David Lavery

This is the definitive, most comprehensive, serious, entertaining book on 'The Sopranos', edited by the top man on contemporary US television.

"Heeding the metaphors rife among contemporary voices, David Lavery finds in this compelling probe of the tacit messages of the age a preoccupation with space so pervasive that he can only conclude that many--anxious to flee the Earth and conquer space--speak and act as if even now they are "late for the sky."" "Lavery's goal is "to hear us talk in the Space Age, to listen to how we are beginning to think about a possible extraterrestrial future, and by so doing to foreground the extreme spaciness of the era." He terms his effort a "deep questioning of the extraterrestrial urge by a conscientious objector."" "Lavery argues persuasively that those intrigued by the challenge of perfecting a world ruled solely by human artifice are increasingly committed to abandoning the Earth. Writers ranging from physicists to rock stars salt their works with references to leaving the Earth. Lavery calls these references "evolutionary Freudian slips" that reveal genuine "extraterrestrial urges." Because metaphors of space are now ubiquitous, Lavery rejects C. P. Snow's dichotomy separating science from the humanities; the true split now is between Earthkind and Spacekind.". "Firmly committing himself to the Earth--humanity's last link to nature--he notes that "for those who now insist upon the necessity and calculate the means of escape from this planet, the Earth itself is often left out of the equation." Those who are "late for the sky," those who with "infinite presumption" have "persuaded themselves (and seek to convince us all) that human longing for the stars is not a betrayal of human destiny but in reality its apotheosis; their conviction that the species has been given a cosmic mandate to inseminate the universe with the human ... all testify to minds seldom any longer on the Earth."" "At the beginning of the Space Age thirty years ago, Hannah Arendt warned us, in The Human Condition, "to think what we are doing." Now Lavery raises his voice in the same cause, eloquently making his case for the Earth through a series of interrelated essays or reflections, each of which is followed by a "Probe," a concentrated, sometimes experimental "interlocutory exploration of/further reflection on the subject" and on themes dealing with various facets of the "science fiction" culture of the Space Age.". "The chapter titles are intriguing: "To Hear Us Talk"; "Due Back on the Planet Earth: Toward a Definition of Spaciness"; "Departure of the Body Snatchers; or, the Confessions of a Carbon Chauvinist"; "Infinite Presumption"; "The Simulator"; and "The Abandoned Earth." Through these chapters and through "Probes" with titles such as "Gnosticism in the Cult Film" and "Space Boosters: The Marketing of Unearthliness," Lavery seeks to track the path of what Arendt calls the "twofold flight from the Earth into the universe and from the world into self"--a flight that in our time, and especially in America, would seem to have attained escape velocity."--BOOK JACKET.

When Battlestar Galactica reappeared in 2003-a revamp of the original series in which a rag-tag fugitive fleet of the last remnants of mankind flees pursuing aliens while simultaneously searching for Earth-it redefined what television science fiction should be about. Since then it has been critically claimed as one of the best shows on television while growing TV's strongest cult fandom of 2 million viewers. Now, as the series comes to its conclusion, fans are more eager than ever for more BSG. Acclaimed television experts Lynnette Porter, David Lavery and Hillary Robson, authors of the top-selling unauthorized Lost guides, provide fans with an in-depth look at the history, politics, themes and philosophies of the hit show. Topics include: --Battlestar Then and Now --Positions of Power --The Transformation of Baltar --Aliens Among Us: Political Realities and the Culture of Fear --Battlestar and the Bush Era --Thirty Years of Battlestar Fandom.

Apart from its brilliance as television, it's amazing what "Deadwood" gets away with. This acclaimed series from HBO, which premiered in 2004, is set in the teeming outlaw camp of 'Deadwood'. It has been described by "Variety" as 'a vulgar, gritty, at times downright nasty take on the Old West brimming with all the dark genius that series creator and sceenwriter extraordinaire David Milch has at his fingertips'. All this and more. The international cast of authoritative contributors assess "Deadwood's" many facets: its profane language, its characters, from Al Swearengen (who lives up to his name) and Calamity Jane, to B.B. Farnham and Mr. Wu, its place in the western genre, "Deadwood" and serial fiction, prostitution, the making of American civil society, "Deadwood's" Chinese, the opening credits, Reverend Smith and much more. Episode and character guides complete the book - the "Deadwood" companion for fans and students to swear by.

"For millions of fans around the world, Joss Whedon is known as the cult creator of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', 'Angel', and 'Firefly', television designed to be, as he says, 'an emotional experience, to be loved in a way that other shows can't be loved'. Whedon's works, the 'Whedonverses', have generated astonishing critical and scholarly interest, but nothing has hitherto investigated in depth their source: the mind of Joss Whedon. An intellectual biography written by world expert on the Whedonverse David Lavery, this book tracks Whedon's multi-faceted magic from the source -- early influences of parents and teachers, comics, books, films, television, collaborators -- to artistic incarnation, including Whedon's 'Dollhouse'. Whedon's imaginative output is not limited to the small screen, of course. He's written film scripts and music, comic books and essays; he's contributed to other people's TV shows, and made a movie, all in less than twenty years of creative work. Lavery explores all these, as well as Joss in his many guises: as fan boy, script doctor, librettist, writer, actor, TV auteur, and aspiring movie director"--Provided by publisher.

Dear Angela includes fourteen critical essays that examine the brief-lived but landmark television series, My So-Called Life (1994-1995). Though certainly not the first young woman to be the center of a television series, Angela Chase and the show about her life were doing something new on television and influenced many of the shows about young people that followed. Michele Byers and David Lavery bring together enthusiastic and engaging voices that bear on a series that continues to be hailed as a breakthrough moment in television, even though more than a decade has passed since its cancellation. Tackling a broad range of topics―from identity politics, to music, to infidelity, and death―each essay builds upon a belief that My So-Called Life is a particularly rich text worth studying for the clues it offers about a particular moment in cultural and television history. Dear Angela offers a sophisticated analysis of the show's legacy and cultural relevance that will appeal to media studies scholars and fans alike.