Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms
Named a Massachusetts Center for the Book Mass Books Awards “Nonfiction Must-Read”
Nominated for the Alex Award by the Young Adult Library Services Association
“Lord of the Rings meets Jack Kerouac’s On the Road." —National Public Radio’s “Around and About"
"Full of encounters, both funny and poignant.”—The Huffington Post
“For anyone who has ever spent time within imaginary realms, the book will speak volumes.”—Wired
Buy in paperback or Kindle at your favorite online or in-person indie bookstore, such as IndieBound or BookShop.org (or, sigh, Amazon).
Books on the Square in Providence, RI, can ship a signed copy of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks.
About the book:
Fantasy. Science fiction. Role-playing games. Tens of millions of people around the globe turn away from the "real" world to inhabit others. Movie fan-freaks design costumes and collect Lord of the Rings action figures. Some attend comic book conventions and Renaissance fairs, others play live-action role-playing games (LARPs). The online game World of Warcraft (WoW) alone has lured twelve million users worldwide. Even old-school, "pencil-and-paper" role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) are still wildly popular.Who are these gamers and fantasy fans? What explains the irresistible appeal of such "escapist" adventures? And what could one man find if he embarked on a journey through fantasy world after fantasy world? In an enthralling blend of travelogue, pop culture analysis, and memoir, forty-year-old former D&D addict Ethan Gilsdorf crisscrosses America, the world, and other worlds—from Boston to Wisconsin, France to New Zealand, and Planet Earth to the realm of Aggramar. On a quest that begins in his own geeky teenage past and ends in our online gaming future, he asks gaming and fantasy geeks how they balance their escapist urges with the kingdom of adulthood. Delving deeper and deeper into geekdom, our noble hero plays WoW for weeks on end. He travels to pilgrimage sites: Tolkien’s hometown, movie locations, castles, and archives. He hangs out with Harry Potter tribute bands. At a LARP, he dresses as a pacifist monk for a weekend. He goes to fan conventions and gaming tournaments. He battles online goblins, trolls, and sorcerers. He camps with medieval reenactors—12,000 of them. He becomes Ethor, Ethorian, and Ethor-An3. He sews his own tunic. He even plays D&D. What he discovers is funny, poignant, and enlightening.
