THE GALAXY BRITAIN BUILT: The British Talent Behind Star Wars

David Whiteley

Foreword By Robert Watts: Star Wars Production Supervisor And Producer

Publisher: BearManor Media
Release date: December 11, 2019
ASIN: B081YKQ2P7

https://www.amazon.com/Galaxy-Britain-Built-British-hardback/dp/1629334995

David Whiteley's exploration into the behind-the-scenes British talent involved with the Star Wars franchise was first made public in a 1917 60-minute documentary broadcast over BBC television. Google the title The Galaxy Britain Built, and you'll hit on the YouTube and BBC trailers, videos, and interviews conducted by David Whiteley promoting the film throughout 2017 and especially 2018.

If you explore any of Whiteley's online videos or his new BearManor Media book, you'll quickly learn how proud he is to have been born on May 4, 1977, known to fans as Star Wars day. So, in his opinion, he grew up with the franchise and became devoted to investigating how so much Star Wars work took place in Elstree Studios in North London. Why London and not Hollywood? Costs. The studios didn't want to invest too heavily in a science-fiction film as sci-fi hadn't been big box office for them.

As it turned out, the British talent who worked on the films on the smallest of budgets and the tightest of schedules were just what the project needed, especially in terms of costumes, props, and sets. The results were so outstanding that lucas returned to Elstreet again and again, using as much of the original talent as he could retain.

Whiteley's book chronicles to beginnings of the British work in the hot summer of 1976 through undreamed of sequels produced decades later. The stories are built on interviews with participants even the most devoted Star Wars aficionados might not have heard of: These include Robert Watts, Les Dilley, Nick Maley, Roger Christian, Peter Beale, Gareth Edwards, Colin Goudie and Louise Mollo.

All of those involved contribute so many anecdotes about how the Star Wars mythos came to be. For example, Roger Christian tells us, "We called it the laser sword because we were British! I knew the lightsaber was the Excalibur of this film! I

knew it would be the iconic image . . . I went to Brunnings on Great Marlborough Street in London, whom we rented all our film equipment from: photography, anything we needed, and I’d buy equipment there. I just said to the owner, ‘Do you have anything here

that’s unusual, or stuff that might be interesting?’ He pointed me over to the side of the room. He said, ‘There’s a load of boxes under there, I haven’t

looked at those for years, go and have a rummage through.’ And it was the first box, it literally was covered in dust. It hadn’t been out for, I don’t

know, fifteen or twenty years. I pulled it out, opened the lid and there was tissue paper and then when I pulled it open . . . out came a Graflex handle from a 1940s press camera. I just took it and I went ‘There it is! This is the Holy Grail.’"

The Galaxy Britain Built is page-after-page of such nuggets and revelations. I imagine many diehard Star Wars fans will have heard many of these stories before. But I doubt all of them

Without question, you got to be a serious Star Wars fan to one degree or another to want to dive into this book, no matter how much you think you already know about the production history of the saga. It's a fast read as we get one short chunk of one interview, then another, then another, and so on. I definitely had a feeling I was taken behind the sets and scripts and actors to see how a galaxy far away had been built with a deepened sense of just how collaborative moviemaking is. If that sort of stuff is your cuppa tea, then David Whiteley's book is just for you.

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Sun. Jan. 12, 2020:

The Reluctant Healer

Andrew Himmel

Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press

 Release date: October 8, 2018

ISBN-10: 1626345309

ISBN-13: 978-1626345300

https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Healer-Andrew-D-Himmel/dp/1626345309

Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

Andrew Himmel's original debut novel is told with a fresh writing style,  an eccentric approach to his subjects and characters,  and a dry, wry wit, especially in the descriptions and observations expressed in the viewpoint of the novel's main character, New York attorney Will Alexander.

The main theme of The Reluctant Healer is the collision of Alexander's legalist, rationalist world view which is challenged when he meets the sexy New Ager Erica Wells. When they meet, Erica reveals she's an energy healer who can perceive Alexander has extraordinary abilities as a natural healer. Alexander doesn't accept that judgement but finds himself drawn to the beautiful woman who is an intellectual match for him even if her metaphysical beliefs are the polar opposite of his own.

Very reluctantly,  Alexander finds himself being put in situations where his natural energies seem to, in fact, cure all manner of diseases and afflictions. For Erica, natural healers like Alexander are badly needed in a new era where viruses are becoming immune to antibiotics and it's natural energy, energies found in everything, that can be cures when the afflicted are merely in Alexander's presence.

Alexander's journey takes him into all manner of circumstances including long motorcycle rides, theft of an opponent's cell phone, and situations that ultimately place him in legal jeopardy. To say more would be to swerve into the world of spoilers.

Himmel's style and tone are extremely cerebral and the book is not light reading.  It's a book with serious intent. In supplementary material at the end of the book, Himmel reveals much of the book's content was inspired by his own journey, very much like Alexander's, as the author' wife Michelle became interested in energy healing and pulled him into her realm of Universal Energy healing. Jumping off from his real-life experiences, Himmel claims his novel was ignited when he mused, "What if the conventional individual, rigid in his beliefs, developed the capability of healing others, even as he distrusted much of the alternative world? His struggle would become poignant and pronounced, because he would be grappling not just with tension in his relationship but also with internal conflict with phenomena that challenged both his sense of self and his worldview."

In a quiz prepared for readers with an academic bent, Himmel says, "The author believes that The Reluctant Healer is a bigger story about how we as human beings get along with and coexist with people who are different from—and  sometimes the complete opposite of— us."

It seems to me larger themes also include a modern twist on the conflicts between the rational and the mystical. In other words, The Reluctant Healer is a brain tickler designed to stimulate thought an reflection in Himmel's readers. He offers no answers, no final conclusions, advocates no point-of-view, and leaves the story open for a sequel already in progress.

Not a book for all readers, but certainly one for readers who like to digest what they read and be challenged by above average language choices, imaginative imagery,  and be willing to absorb the story slowly. I had to read it in chunks, always eagerly returning quickly to continue the flow.

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Nov. 27, 2019 at:

https://waa.ai/OQKw

On Sunday, Dec. 1,  Wes Britton will be signing books at the Cupboardmaker Bookstore in Enola, PA from 1:00-3:00 at:

157 N Enola Rd, Enola, PA

Phone: 

717-732-7288

(Directions below.)

"Finish off your Black Friday weekend with books from local authors, because signed books make great gifts! Join authors Joel Burcat, Wesley Britton, and C.S. Wachter to kick off the holiday season. All three authors will be signing their books and ready to talk to readers.

Joel Burcat is the author of the thriller Drink to Every Beast.  Find out more about Joel and his work at joelburcat.com

Wesley Britton is the author of the Beta Earth Chronicles, a six-book science fiction series.  Find out more about Wesley and his books at drwesleybritton.com

C.S. Wachter is the author of The Seven Words, a four-book Christian fantasy series, and its sequel A Weight of Reckoning.  Find out more about C.S. and her books at cswachter.com"

• From Interstate-81: Take the Enola/Marysville exit 21 onto 11/15 south. Go 1.8 miles and we are the large cinder block building with book spines painted on the sides.

• From Camp Hill: Take 11/15 north toward the Susquehanna River. Continue north on 11/15 at the river and travel about 3.1 miles. We are the large cinder block building with Books on the sides.

• From Interstate 83 North: Follow signs for Harrisburg, Lemoyne and 11/15 north. Once on 11/15 north travel approximately 5.1 miles toward Enola. We are the large cinder block building with Books on the sides.

See you then!

https://www.cupboardmaker.com/index.php/directions-contact-us

The Siege of Troy: A novel

Theodor Kallifatides

Translated from the Swedish edition by Marlaine Delargy

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: Other Press (September 10, 2019)  

ISBN-10: 159051971X

ISBN-13: 978-1590519714

https://www.amazon.com/Siege-Troy-Novel-Theodor-Kallifatides/dp/159051971X           

Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

It's been decades since I read Homer's The Iliad,  so my memory of it is extremely dim. I remember many of the stories, the abduction of Helen, the famous Greek warriors who besieged the city of Troy for 10 years, the use of poetic devices like the opening "Invocation to the Muse," the long descriptions of soldier's armor, etc.

Now, Swedish author Theodor Kallifatides has re-imagined the Iliad for modern readers and I suspect most non-scholars of Greek literature are going to prefer the new version. For one matter, all the poetic devices are stripped away and replaced by a much simpler prose narrative. For another, Kallifatides created a framework for his retelling that has a Greek schoolteacher recounting the story of The Iliad day-by-day to one of her classes during World War II when airstrikes repeatedly forced the class to run to nearby caves for protection.

The 1940s set part of the novel includes an ongoing love triangle as well as interactions between the German occupiers and local citizens. I'll confess, I was drawn into this story as much as the retelling of events in ancient Troy. It's a fresh approach even if the two storylines don't really parallel each other.

In regards to the old, old stories, I had forgotten just how bloody the war was. I was often surprised by the number of combatants. That many warriors, on both sides, dying in droves and droves? Seems historically doubtful, but I could be wrong.

I had also forgotten just how Achilles was a stubborn, selfish, and petulant figure. I didn't know his death by way of an arrow in his heel is not a story in the Iliad and thus not in The Siege of Troy either. The same is true of the Trojan Horse episode which wasn't told until Virgil's Aeneid. I didn't know that either until I did some homework to see why things in Homer's poem weren't in the Kallifatides reworking. Well, Kallifatides turns out to be a very faithful adapter of the ancient stories although he left many things out, mostly descriptions of the various armies and the quarrels between the gods which appear much less frequently in The Siege of Troy.

Author Theodor Kallifatides is actually Greek but immigrated to Sweden where his works are first published in Swedish. The Siege of Troy is his second work Translated by Marlaine Delargy, the first being the 2018 Another  Life. Sounds like a book I would like to explore as The Siege of Troy was one of my favorite readings of 2019. Hopefully, for you too.

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Sept. 25, 2019:

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The Marijuana Murders: A Nostalgia City Mystery #3 (Nostalgia City Mysteries)

Mark S. Bacon

Publisher: Archer & Clark Publishing (June 17, 2019)

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

ASIN: B07T94PKPM  

https://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Murders-Nostalgia-Mystery-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07T94PKPM

Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

It doesn't happen to me very often--in the first pages of The Marijuana Murders, I knew I was going to enjoy the ride. I was glad I stuck with it.

For one thing, much of the story is set in Nostalgia City--no, not the real museum in Myrtle Beach--but a fictional theme park in Arizona where everything is maintained in the state it was in the 1970s. Especially cars.

For another thing, the backdrop to the story is the competing interests of two movements wanting to legalize pot in Arizona; one wants to impose corporate control over pot sales and the other wants a looser, grow-your-own approach. Do their conflicting interests set the stage for murders in Nostalgia City? Toss in those opposed to legalizing pot at all and we get a number of competing perspectives. Everything is happening with major touches of the '70s mixed in with contemporary issues.

And right from the get-go, we are introduced to a stellar cast of characters revolving around the pivotal pair of Kate Sorenson, the Vice President of Public Relations for Nostalgia City walking around on alluring long legs, and Lyle Deming, former cop and now cab driver for visitors to the immense theme park. They assist official law enforcement when employees start dying in a refurbishing garage which turns out to be the center of a large-scale drug ring.   

Mark S. Bacon unwinds his mystery with a light tone and often humorous touches as parallel investigations get underway as various potential criminals are checked out, ruled out, pulled to the top of the suspect lists, and put Kate, Lyle, and Arizona police in deadly danger for unclear and unknown motives. Through it all, Mark Bacon keeps the pace fast-moving, the descriptions vivid, the setting unusual, the lead players interesting, the plot intriguing, and the surprises coming. You want more in a murder mystery?

I admit, after completing the third volume in the Nostalgia City yarns, I plan on going back and diving into volumes one and two and hoping for another round down the road.

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Sept. 11, 2019:

https://waa.ai/367T