THIS TRAGIC EARTH gives a unique, long-overdue look into the art and mind of Richard S. Shaver. Featuring a facsimile of an actual hand-made book proposal by Shaver, sent to Ray Palmer, this volume also contains literally hundreds of other, lost images taken from one-of-a-kind "rogfogo" or "rock books" by Shaver. These images, taken from photo exposures of slices of solid rock, contain eerie and inexplicable images of people, monsters, creatures, structures, and devices—images which defy all rational explanation. Shaver claimed that these "books" were records left in crystal holography by an ancient race of beings who preceded man on this planet, or were contemporary with our ancestors. Also featured are long-lost articles on how to find and create such images, written and illustrated by Shaver himself, along with unique correspondence, interviews, and other material that give a unique look into the mind and theories of Richard S. Shaver, his one-of-a-kind "outsider artwork", and his infamous "Shaver Mystery". Much of the additional material has not been seen for decades, and when it was available, it was not widely circulated and was only seen by a few people, particularly the explanations and theories which were written by Richard Shaver for science-fiction fanzines of the 1940s. The contents of this book should interest anomalies researchers, Forteans, paranormal enthusiasts and investigators, science-fiction historians and fans, and all those interested in "outsider art". Nothing as utterly dedicated to Shaver's own thoughts and artwork has ever been produced before.