Book Club Night Kit
Out Of The Shadows
Jay Stratton
Cozy night
A former senior U.S. intelligence official pulls back the curtain on official investigations into unidentified anomalous phenomena, and the result is a strangely intimate book about working on the edge of the unexplained. It is a pick that turns a living room into the best kind of late-night conversation.
Bring A Blanket, We're Talking About The Sky
Chili, cocoa, and one very strange book from a man who had the clearance to look. Come as early as you like and stay as long as you want.
Reading level: Moderate
Best for: A club that likes big questions asked gently, with second helpings and no need to win the argument
Discussion
Warm-up
- 1.Before we talk about the book at all: have you ever seen something in the sky you could not explain, and who was the first person you told?
- 2.Where were you while reading this, and did you find yourself wanting the lights on or the lights off?
Digging in
- 1.The book spends a lot of time on people who reported something and then waited to be taken seriously. Was there a moment in the reading that made you feel protective of those people?
- 2.How did it feel to hear this from someone on the inside rather than from a documentary or a podcast? Did that voice comfort you, or unsettle you a little?
- 3.Stratton writes about doing careful, unglamorous work on a subject most people giggle at. Have you ever cared quietly about something other people thought was silly?
- 4.Which chapter made you put the book down for a minute, not out of boredom but because you needed to sit with it?
Going deep
- 1.By the time you closed the book, did the universe feel lonelier or more crowded, and which of those two feelings is more comforting to you?
- 2.The book leaves plenty unresolved by design. Did you find that unfinished quality frustrating or oddly peaceful, and what does your answer say about how you live with uncertainty generally?
On the table & to sip
To eat
Night Watch Chili with cornbread
The food of long shifts and cold observation posts, made for bowls on laps and seconds for everybody.
Hangar Hash tater tot casserole
An unapologetic government-cafeteria classic, bubbling and golden, affectionately nicknamed for the hangars where the stories start.
Redacted brownies with sea salt
Dark, dense, and partially covered in a layer of powdered sugar, so some of it stays hidden. Easy to make the night before.
To sip
Starfield hot chocolate bar (no alcohol)
Warm cocoa with marshmallows, cinnamon sticks, and edible silver sprinkles so each mug looks like its own little sky. Fully non-alcoholic and the heart of the table.
Hot toddy, Hangar 1 style
Whiskey, honey, lemon, clove. The drink you nurse while describing something you cannot quite name.
Mulled cider with orange peel
Simmer it on the stove before anyone arrives so the house smells like autumn. Easy to spike by the mug for whoever wants it.
Run of show
7:00
Door open, cocoa bar first
Set out the hot chocolate bar before anything else. People settle faster with a warm mug in hand than with a seating chart.
7:20
Sky stories warm-up
Go around the room with the first warm-up question. Keep it to two minutes each and resist the urge to debate anybody.
7:40
Chili and casserole served
Serve in bowls so the conversation can keep going while people eat. Blankets on the arms of chairs, lamps on instead of overheads.
8:05
Theme questions, slow pass
Pick three of the four theme questions based on where the room is already leaning. Nobody has to answer every one.
8:45
Lights low, two deep questions
Dim the room, pour refills, and move to the deep questions. If the group goes quiet, let the quiet sit for a beat before rescuing it.
9:15
Trivia, brownies, scorecards
Easy, giggly close. Hand out brownies and scorecards together and let the last conversations drift on their own.
Host tips
- Say up front that nobody has to land on believer or skeptic tonight. The whole point of the cozy version is that you can hold the question loosely.
- Keep one or two readers who did not finish from feeling behind: tell them before they arrive that the warm-up and theme questions are safe for anyone at any page.
- Make the chili and brownies the day before. The only thing you should be doing at 6:50 is lighting candles and stirring cider.
Playlist
Slow, spacious, analog warmth. Synths that drift like clouds over a dark field, with enough hush that conversation stays easy.
- 01 An Ending (Ascent) - Brian Eno
- 02 Oracle - Hammock
- 03 Avril 14th - Aphex Twin
- 04 Nightswimming - R.E.M.
- 05 Sun - Caribou
- 06 Horizon Variations - Max Richter
- 07 Space Song - Beach House
- 08 Weightless - Marconi Union
Trivia
- 1.What does the acronym UAP stand for, the term the U.S. government now uses in place of UFO? (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (earlier rendered Unidentified Aerial Phenomena).)
- 2.Which U.S. Department of Defense office, established in 2022, is responsible for coordinating UAP investigations? (The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO.)
- 3.Is this book fiction or nonfiction? (Nonfiction. It is a firsthand account from a former senior U.S. intelligence official.)
- 4.What earlier Pentagon program name became widely known to the public after 2017 reporting on UAP? (AATIP, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.)
- 5.What branch of the U.S. military released the widely discussed 'Gimbal' and 'GoFast' UAP footage? (The U.S. Navy.)
- 6.In which year did U.S. Congress hold its first open public hearing on UAP in roughly half a century? (2022.)
- 7.Project Blue Book was the long-running U.S. Air Force UFO study. In what decade did it formally end? (The 1960s (it concluded in 1969).)
- 8.What term do insiders and this book's subject matter use for intelligence life that may not be of human origin? (Non-human intelligence, often shortened to NHI.)
Bookmarks
Print, cut, and tuck one at every seat, a small keepsake from the night.
“Keep the porch light on. Something is paying attention.”
Out Of The Shadows
Jay Stratton
bookclubnight.com
“Strange things are easier to carry in a heated kitchen.”
Out Of The Shadows
Jay Stratton
bookclubnight.com
“Some files stay open. So does this chair.”
Out Of The Shadows
Jay Stratton
bookclubnight.com
Rate the book
Coziness of the read☆☆☆☆☆
Sense of wonder☆☆☆☆☆
How much you trusted the narrator☆☆☆☆☆
Made me text somebody☆☆☆☆☆
Would recommend to a skeptic☆☆☆☆☆
One word for how this book left me: ______________________
The page I want to reread with a hot drink: ______________________
Believer, skeptic, or happily undecided tonight: ______________________
That's a wrap
Thank you for coming
We hope the company was good and the conversation even better. Until the next chapter.