Overview

Fantasy. Science fiction. Role-playing games. 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) has lured twelve million users worldwide. Even old-school role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) are still wildly popular. 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 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. He speaks to grown men who build hobbit holes, and to grown women who play massively multiplayer online games. He seeks out those who dream of elves, long swords, and heroic deeds, and mentally inhabit faraway magical lands. What lures them--old, young, male, female, able-bodied, and disabled--into fantasy worlds, and for what reasons, whether healthy, unhealthy, or in between? Our noble hero battles online goblins, trolls, and sorcerers for weeks on end. He travels to pilgrimage sites: Tolkien's hometown, movie locations, and castles. He hangs out with Harry Potter tribute bands. He LARPs. He goes to fan conventions and gaming tournaments. He camps with medieval re-enactors--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.

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9781599214801

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Reviews

Forget Frodo; Ethan Gilsdorf guides readers through fantasy lands far more enchanting than anything you'll find in Tolkien's books. Donning his cloak of invisibility, he takes readers along on a mind-blowing tour of nerd universes--from a knighting ceremony in a Pennsylvania park to vampire slayers in a Marriot Hotel. The result is a compassionate, humorous and magical trip that makes reality seem like a poor substitute for the realms of imagination. --Pagan Kennedy, author of New York Times Notable Book Black Livingstone and The First Man-Made Man Ethan Gilsdorf takes us on a vivid, funny, poignant trek through geekdom . . . and somehow, before we've caught on to his tricks, he makes a genuinely important contribution to understanding fantasy, pop culture and their roles in our emotional and cultural lives. Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks is entirely worthy of that fantasy Pulitzer Prize the author's been coveting. -Gerard Jones, author of Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence and Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book This book--part memoir and part insider's guide--is both poignant and hilarious, baffling and informative, disturbing and entertaining. It is a must read for anyone whose idea of a good night involves dragons, spaceships, or one-eyed monsters dripping with slime. --Jake Halpern, NPR Commentator and author of Fame Junkies With the authority of an initiate and the curiosity of the seeker Ethan Gilsdorf leads us through the world of role-playing games that -- for both better and worse -- provided the arena for his coming-of-age. Part memoir, part travelogue, part investigative report, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks is a compelling exploration of a moment in our cultural history. What you learn about the games and the players is considerable, but stands as nothing compared to what you learn about the human heart. -Richard Hoffman, author of Half the Ho

Author Information

Ethan Gilsdorf is a journalist, poet, critic, editor, and teacher whose writings have appeared in the ""New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post,"" ""USA Today,"" and ""National Geographic Traveler."" He has been a guest on talk radio as a fantasy and escapism expert.

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