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Collect All 21! Posted By Dustin on July 23, 2008
My good friend and fellow OSWCC member John Booth has published a book of Star Wars memories. Here's the full press release.
When I was in my mid-twenties, I was obsessed with the idea that there were still long-lost Star Wars toys lying hidden in the house where I grew up in Ohio. On visits home, I’d crawl into the darkness underneath the basement stairs, back into regions far too scary and cobwebbed to have braved as a kid, sweeping my hands along the cement floor, peering by flashlight into the corners. I’d lie on my stomach on the floor and stretch my arms underneath the cabinets where we still kept board games, and I’d squeeze back into the corner behind the water heater and poke my fingers into the track that held the sliding access door.
Collect All 21! Memoirs of a Star Wars Geek – The First 30 Years is the result of a year’s worth of similar searches, minus the actual dust and cobwebs.
In early 2007, with the 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars movie release coming up, I started keeping notes for a project I called in my head “Every Star Wars Memory I’ve Ever Had.” I carried notepads everywhere and wrote myself memory-jogging snippets like “Blue Snag Carnegie Library” and “Vader funhouse – William.”
I published the first resulting essay, “Where the Fun Begins” – a piece about not actually remembering the first time I saw Star Wars as a six-year-old in 1977 – on my website, FieldsEdge.com. Soon after, I adapted and recorded it as a commentary for WKSU, a Northeast Ohio affiliate of National Public Radio. Eleven more essays followed online as I revisited those early years of action figures and playground battles, through the Golden Age of The Empire Strikes Back and the goosebump thrill of seeing Return of the Jedi as a 12-year-old on opening night.
In addition to extensively polishing and extending those pieces for Collect All 21!, I expanded my mental explorations to take a look at how the Star Wars saga and my fandom evolved through the lean years when the movies were far from the mainstream consciousness, through my own difficult personal times in the early 1990s, and on into the Special Editions and the Prequel Era, when I experienced the films as a parent and shared them with my daughter.
The great thing was, along the way, the more I organized and collected these memories, the more I rediscovered. It was like all those times I’ve sat down with other Star Wars fans and talked about the fun we had as kids growing up absolutely nuts for these movies and toys and characters.
It’s my hope that sharing Collect All 21! with other Star Wars fans and members of the generation that grew up on Atari, Commodore 64s, Dungeons & Dragons and original MTV will revive long dormant memories from an era and passion we all share.
Collect All 21! Memoirs of a Star Wars Geek – The First 30 Years
Copyright 2008 by John Booth
122 pages, 6”x9” trade paperback
ISBN 978-1-4357-4376-2
About the author: John Booth is a northeast Ohio writer and graduate of Lake High School and Bowling Green State University. He has worked as a news reporter, blogger, columnist, feature writer and sports reporter. His articles have covered everything from interviews with the founding members of Devo to Pro Football Hall of Famers to trips to the American International Toy Fair and Star Wars Celebration III. John’s writing has been recognized by the Associated Press Society of Ohio, The Press Club of Cleveland, and the Ohio chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. He is also the author of the novel Crossing Decembers, available through Lulu.com.
Rebelscum Breast Cancer Awareness Charity Patch Posted By Philip on November 25, 2014: Thanks to everybody that ordered patches. I sent a check for $1,600.00 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation on Monday. While it's not as much as I hoped for, it's still very much appreciated. They will remain for sale in the store for anybody that still wishes to purchase them. Details after the jump.
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