John Anthony West (September 7, 1932 – February 6, 2018) was an American author and lecturer and a proponent of the

Sphinx water erosion hypothesis The Sphinx water erosion hypothesis is a fringe claim, contending that the Great Sphinx of Giza and its enclosing walls eroded primarily due to ancient floods or rainfalls, attributing their creation to Plato's lost civilization of Atlantis ov ...

. His early career was as a copywriter in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and science fiction writer. He received a Hugo Award Honorable Mention in 1962. After recovering from cancer, West died from pneumonia at the age of 85.

Sphinx hypothesis

In 1979, in his book ''Serpent in the Sky'', he expanded on the ideas of French mystic and alternative Egyptologist Schwaller de Lubicz, suggesting the Great Sphinx of Giza had been eroded by Nile floods after being created 15,000-10,000 BC by

Atlanteans As an adjective, Atlantean (or Atlantian) means "of or pertaining to Atlas or Atlantis". Atlantean may also refer to: * Atlantean figures, a type of ancient artifacts * ''Atlantean'' (documentary series), a trilogy of TV films discussing the or ...

. Ten years later he teamed up with geologist Robert M. Schoch, seeking validation for his ideas. Schoch initially made the more conservative estimate of between 7,000 and 5,000 BC but later pushed his minimum estimate back to 10,000 BC. This challenged the conventional dating of the carving of the statue to circa 2500 BC. In 1993, the work of West and Schoch was presented by Charlton Heston in an

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

special called '' The Mystery of the Sphinx'', which won a

News & Documentary Emmy Award The News & Documentary Emmy Awards, or News & Documentary Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...

for Best Research and a nomination for Best Documentary.

Criticism

Peter Green of the University of Texas at Austin has been critical of West. In a 1979 exchange of letters in the ''

New York Review of Books New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

'', Green drew attention to what he considered to be numerous problems with West's work, including unconscious prejudices, "wildly speculative" ideas and lack of scientific evidence, as well as a tendency towards conspiracy theories in lieu of orthodox Egyptology."Secrets of the Pyramids"
''New York Review of Books'', December 20, 1979: Retrieved March 27, 2016

Works

West's writing career spanned two periods. The first half lasted from 1961 to 1980 as a science fiction short story writer; and the second half was from 1980 to 2007 as a non-fiction book author. He won an Honorable Mention for Best Short Fiction towards the 1962 Hugo Award for his early short story "The Fiesta at Managuay" (1961).

Science fiction

:;Short stories *"The Fiesta at Managuay" (1961); ::first appearing in the collection book ''Call Out the Malicia'', 1961 (UK); ::then ''

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher ...

'', December 1961 (US); ::then ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'', April 1962 (UK), Vol. 3, No. 5; also as :::"La Fiesta de Managuay"

rench The Rench is a right-hand tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau ( Central Baden, Germany). It rises on the southern edge of the Northern Black Forest at Kniebis near Bad Griesbach im Schwarzwald. The source farthest from the mouth is that of the ...

(1964) *"George" (1961); also as :::"Il Piede di George" talian(1962) :::"La Fin d'un Homme"

(1964) *"Gladys's Gregory" (1963), ::''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'' (US), February 1963, Vol. 24 #2, issue 141; also as :::"Un mari à l'Engrais"

(1964) :::"Le Gregory de Gladys"

(1976) :::"Gladys' Gregory" erman(1989) *"A Case History" (1973) *"The Fox and the Hedgehog" (1979) *"The Emperor's New Clothes" (1980) :;Novel *John Anthony West, ''Osborne's Army'', Eyre & Spottiswoode (Publishers Limited), 1966; Penguin #2861, softcover, London, 1969.

Books

''Call Out the Malicia'' is West's first published book and is a collection of his short stories. ;Fiction *John Anthony West, ''Call Out the Malicia'', Heinemann, London, UK, 1961 (book cover red eyes); E. P. Dutton, New York City, 1963 (book cover green eyes); both hardcover. A collection of 10 short stories of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. ;Non-fiction *John Anthony West & , ''The case for astrology'', Quest Books, 1970 *John Anthony West, ''Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt'', Quest Books, 1979 *John Anthony West, ''The Traveler's Key to Ancient Egypt: A Guide to the Sacred Places of Ancient Egypt'', Quest Books, 1996 *John Anthony West & Laird Scranton ''The Science of the Dogon: Decoding the African Mystery Tradition'', Quest Books, 2006 *John Anthony West & Laird Scranton, ''Sacred Symbols of the Dogon: The Key to Advanced Science in the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs'', Quest Books, 2007 *David Solomon & John Anthony West (editor), ''The Dead Saints Chronicles: A Zen Journey Through the Christian Afterlife'', Dead Saints Media, 2016

Video

*''Ancient Egypt Mystery Schools'', Unusual Accomplishment, LLC., 2015 *''Magical Egypt: A Symbolist Tour of Ancient Egypt'', 8 episodes, Cydonia Inc., 2001

References

External links

*
'A Tribute to John Anthony West'
- Robert M. Schoch (2018)
Interview w/Ray Grasse (90s)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:West, John Anthony Writers from New York City 1932 births 2018 deaths Place of death missing American male writers Atlantis proponents Pseudohistorians