Kirkus Reviews feature
FANTASY FREAKS AND GAMING GEEKS by Ethan Gilsdorf is featured in Kirkus Reviews’ “Big Book Fall Preview” section (Aug 1, 2009).
The full-color, center spread piece features the book’s cover art.
“Ethan Gilsdorf was made fun of a lot in high school. In the late ‘70’s, playing fantasy role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons put the author in equal social footing as the AV club. Thirty years later, though, fantasy films rule the box office, J.R.R. Tolkien is considered essential reading and games like World of Warcraft are pop-culture phenomena. “When I was a teenager this stuff was looked down upon,” says Gilsdorf. “Now it’s everywhere.” But there are still pockets of fantasy culture – Lord of the Rings conventions, Society for Creative Anachronism battles, LARP (Live Action Role Playing) camps – that the casual fantasy nerd wouldn’t even dare to tread. But Gilsdorf, spurred on by the discovery of his old D & D guides, decided to dive elf-ears first into the deepest geek pools. “I wanted to know why a 40-year old man is still so interested in this stuff that he’d dress up in armor on the weekends,” he says. The author traveled from the woods of South Carolina to libraries in Wisconsin, from battlefields in Pennsylvania to the mountains of New Zealand – all in the quest to find some answers. His conclusion? They get to the heart of why any of us, geeks or not, become involved with any group. “It’s all about a sense of belonging,” says Gilsdorf. And maybe a bit about killing stuff. Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms (978-1-59921-480-1; September, 2009; $24.95; Hardcover) by Ethan Gilsdorf