New book : WATCHING SKIES - STAR WARS, SPIELBERG AND US

[Watching Skies 7]

Hi to all JWFN members. It is great to see such dedication and knowledge to the man who has scored more than just the movies. On that note The History Press and I would like to share word of a new book published now in the UK and September 1st 2018 in the US. John Williams is the spine and soul of this book. 

 

 

Mark O’Connell didn’t want to be Luke Skywalker. He wanted to be one of the mop-haired kids on the Star Wars toy commercials. And he would have done it had his parents had better pine furniture and a condo in California.

Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Superman didn’t just change cinema – they made lasting highways into our childhoods, toy boxes and video stores like never before.

In Watching Skies, O’Connell pilots a gilded X-Wing flight through that shared universe of bedroom remakes of Return of the Jedi, close encounters with Christopher Reeve, sticker album swaps, the trauma of losing an entire Star Wars figure collection and honeymooning on Amity Island.

From the author of Catching Bullets – Memoirs of a Bond Fan, Watching Skies is a timely hologram from all our memory systems. It is about how George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, a shark, two motherships, some gremlins, ghostbusters and a man of steel jumped a whole generation to hyperspace*.

*Action figures sold separately.

From examining his contributions to these key films, the soundtracks to broken homes and the VHS revolution to seeing the musical DNA from JANE EYRE all the way through to ATTACK OF THE CLONES, WATCHING SKIES is as much about John Williams as it is Spielberg, Lucas and Donner. It is about how 'Leaving Home' was exactly the cue going through the author's life and mind when he did just that, how the 'Love Theme from Superman' had to be played at a Pinewood Studios wedding, how 'ET and Me' scored a divorce and how a honeymoon on Amity Island couldn't help but hear those JAWS 2 harps at every street corner and beach rock.

Were it not for the work of Williams, this book and these movies would not exist with the same legacy they have today.

 

WATCHING SKIES - STAR WARS, SPIELBERG AND US is available now.

WATCHING SKIES on Facebook

WATCHING SKIES on Twitter

For more about WATCHING SKIES and author Mark O'Connell

 

 

 

[Bryant Burnette 747]

Catching Bullets is great, so I'm guessing this is, too.  Thanks for the heads-up!

[Watching Skies 7]

Hey Bryant - thanks for that! I never thought Catching Bullets would get mentioned on a JW fan site (!). Oh... now if he had done a Bond... #wishfulthinking

[crocodile 8,977]

There are quite a few Bond fans on this site. I have heard good things about Catching Bullets. Might be a good opportunity to check out both.

 

Karol

[Jack Gatehouse 0]

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