Gilsodorf to appear at Somerville News Writers Fest Nov. 13
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Ethan Gilsdorf. - Photo by Meg Birnbaum

By Cathleen Twardzik

Ready for a grown man with an obsession for fantasy games?
Somerville author Ethan Gilsdorf’s Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms is a cross country tour of Dungeons and Dragons proportions.

The book has thus far been well-received. It was recently named a “must read” at the Massachusetts Book Awards.
Gilsdorf appeared on Oct. 20 at the main branch of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square, where attendees were treated to “a slide-lecture tour through my book, with Q & A and book signing.”
He will also read at the Somerville News Writers Festival on November 13, beginning at 7 p.m. to meet Gisdorf, at which time, he will give a reading, as well as participate in a book signing.
Gilsdorf said his book is “a non-fiction travel memoir/pop culture investigation, based on my experiences.” It is “a travel memoir that investigates fantasy and gaming subcultures,” he said.
“Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks is my story, and the culture’s story. As an adult “recovering” Dungeons & Dragons player and J.R.R. Tolkien fan, I hit the road to investigate fantasy and gaming subcultures.”
Gilsdorf initiates “a globe-trotting quest to find answers to [various] questions. Crisscrossing America, the world, and other world from Boston to Wisconsin, France to New Zealand, and Planet Earth to Middle Earth to the realm of Aggramar – I speak with geeks, play games and make peace with my own geeky past.”
Written along with Providence resident Tony Pacitti, (author of My Best Friend is a Wookiee: One Boy’s Journey to Find His Place in the Galaxy, a Memoir) the paperback version of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks arrived  in bookstores in September 2010, and the hardcover in September 2009.
Further, according to Gilsdorf, who played Dungeons & Dragons in earlier years, “It’s really focused on the swords-and-sorcery, fantasy genre.”
Ultimately, “For me, writing is about discovery. You don’t know what you want to say, or what you have to say – until you sit down and begin to write.”
“There is no magic spell [about the process of writing a book], I wish there was. Sometimes I begin with paper and pen; sometimes I just plow into a blank Word doc.”
After growing up in New Hampshire, Gilsdorf moved from Paris to settle in Somerville’s Ball Square, which he has called home since 2004.  “Somerville is a fantastic place to live.”