well as some better-documented "cranks" such as reclusive Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko in its final issue (#8, November 1991).

In Factsheet Five, the zine magazine, founder-editor Mike Gunderloy described it as "A collection of bizarre literature and semi-scholarly research on kooks: those folks who have all the answers that science and the authorities have been trying to suppress. This issue features [...] progress towards a theory of kookdom." then reported one year later that it "keeps getting better; you can spend hours lost in the worldviews here." SubGenius and writer Richard Kadrey described it as "indispensable for anyone interested in the real bleeding edge of thought." Research for the topic even led Kossy to attend a recruitment meeting of Heaven's Gate (when it was calling itself Human Individual Metamorphosis), by the Los Angeles Times, "indispensable for anyone interested in the real cutting edge of thought" by the San Francisco Chronicle, and a "delight" Jay Kinney, publisher of Gnosis Magazine, found it "Compulsively readable. The 'kooks' collected in this volume are our true American originals and Donna Kossy chronicles their jaw-dropping messages with a rare mix of objectivity, sympathy, and wit." And a 1995 Wired review described Kossy as "an expert on kooks [who] has a genuine, if sometimes uncomfortable, affection for her subjects."

Kooks Museum (1996–1999) In 1996, Kossy founded and curated on her web site the Kooks Museum (an online summary and extension of her book Kooks, updated until mid-1999 when it was discontinued

The Museum was listed in the MetroActive guide to "the most interesting, unusual, weird or otherwise alternative sites on the World Wide Web" by journalist and writer on conspiracies Jonathan Vankin, who named Kossy "the unchallenged authority on, well, kooks."

Book Happy (1997–2002) In 1997, Kossy started editing and publishing Book Happy (1997–2002), a printed magazine which ran for seven issues. Written by Kossy and others (recurrent contributors includes Greg Bishop, Ken DeVries, Dan Howland, Dan Kelly, John Marr, Chris Mikul, David C. Morrison, Chip Rowe, Brian Tucker, Robert Tucker), it was dedicated to reviewing "weird and obscure books". ) an online used book business specializing in unusual and hard-to-find items, with inventory listed on various book listing sites including Abebooks, Biblio, Alibris, Choosebooks and others. Book Happy was reviewed positively by English artist Mark Pawson (creator of Die-Cut Plug Wiring Diagram Book) in a 1999 review for the British cultural magazine Variant.

Strange Creations (2001) In 2001, Feral House published Kossy's second full-length book, Strange Creations: Aberrant Ideas of Human Origins from Ancient Astronauts to Aquatic Apes (right after reprinting Kooks in an expanded edition). As of August 1998, Kossy had already announced the manuscript for her second book as being finished (with a tentative title balancing between "Aberrant Anthropology" and "Nazis, Saucers and Aquatic Apes") to Booklist and from the Washington City Paper to Counterpoise. In a mixed review, the New Scientist noted that "Donna Kossy's Strange Creatures [sic!] is about people who have spent rather more time on these problems than most, visiting some of the weirder reaches of the human imagination". And Rev. Ivan Stang remarked: "To write entertainingly for 'nonkooks' about so-called kooks, crackpots, and possible visionaries requires walking a tightrope between tolerant understanding of 'outsider' psychology and graceful sarcasm, balancing both a solid grounding in the mainstream scientific paradigm, and a healthy distrust of the status quo." In her own words, Kossy has stated, "I seek not to debunk strange ideas, but to present them as a necessary segment of the full spectrum of human thought."

Kossy is currently focused on her bookselling business and from November 2007 to September 2008 wrote a blog, "The Cutthroat World of Book Scouting" (http://bookhappy.easyjournal.com , which chronicled her experiences in the book trade.

Publications

Magazines 1984–1988: False Positive #1–11 (a.k.a. False Positive Magazine) 1 (1984), #2–4 (1985), #5–8 (1986), #9 (1987), #10–11 (1988). Allston, MA (Boston, MA for #1): Out-of-Kontrol Data Korporation, no ISSN . 8½" × 11", Xeroxed zine, about 20–52 p., was $3. 1988–1991: Kooks Magazine #1–8 (alias The Original Donna Kossy's Kooks Magazine for #1–4) 1 (1988), #2–4 (1989), #5–6 (1990), #7–8 (1991). Allston, MA: Out-of-Kontrol Data Institute, . 8½" × 11", offset magazine (except #1, 5½" × 8½", Xeroxed), 20–40 p., was $3–$5. – The OCLC's start date is incorrect. 1997–2002: Book Happy #1–7 (a.k.a. Book Happy Magazine) 1 (1997), #2–3 (1998), #4 (1999), #5 (2000), #6 (2001), #7 (2002). By Donna Kossy (ed., reviews) & various (reviews); Portland, OR: Book Happy, no ISSN . 8½" × 11", offset magazine, total 232 p., was $6.

Books 1994: Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief Portland, OR: Feral House. (1st ed. pbk., 254 p., May 1994, ) and (1st ed. hbk., 254 p., May 1994). Reissued by Los Angeles: Feral House, (2nd exp. ed. pbk., 287 p., May 2001) — Collects material from her Kooks Magazine. The 2nd ed. was expanded with 1995's Kooks Outtakes. 1995: Kooks Outtakes [supplement] 8½" × 11", 36 p. – Material cut from Kooks due to space, later added to its 2nd edition. 1996: The Kooks Museum [online] Web site , updated 1996–1999 (archived mid-1999), formerly at www.teleport.com/~dkossy, now at https://web.archive.org/web/20080215015348/http://www.pacifier.com/~dkossy/kooksmus.html — Updated summary and extension of Kooks. 2001: Strange Creations: Aberrant Ideas of Human Origins from Ancient Astronauts to Aquatic Apes Los Angeles: Feral House. (1st ed. pbk., 264 (x, 253) p., June 2001).