In 1997, Nickell, with Kendrick Frazier and Barry Karr, published "The UFO Invasion", an anthology of UFO articles written for the "Skeptical Inquirer" covering the topic from history and abductions to Roswell and crop circles. The editors included six of Nickell's articles in the book. Nickell explained the physiology of alien abduction stories, "People claiming to be abducted by aliens is such an astonishing thing that you think they have either be crazy or lying, and in fact they may be perfectly sane and normal. ... They probably were having these powerful waking dreams. ... In this state, they tend to see bizarre imagery. ... The other kind of experience is hypnosis. ... Hypnosis is the yellow brick road to fantasy land."