Dan Aykroyd will make his literary debut with a novel coming later this year, People magazine reports.
Harper will publish the actor and comedian’s Soulhider in the fall. The press calls the novel a “mind-bending, page-turning speculative adventure about a regular guy caught up in a battle between warring aliens, told with equal doses of humor, suspense, and cosmic intrigue.”
Aykroyd first rose to fame as one of the original writers and cast members of Saturday Night Live, which he starred in for four seasons. He went on to act in films including The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Spies Like Us, Dragnet, and Coneheads, all of which he co-wrote.
He has had a longstanding interest in the paranormal, particular UFOs, a theme he will explore in Soulhider. The novel follows Doug Beeston, an insurance adjuster in New York state contacted by aliens who want him to hide human souls they have harvested. He eventually realizes the aliens are using him as a pawn.
“Channeling Dan Aykroyd’s signature hilarious wit and deep fascination with the supernatural, Soulhider is a high-stakes, hilarious ride that only he could write, exploring the unseen forces shaping our world—both terrestrial and otherwise,” Harper says.
“My writing of this novel was motivated by two factors,” Aykroyd told People. “As an experiencer, a close-up witness of two vivid separate UFOs/UAPs [unidentified aerial phenomena], my curiosity was stimulated by who might be operating these hyper-advanced airborne platforms and what an average person would do if contacted by these beings.”
Soulhider is slated for publication on Oct. 27.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
