The following books are all
compilations of pop-culture essays to which Charlie has contributed.
They are all part of the SmartPop series by BenBella
Books.
-- Getting Lost -- Halo Effect -- King Kong Is Back! --
-- Revisiting Narnia -- So Say We All -- The Unauthorized X-Men --
Getting
Lost
Survival,
Baggage and Stating Over in J.J. Abrams' Lost
Want to get Lost?
From the moment of its launch, Lost broke new ground, delighting fans and critics alike. Thanks to the show's unbelievable plot twists and brilliant writing, millions of people find themselves Lost every week.
Getting Lost takes on this television phenomenon, exploring every part of the mysterious island and the survivors living on it. From Hurley's place in the island hierarchy to how Lost is like the classic story Canterbury Tales, from the complicated love stories to how this just may be the same island Gilligan washed up on years ago, Getting Lost leaves no mystery unsolved.
In Getting Lost there is something for everyone, and just like the hit show it celebrates, this book will amaze and intrigue.
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Charlie's essay: "Staying Lost"
Halo
Effect
An
Unauthorized Look at the Most Successful Video Game of All Time
You’re the lone survivor of a genetically engineered race of super-soldiers, trying to save humanity from the vicious Covenant. You’ve got a voice in your helmet, a potentially genocidal robot on your ship, and enemies on your tail. But then you put down the controller. You haven’t been at war, you’ve simply been consumed by Halo, the first-person shooter that transformed the landscape of gaming. Halo and Halo 2 shattered sales records and swept gamers deep into a fictional galaxy full of danger and deceit. Millions of players stepped up to the controls to become the Master Chief, captivated by the graphics, storyline, and innovative gameplay.
Now, in Halo Effect, science fiction authors, gaming journalists, scientists, critics, and even fellow gamers explore Halo’s hold on players and its influence on the world of gaming: how do the armed forces use video games to train our troops? How would Halos actually exist in space? Do you ever really have to grow up and set gaming aside? How is Halo a prime example of how science is more closely tied to religion than we thought? What’s behind the helmet of the superhuman Master Chief is a mystery. What’s behind Halo is the story of the most popular video game of all time.
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Charlie's essay: "Broken Halos: Science, Religion, and Ethics in Halo"
An Unauthorized Look at One Humongous Ape
New Non-Fiction Anthology King Kong Is Back! is an Abomination
Editor David Brin
NEW YORK -- King Kong is one of the great icons of world culture, deserving of serious academic scrutiny. A proper analysis of the great ape would be appropriately intellectual and obscure, bristling with footnotes, and opaque to all but the most determined of scholars. Instead we get this, a collection accessible to even the most unscholarly reader. David Brin, an acclaimed and much respected science fiction author who really should have known better, has assembled an anthology full of travesties.
Yes, this book is entertaining, insightful and even funny. But will it lead to any doctoral theses on King Kong? Will it spawn any Chairs of Big Ape Studies at major universities? Will any of the essays merit publication in the esteemed Journal of Excessively Large Primates? Unlikely indeed.
Read this book, if you like. Enjoy it, if you must. But please don't kid yourself. This volume will never be considered an appropriately dignified contribution to the world of King Kong scholarship.
No matter how much fun it is.
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Charlie's essay: "Of Gorillas and Gods: The Kong-flict of Nineteenth-Century Thought and Twentieth-Century Man"
Fantasy, Myth and Religion in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles
C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia have stimulated imaginations for more than half a century, inspiring childhood wonder, earnest faith and spirited debate regarding Christian doctrine. Widely studied and revered, Lewis' Chronicles are structured around deep paradigms and resounding questions: How do the books form such an intimate, personal bond with readers both young and old? Does Narnia betray some hidden Universalism in Lewis' theology? What are we to think of the evil dark-skinned Calormenes from the South who seem to represent the Arab race? What really prevented Susan from entering Narnia? What does Aslan's characterization as a "tame lion" say about Lewis' thoughts on providence?
In an enchanting and thorough exploration of all things theological and mythological in the Chronicles, Revisiting Narnia takes you well beyond the Stable Door.
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Charlie's essay: "The Silver Chair and the Silver Screen: C.S. Lewis on Myth, Fairy Tale and Film"
An Unauthorized Collection of Thoughts and Opinions on Battlestar Galactica
Time Magazine has called the new Battlestar Galactica the best show on television. Incorporating post-9/11 America in a smart, thought-provoking, and unmatched way, the writers and producers of Battlestar Galactica have developed a show like no other. And now So Say We All mirrors that originality.
From an intense look at the moral ambiguity of America's politics to satirically wondering where the Galactica cast may find employment if they make it to present-day Earth (Number Six as an American Idol judge, perhaps?), from religion in Battlestar Galactica to insights and reminiscences from Battlestar's very own Richard Hatch, So Say We All is as outstanding as the TV show that inspired it.
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Charlie's essay: "Galactica's Gods: or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cylon God"
Science Fiction and Comic Writers on Mutants, Prejudice and Adamantium
Uncanny. Extraordinary. Astonishing.
After four decades, countless regime changes and a multitude of media incarnations, the X-Men are still on top. They've taken on not only Magneto and the Brotherhood of Mutants, and Stryker and his Sentinels, but also sexism, adolescence and discrimination and, in the process, given their fans a new way to look at the world, and at themselves.
The Unauthorized X-Men takes a look at what's so uncanny, extraordinary and downright astonishing about Marvel's most popular and enduring superheroes.
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Charlie's essay: "'The Best There Is...Isn't Very Nice': Complex Dualities in Wolverine"