'Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks' Author Coming to Bryn Mawr

Ethan Gilsdorf, author of the travel memoir / pop culture narrative FANTASY FREAKS AND GAMING GEEKS: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms.

Gilsdorf reads from the book and shows images from his adventures in a slide/lecture talk entitled: "HOBBITS HEROES GAMERS GEEKS: What Explains the Rise of Fantasy, Gaming and Role-Playing Subcultures?" on April 16 at 4:30 pm in Thomas 224 at Bryn Mawr College.

Gilsdorf will also read an excerpt from Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, and the event will end with a Q&A and book signing.

The event is free, and sponsored by the Provost's Office and the Departments of History & English at Bryn Mawr College.

Gilsdorf was an obsessive Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) player back in the 1980s. He quit the fantasy role-playing game when he graduated from high school. Decades later, at age 40, Gilsdorf found a box of his old D&D gear in his parents’ basement. The discovery inspired him to write the book.

“What lured serious gamers today, particularly adults, into fantasy worlds? And why? Was fantasy healthy, unhealthy, or something in between? I wanted to find out,” Gilsdorf said. “I was inspired to set off on a journey through my old hobby and see how fantasy and gaming had changed, and what new fantasy worlds now existed. And to see how much I had changed, too.”

Gilsdorf is a journalist, memoirist, critic, poet, teacher and geek, and author of the award-winning travel memoir investigation Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms.

Based in Somerville, Massachusetts, he publishes travel, arts, and pop culture stories, essays and reviews regularly in theNew York Times, Boston Globe, Salon.com, and wired.com and has published hundreds of articles in dozens of other magazines, newspapers, websites and guidebooks worldwide, including CNN.com, io9.com, Playboy, National Geographic Traveler, Psychology Today, Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Fodor's travel guides.

He is a core contributor to the blog "GeekDad" at wired.com, his blog "Geek Pride" is seen regularly on PsychologyToday.com, and he is a regular contributor to Boston NPR affiliate WBUR's Cognescenti blog. He is a book and film critic for the Boston Globe, and is the film columnist for Art New England. He also contributes to Boston.com, Tor.com; TheOneRing.net and Forces of Geek.