New Pop Culture Book, Watching Skies from Mark O’Connell

For those that are interested in the amazing world of pop culture (including Star Wars, but not limited to…), then Mark O’Connell is about to release a book you might be interested in. Check out the press release below, and look for the book to hit Amazon September 1st (for those in the US).

As Ready Player One and Stranger Things prove the retro might of VHS era cinema, Watching Skies: Star Wars, Spielberg and Us is a universal and affectionate tale about the pop cultural remembrances stuck in all our R2 unit’s memory systems.

Like many a British kid in an ‘80s world of VCRs, Reagan and Atari, Mark O’Connell wanted to be one of the mop-haired kids on the Star Wars toy commercials. Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman and of course Star Wars weren’t just changing cinema – they were making lasting highways into our childhoods, toy boxes and video stores like never before.

In this energetic and insightful memoir-through-cinema, O’Connell flies a gilded X-Wing through a universe of bedroom remakes of Return of the Jedi, close encounters with Christopher Reeve, sticker album swaps, a honeymoon on Amity Island and the trauma of losing an entire Star Wars figure collection.

A unique study on how a rich galaxy of movies continue shaping big and vital cinema to this day, Watching Skies is for all Star Wars kids – whatever their era.

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 not included).

Mark O’Connell is an award-winning writer and author. As a comedy writer he has written for a wide range of actors, performers, titles, and media. As a warm-witted pop culture pundit, he has written and guested for Variety, Sky Movies, The Times, The Guardian, OUT magazine, Channel Four, Five, Yahoo Movies and across BBC radio and television. He was one of the official storytellers of London 2012, owns one tenth of a BAFTA, once got praised by the Coen Brothers, and now travel writes. He is the author of Catching Bullets: Memoirs of a Bond Fan.

Note: If you purchase one of the awesome products featured above, we earn a small commission from the retailer. Thank you for your support.