Of Wizards and Wookiees: A Panel Discussion on Gaming & Fandom

BOOK EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

NOW OUT IN PAPERBACK!

 "Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms"
by Ethan Gilsdorf

The Lyons Press 320 pp  US/Canada Hardcover: ISBN 978-1-59921-480-1
Retail  $24.95
US/Canada Paperback: ISBN 978-1-59921-994-3
Retail  $14.95
UK paperback: ISBN-13: 978-0762756759
Retail  £9.99
 
The UK Tolkien Society and NPR have called Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: ""Lord of the Rings meets Jack Kerouac’s On the Road."

Click here to Read the Synopsis

Now author Ethan Gilsdorf teams up with author, Tony Pacitti, MY BEST FRIEND IS A WOOKIEE: One Boy's Journey to Find His Place in the Galaxy (Adams Media), to bring us an evening:

Of Wizards and Wookiees: A Panel Discussion on Gaming & Fandom

PRESS RELEASE

*Attention gamers and geeks! Free Mountain Dew and Doritos!*

“Of Wizards and Wookiees: A Panel Discussion on Gaming & Fandom”

Word Books, Brooklyn, Mon Nov 22

Somerville --- Two local geek memoirists have teamed up to offer an evening of geekery at WORD Books Monday, November 22 at 7:30pm (22126 Franklin St., Brooklyn, NY)

Moderated by Rebecca Carroll, former editor at PAPER, their panel “Of Wizards and Wookiees: A Panel Discussion on Gaming & Fandom” will delve into the appeal of fantasy, science fiction, gaming and other geek subcultures.

Free Mountain Dew and Doritos will be served.

Ethan Gilsdorf, a Somerville, Massachusetts resident, wrote FANTASY FREAKS AND GAMING GEEKS (Lyons Press).

Tony Pacitti, of Providence, RI, is the author of MY BEST FRIEND IS A WOOKIEE " (Adams Media). The authors will discuss their books and the appeal of fantasy, science fiction and gaming, followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Both are heartbreaking works of staggering geekiness --- coming-of-age tales set against the backdrop of Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons obsessions --- that are ultimately quests to make peace with their geeky pasts and accept their "inner geeks."


National Public Radio described “FANTASY FREAKS AND GAMING GEEKS: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms” as "Lord of the Rings meets Jack Kerouac’s On the Road."

Wired.com proclaimed, “For anyone who has ever spent time within imaginary realms, the book will speak volumes.” It was also named a "Must-Read" by the Massachusetts Book Awards.

Gilsdorf’s geek-out travel memoir investigates fantasy and gaming subcultures. In FANTASY FREAKS AND GAMING GEEKS, the author travels from Boston to England, France to New Zealand, Planet Earth to the realm of Aggramar, to ask gaming and fantasy geeks how they balance their escapist urges with the kingdom of adulthood. He hangs out with Harry Potter tribute bands, attends fan conventions and gaming tournaments, camps with 12,000 medieval reenactors, sews his own tunic, learns to sword fight, battles online goblins and trolls, and plays D&D again for the first time in 25 years. FANTASY FREAKS AND
GAMING GEEKS was recently released in paperback.

Author Ethan Gilsdorf

Gilsdorf publishes travel, arts, and pop culture stories regularly in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor and other magazines and newspapers worldwide. His blog
"Geek Pride" is seen regularly on PsychologyToday.com and he has also been a guest on talk radio as a fantasy and escapism expert. He watches the extended edition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy at least once a year.

Follow Ethan’s adventures at http://www.fantasyfreaksbook.com/

Pacitti’s "MY BEST FRIEND IS A WOOKIEE: A Memoir, One Boy’s Journey to Find His Place in the Galaxy" is a hilarious and heart-wrenching tale of a real-life certified geek and official Jedi Knight wannabe, framed around Lucas’ epic Star Wars, the movie that changed one little boy’s life. With the Force on his side, Pacitti survives countless hurdles of adolescence, temptations from the Dark Side, and ultimately lives
to see the day when he can be comfortable in his own skin.

Time.com's Techland says, "[My Best Friend Is A Wookiee] is an autobiographical coming of age tale with a bit of sci-fi thrown in for good measure that reminds us all of the good old days when we were being picked on and laughed at." Alec Sulkin, executive producer of Family Guy, calls the book “hilarious, tragic, touching, and most of all, honest. Tony Pacitti deserves a medal from Princess Leia and a hug from Chewbacca.”



Author Tony Pacitti and his best friend

 Tony Pacitti has written for SouthCoast247.com as a features writer and video game reviewer and has had his short science fiction published at 365tomorrows. He has been the writer for the online comics RoboPlanet and The Silencer at Pandemonium Comics. Tony lives in Providence, Rhode Island and is probably watching The Empire Strikes Back on laserdisc at this very moment.

Click here for more info on Tony and Wookiees

"Lord of The Rings" Fan Art Contest

FROM NEW YORK COMIC CON

Get Tickets to Two Towers in Concert
October 8 & 9 – Radio City Music Hall – 7:30 PM

The Lord of The Rings exists beyond the pages of the trilogy and apart from the celluloid of Peter Jackson's films. It is a saga that lives in the heart and minds of fans around the world, and while the language of the story may change throughout the globe, the iconography is universal.

To celebrate this, and in anticipation of the Radio City Music Hall presentation of The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers, New York Comic Con and CAMI Music are asking fans of Lord of The Rings to put their affection down on paper in this global Fan Art contest.

With pen and paper, water color, oils, chalk, inks, or Photoshop, create a piece of art hearkening back to you favorite characters, locations, scenes, elements, or themes of the Lord of The Rings trilogy.

And, for young fans, we have a separate division for artists under the age of 18, so express yourself and encourage your children to, too!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER

Lord of the Rings Online Free to Play Starts September 10th

AS FIRST REPORTED ON LOTROREPORTER.COM


by Chris "Almazar" Perry


"Today Turbine announced that the Free-to-Play transition will occur on September 10th. This is much sooner than most of us expected (me included!) and I’m quite excited to see this major change to the game take place. I think that my biggest excitment is for the fact that we will not have to wait long to see how the game that we all play and love will be changed by this new business model. We’ve all heard the “the sky is falling” comments about the influx of new players, and also the “nothing is going to change” comments that seem to ignore that the game is evolving at all. My thought, as I’ve stated before, is that yes, things are going to change. How? Most likely for the better or very little. The only thing that is certain is that the game will be different…..somehow.

I’m also excited because this means that all of the game mechanics (Instance Join, Class Change, Plugins, etc) and the new content (Enedwaith) will be in game in just a few weeks!

I’m very impressed with the efficiency with which Turbine has gone through this Beta. Remember, the Beta only launched in June, and we’re already going live in September! That’s wonderfull when you compare it to the much longer drought that DDO had during their transition to Free to Play.

To quote Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of LOTRO, in Turbine’s Official Announcement:

“Our LOTRO beta program has been a huge success and we want to thank all of our players who worked with us to get the game ready for launch. Our unique pricing model has revolutionized the industry and starting in September, players will be able to choose how they pay for and play one of the world’s best online games and we can’t wait to welcome millions of new players to Middle-earth!”

View the official Press Release here.

For those of you who have not been following the news about LOTRO’s Free-To-Play transition, take a look at the Free-To-Play category for more columns on this topic. What do you think about this date? Have you been in the beta and feel that the game is ready? Almost ready? Not even close? Comment and let us know!