Communion: A True Story is a book by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 ufologist and horror

Horror fiction

Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

 author Whitley Strieber

Whitley Strieber

Louis Whitley Strieber is an American writer best known for his horror novels The Wolfen and The Hunger and for Communion, a non-fiction account of his perceived experiences with non-human entities. Strieber also co-authored The Coming Global Superstorm with Art Bell, which inspired the film about...

 that was first published in February 1987. The book is based on Strieber's alleged experiences with non-human, possibly extraterrestrial entities.

The book was later made into a film

Communion (1989 film)

Communion is a 1989 drama/thriller film based on the book of the same name by Whitley Strieber. Starring Christopher Walken and Frances Sternhagen, it tells a story of a family that experiences the extraterrestrial phenomenon while on vacation at a remote vacation home in the wilderness...

 directed by Philippe Mora

Philippe Mora

Philippe Mora is a French-born Australian film director. Born in 1949 to a German Jewish father and a French Jewish mother, he began making films while still a child.- Career :...

 and starring Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...

 as Strieber. A 2008 trade paperback edition presents a new preface by the author.

Strieber compares the "familiar" being he sees, whom he describes as female, to the Sumerian

Sumerian religion

Sumerian religion refers to the mythology, pantheon, rites and cosmology of the Sumerian civilization. The Sumerian religion influenced Mesopotamian mythology as a whole, surviving in the mythologies and religions of the Hurrians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and other culture...

 goddess Ishtar

Ishtar

Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is the counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:...

.

Cover art

The cover painting of an alien was rendered by Ted Seth Jacobs. The painting is considered one of the most widely-recognized popular culture images of a "grey" alien. "The Communion cover," Jacobs recounts,

"was painted in my small apartment on East 83rd St, in New York City. Whitley sat with me first for a drawing of the Alien. As I sketched, he would indicate how to change the portrait so that it would more match what he saw. It was, I believe, the process used by police sketch artists. Every last detail was corrected according to his instructions. At one point, he said the image corresponded exactly to what he had seen. With Whitley beside me for the subsequent session, I began to paint the image on a wooden prepared panel, going through the same process as for the drawing, until Whitley finally said the image was exact. ... As to the gender of the Alien image, to tell the truth, the subject didn't come up. I don't even know if the 'greys' have gender as we understand it. Whitley corrected the developing image to have a certain fragility, a vulnerability. I suppose we Earthlings usually associate these qualities with femininity."

Popular culture references

The band Pg. 99

Pg. 99

Pg. 99 was a screamo band from Sterling, Virginia on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. The band formed as a six-piece in fall 1997 and later expanded to an eight-piece...

's song "By the Fireplace in White" contains someone reading passages from the book at the end of the song.

Swedish progressive metal band Evergrey

Evergrey

Evergrey is a progressive metal band from Gothenburg, Sweden. The band was founded in 1995 and released its debut album The Dark Discovery in 1998. Their most recent album Glorious Collision was released in 2011.-Lyrical themes:...

 wrote their 2001 concept album, In Search of Truth

In Search of Truth

In Search of Truth is the third album by Swedish progressive metal band Evergrey. The album is a concept album dealing with alien abductions. According to an interview, frontman Tom S...

, around the ideas presented in Communion after the band's singer Tom S. Englund read the book.

The X-Files

The X-Files

The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...

episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space

Jose Chung's From Outer Space

"Jose Chung's From Outer Space" is the 20th episode of the third season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States on April 12, 1996, on FOX. It was written by Darin Morgan and directed by Rob Bowman...

" parodied the book cover.