A First-Generation Star Wars Fan and Child of the 1980s Looks Back

There was a time in my mid-twenties when 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. I'd visit home, grab a flashlight and 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. I'd lie on my stomach and reach 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 sliding door track.

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 30^th 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 - online, and soon after, I adapted and recorded it as a commentary for WKSU, a local 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.

Simon, a reader in the United Kingdom, said this about the book: "As good as The Elfish Gene by Mark Barrowcliffe. While the Star Wars memories are great, what really hooked me was the human story that ran along-side Mr. Lucas' saga. That personal factor is what to me made this not just a great Star Wars book, but a great book full stop."

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.

Book stats:

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