Announcing LOST Thought

Excuse the slightly off-topic post here but as I was one of the contributors to this book, I thought a little "plug" was in order.

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The greatest collection of LOST expertise ever presented in a single volume.

What if all your favorite LOST authors and bloggers were gathered in one place, accessible anytime you wished, day or night? What if you could bring together in the same place the world’s leading authorities on LOST? What would you talk about with them? What fascinating ideas would they bring for your consideration?

What if you could talk with people who never left the Island, who never will leave the Island—whose job it is, in fact, to live, breathe, experience and explain LOST 24 hours a day, seven days a week?

There are such people, and there is such a magical place, in a book: LOST Thought.

About LOST Thought

LOST Thought is a lively collaboration between 22 leading experts in the online LOST world and the academic community. Every contributor brings unrestrained passion to these 25 wide-ranging and vital discussions of the personal, cultural, social, and literary implications of the most fascinating, multi-faceted creation ever presented on television. LOST is approached as living, breathing text whose mythology, themes, and theses challenge our culture and our society at every level.

Scholars specializing in literary theory, English literature, film theory, art history, LOST studies, theology, pop culture, music theory, art, religious studies, and theater have come together to produce the most extensive analysis of LOST ever presented in a single volume. These 22 experts discuss LOST from 25 different perspectives, taking on issues ranging from the cultural impact of the series as a whole to the social implications of specific characters such as Sayid Jarrah, looking at LOST through the lens of the Neo-Baroque, Postmodernism, Post-postmodern Realism, and Poststructuralism. This volume will be widely quoted in literary and scholarly circles and treasured by fans worldwide.

The Authors

The leading voices of the LOST online community are all present in this volume. Nikki Stafford, author of the outstanding Finding LOST series, presents the first essay in the anthology and sets the tone for the entire volume. Jo Garfein, Erika Olson, Sarah Clarke Stuart, Pearson Moore, Sam McPherson, Ryan Ozawa, and Andy Page contribute their unique perspectives, giving a sense of the profound personal and social sentiment attached to the pop cultural revolution that is LOST.

Several of the most distinguished figures in academe, in disciplines ranging from art history and film theory to theology and theater studies, apply the full weight of their expertise to uncover and explore the most fascinating aspects of this rich television drama. Dr. Amy Bauer and Dr. Michelle Lang consider LOST from artistic perspectives, while Dr. Cynthia Burkhead, Dr. Julia Guernsey-Pitchford, and Jamie Smith look at LOST from the context of literary tradition. Dr. Paul Wright, Jeffrey Frame, and Kevin McGinnis apply their religious and theological training to distill new meaning from the text, and Dr. Antonio Savorelli brings the unique appreciation of semiotics to his discussion of the sixth season and the series finale. The depth of these scholarly discussions is unparalleled in published works on LOST.

Some of the most talented, up-and-coming scholars train their sharp, young minds on the series, delivering fresh and fascinating perspective to the cinematic text. C. David Milles looks at LOST as story, Erin Carlyle considers LOST’s motherhood theme from a visual perspective, and Gozde Kilic explores the psychoanalytic implications of the “Daddy Issues” in the series. Dr. Delano Freeberg presents an unabashed discussion of LOST as postmodernism, providing a tour-de-force defense that is sure to become a controversial talking point for scholarly rebuttals. Finally, Jennifer Galicinski weighs in with the longest essay in the anthology, a challenging assertion of LOST as cultural exemplar to modern religious practice and understanding.

The Publisher

Inukshuk Press has long been committed to the popular appreciation of intellectual and literary zeal, and is no stranger to the LOST community. One of this publisher’s most successful offerings, Lost Identity, was written by Pearson Moore, editor and contributor to LOST Thought.

The Paperback Edition

The paperback interior is a gorgeous design, with crisp, clear lines and a broad two-inch margin suitable for recording copious and detailed in-text notes during study. A particularly stylish derivation of Garamond font is used throughout. The chapters have a fresh, uncluttered appearance that creates a welcoming environment for both study and entertainment. The high quality, thick paper and the generous size of the volume (a full 10 inches by eight inches—roughly two and a half times broader and taller than a standard trade novel and larger than most textbooks) allow the book to open and remain open without any effort, facilitating the easy enjoyment of the text. The cover is triple-bonded laminate, using thick stock with vivid colors and excellent photographic depth. The length of the book is 384 large-format pages, including 34 blank pages placed before and after chapters and at the end of the book for the recording of notes.

Page 117 from the paperback edition of LOST Thought

While volumes of this unusual quality typically cost over thirty dollars, Inukshuk Press is making LOST Thought available during this promotional period for a price of $16.95. Collectors may wish to purchase several copies, as this loss-leader price is sure to disappear without advance notice.

The eBook Edition

Unusual artistic and technical expertise was applied to the creation of the electronic version of the book. Current-generation ebook formatting software tends to rely on algorithms that sacrifice aesthetic form to format standardization, rendering a text devoid of personality and artistic balance. After applying two such latest-generation software packages to the book, the resulting products were found unappealing by several beta readers. While the ebooks generated in this manner conformed in every way to technical expectation, they did not provide the reading experience Inukshuk Press demands.

Introduction to LOST Thought, Kindle Fire edition

The design team decided to abandon the latest ebook architecture in favor of tried-and-true, though more difficult and time-consuming text formatting conventions. Reverting to early-generation pdf2xml and libpng technologies which went out of circulation more than four years ago, the design team delivered a final ebook that is stunning in its visual appeal, clarity, and balance. While the ebook conforms in every manner to the most stringent technical specifications for structural uniformity and ease of use, it presents an aesthetic rare among current-generation ebook offerings.

The publisher has decided to make the ebook available, at least during the promotional period, for a cost of $6.95. This makes the ebook competitive with other electronic books in its category, but delivers a superior product that will ensure its appeal for years to come.

The Graduate Edition

The Graduate Edition of LOST Thought will be published in early summer, 2012. This edition, suitable for use in university and graduate courses, will contain material not found in the general release editions and should prove particularly appropriate as a supplemental text for courses in literary analysis and cinema studies. Inukshuk Press will offer the paperback version of the Graduate Edition at $27.95 and the ebook version at $8.95.

Purchasing LOST Thought

The paperback edition of LOST Thought may be ordered through CreateSpace or Amazon. It has been our experience that CreateSpace has faster service (sometimes overnight for the price of two-day) and provides superior physical packing protection; we highly recommend their service. Shipping costs through CreateSpace are no higher than those charged by Amazon, despite the higher quality shipping materials used. Purchase LOST Thought here:

Purchase LOST Thought at CreateSpace (Recommended)

or

Purchase LOST Thought at Amazon

Author Biographies

Pearson Moore (Editor)

Pearson Moore is a scientist, writer and novelist, the editor of LOST Thought, the author of LOST Humanity and LOST Identity, and the creator of over 100 essays on LOST. He is Featured Writer at Dark UFO. His first LOST collection, LOST Humanity, is the #1 bestselling ebook ever published on LOST. With Nikki Stafford and Sarah Clarke Stuart, Pearson was a Featured Speaker at the 2011 Lost Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Pearson’s first novel, Cartier’s Ring, is an action-adventure historical novel set in 16th and 17th century North America. The novel explores the culture shock of First Contact between Europeans and Native North Americans from an Aboriginal (Native American) point of view.

The protagonist, Myeerah of Hawk Clan, starts as a slave, but over several decades she rises to become the most influential matriarch in her village and the leading voice for a new way of thinking that will come to represent the philosophy of a nation. Cartier’s Ring is available at bookstores worldwide. His second novel, Intolerable Loyalty, considers the early years of the American Revolutionary War from a Canadian perspective; Intolerable Loyalty will be published in late 2012.

Pearson also writes on the HBO series Game of Thrones; his first collection, Game of Thrones Season One Essays, is available in both ebook and paperback versions. He is soon to be announced as Featured Writer at a major Game of Thrones website; Pearson was Featured Writer at Westeros.org during the first season of Game of Thrones.

With over 35 years of experience in research and development, Pearson is a consultant to pharmaceutical companies across North America. He specializes in purification process design from biological matrices, including proteins, small molecule, and secondary metabolites (natural products) from fermentation, botanicals, and marine sources. Pearson works in Canada and the United States, but more often than not he can be found at a little Tim Hortons on Rue Sainte Catherine in Montréal.

Nikki Stafford

Nikki Stafford is the author of the critically acclaimed Finding Lost series, a five-volume collection of guides to the television show Lost (the Season Six volume contains a 50-page discussion of the finale).

Newsday has referred to Nikki as “one of the show’s leading scholars,” and Entertainment Weekly’s Jeff Jensen wrote, “Lost is over, but I know I’ll be thinking about it for years to come. And in those mental trips to The Island, I’ll be taking three things: my Bible, my comic book collection, and all of Nikki’s insightful and comprehensive Finding Lost books.”

Nikki has appeared on TV and radio as a respected commentator on pop culture and television, and has been quoted by several media outlets, including the New York Times, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, the Globe and Mail, the Washington Post, Associated Press, and many others. She was a keynote speaker at the first Lost academic conference in October 2011 (New Orleans, Louisiana) and blogs about television at Nik at Nite, and lives in Toronto.

Jo Garfein

Jo Garfein is a pop culture sponge who covered LOST extensively for years, with an emphasis on in-depth analysis and elaborate speculation. She is now a freelance entertainment writer, focusing primarily on primetime television.

Erika Olson

Erika Olson spent a ridiculous amount of time theorizing about LOST on her blog LongLiveLocke.com during the series’ six-season run. The site’s popularity motivated her to leave the financial services industry in 2007 and pursue a freelance writing career; she became a film critic and movie blogger for Redbox in 2008, and in 2010 her first book, Zero-Sum Game: The Rise of the World’s Largest Derivatives Exchange, was published by Wiley. LOST’s influence on Erika’s life continues—her son, Desmond, was born in early 2012.

Jeffrey Frame

Jeffrey D. Frame is Associate Professor of Theatre and Film at Trevecca Nazarene University and is a veteran of stage and voiceover work. Mr. Frame has spoken on various topics in film, theatre, and literature at professional conferences and has been a member of the Film and History Conference, the Popular Culture Association of the South (PCAS), and the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE). In film, his research has focused on nonlinear narratives and, in television studies, his special interests range from narrative and seriality (LOST, 24, Fringe) to short-run phenomena (Firefly, Daybreak, Flashforward) to character edge and evolution (The Sopranos, Breaking Bad).

Cynthia Burkhead, Ph.D.

Dr. Cynthia Burkhead is an English Instructor at the University of North Alabama. She is the author of Student Companion to John Steinbeck, and co-editor of Joss Whedon: Conversations and Grace Under Pressure: Grey's Anatomy Uncovered. Her full-length book on dreams in television is forthcoming from Continuum in 2013.

Sarah Clarke Stuart

Sarah Clarke Stuart teaches composition, literature and popular culture at Florida State College at Jacksonville and the University of North Florida. She is the author of Literary Lost: Viewing Television Through the Lens of Literature (Continuum Books, January 2011) and Into the Looking Glass: Exploring the Worlds of Fringe. She writes about television and other popular narratives on her blog, "Teleliterate: Reading Television and Other Flickering Media."

Paul Wright, Ph.D.

Dr. Paul R. Wright is Assistant Professor of English and Co-Director of the Honors Program at Cabrini College in Pennsylvania.

Delano R. Freeberg, Ph.D.

Delano R. Freeberg, Ph.D. (Hon.) is an analytical scientist. He holds more than a dozen patents and received an honorary doctoral degree for his work on adjustments to the Debye–Hückel limiting law. He enjoys murder mysteries, running, Tae Kwon Do, and theoretical physics.

Amy Bauer, Ph.D.

Dr. Amy Bauer is Assistant Professor of Music at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, University of California, Irvine.

Michelle Lang, Ph. D.

Dr. Michelle Lang, for many years a professor of art at the University of Nebraska, is Managing Director at Critical Management Services in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is the author of Saturn’s Apprentice.

Antonio Savorelli, Ph.D.

Dr. Antonio Savorelli holds a Ph.D. in communication and new technologies, and runs a small web-design studio in Imola, Italy. As an independent scholar, he pursues his interest in the application and expansion of semiotic theories to the fields of televisual narratives and digital design. His research on the transformation of American sitcom was published in 2010 by McFarland & Co., with the title Beyond Sitcom: New Directions in American Television Comedy. On the web: antoniosavorelli.it.

Kevin McGinnis

Kevin McGinnis is a doctoral candidate in Religious Studies at Claremont Graduate University, where he has focused on the social history of early Christianity. He is currently a visiting instructor at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA, where he teaches on method and theory in the study of religion, early Christian history, and religious violence.

Jamie Smith

Jamie R. Smith earned a Master of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University, where she teaches Freshman English and ESL courses. She plans to pursue a PhD in English with emphases in Film Studies and American Literature. She is currently working on research projects on the portrayal of the American Family in Independent Cinema, as well as the role of alternative sexualities in the work of Carson McCullers.

Julia Guernsey-Pitchford, Ph.D.

Dr. Julia Guernsey-Pitchford is Associate Professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She was formerly the faculty coordinator of the Master of Arts program for the English Department, and has published several articles on assorted Renaissance writers. Her book, The Pulse of Praise: Form as a Second Self in the Poetry of George Herbert, is available at bookstores and online.

Sam McPherson

Sam McPherson is an administrator of the popular LOST fansite Lostpedia. Since July 2009, he has served as a contributing editor for TVOvermind.com.

Jennifer Galicinski

Jennifer M. Galicinski is a graduate student at Regent College in Vancouver where she studies theology of culture, philosophy, biblical literature, and creative non-fiction writing. She participates in the community of Grandview Calvary Baptist Church, which has taught her much about indwelling the Sacred Story. She enjoys back-country snowboarding, vegetarian cooking, and all things creative.

Gozde Kilic

Gozde Kilic graduated from Brock University with an Master of Arts in Popular Culture, and has recently finished her master thesis on the father issues in Lost with the title: “[Post] Oedipal Father and Subjectivity in ABC’s Lost.” She is currently in the Cultural Studies PhD program at Trent University, Canada.

C. David Milles

C. David Milles has been teaching writing for nearly a decade. In his spare time, he writes Young Adult novels that seek to capture the power of story to transform his readers. When he’s not writing, teaching, or listening to his collection of movie scores, he can usually be found reading more on the craft of writing or watching his favorite television shows, Lost and Fringe. He is currently writing his fourth young adult novel, tentatively titled Paradox.

Ryan Ozawa

A self-professed life-long geek, Ryan Ozawa has immersed himself in new technologies and online communities since the days before the web. From running a dial-up BBS in high school to exploring today's dynamic world of 'Web 2.0' and social media, he has long embraced and evangelized the ways in which technology can bring people together. An obsessive media maker, he and his wife are now co-hosting Popspotting, a daily pop-culture podcast.

Andy Page

Andy Page (aka DarkUFO) is the creator and owner of both the DarkUFO and SpoilerTV web sites. He’s a professional poker player and a keen cricketer, golfer as well as being a loyal supporter of the Arsenal Football team. He’s come from a Programming and Project Management background. He is based in England and married to Annie.

Erin Carlyle

Erin Carlyle is a graduate student in Gender and Women's studies at Western Kentucky University. She studied English literature and Visual Art as an undergraduate, and has shown art work regionally and nationally.

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