How did its shock waves roll into the realm of video games, influencing a generation of computer programmers who would come to rule Silicon Valley? How did the game, which has now earned the praises of writers, actors, musicians, and …
Continue ReadingFantasy writer R.A. Salvatore has sold 17 million copies of books. He’s written some 50 novels, 24 of which have been New York Times bestsellers. But it wasn’t easy.
Continue ReadingSome more updates about the shocking (or predictable) news I wrote about yesterday here on GeekDad that The Hobbit will now be released as a trilogy of films.
Continue ReadingThe rumors have been confirmed. The two-movie plan for The Hobbit has been changed, uh, mid-stream. Make room in your movie-going schedule and expectations for a Hobbit trilogy.
Continue ReadingBack in January, I wrote about a memoir called Too Much to Dream: A Psychedelic American Boyhood (Soft Skull Press), about a 40-something named Peter Bebergal and his memories of growing up in the suburbs of Boston, raised on secular …
Continue ReadingErnest Gary Gygax (1938-2008), co-founder of Dungeons & Dragons, would have been 74 today.
Continue ReadingFor those of you keeping track at home, here’s the eighth in Peter Jackson’s series of production videos from The Hobbit, giving us crazy sneak peeks of his time at Comic-Con, sets and shooting, as well as other goodies. …
Continue ReadingWe at GeekDad are sorry to hear of the death of author Donald J. Sobol who, according to Reuters, passed away on July 11 at age 87, of natural causes. Sobol was best known for his Encyclopedia Brown series, featuring a …
Continue ReadingAccording to the Facebook page of the Gygax Memoiral Fund, and Wizards of the Coast, three reprinted Advanced Dungeons & Dragons core rulebooks — The Players Handbook, the Dungeon Masters Guide, and the Monster Manual — will finally go …
Continue ReadingWhat’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die? That’s the question posed by Ben H. Winters’ new book The Last Policeman (Quirk Books, $14.95). Released this week, the novel drops the crime thriller into a post-apocalyptic …
Continue ReadingThis scrollable banner advertisement from The Hobbit has been bouncing around the Internet over the past 24 hours. Its very size (above is just a portion of it), and the fact on the original image you can move a magnifier …
Continue ReadingThe Internet is abuzz with Brave, the new fantasy-fairy tale animated movie from Pixar and Disney that opens nationwide on Friday. Much ballyhooed is the fact that it’s the first feature cartoon from Pixar with a strong female lead. Here, …
Continue ReadingIt’s no secret that people can be mean on the internet. You know the archetypes. Trolls. Flame warriors. Cyber-stalkers. And weirdos. As a writer, I receive my fair of the negative and the nasty. I would say the kind of …
Continue ReadingFor those of you keeping track at home, here’s the seventh in an on-going series of production videos from The Hobbit. This time around, Peter Jackson and friends give us a tour of the Stone Street Studio. As always, all …
Continue ReadingAs we mentioned in this space yesterday, Ready Player One author Ernie Cline has decided to give away a 1981 DeLorean automobile, complete with a Flux Capacitor, as promotional stunt for the paperback release of his novel. Since we posted …
Continue ReadingYou heard us right. To celebrate the June 5 paperback release of the science fiction/thriller/fanboy quest adventure Ready Player One, Ernest Cline’s debut novel, the author is giving away a car. Not just any car — a DeLorean. If you solve a puzzle …
Continue Readingo I’m a little late to the 35th anniversary of Star Wars party. Yes, George Lucas’s groundbreaking film was originally released on May 25, 1977, so I missed the big celebration by a few days. But heck, it’s Star Wars …
Continue ReadingIf you’ve been following role-playing game news, you know that the fate of Dungeons & Dragons is somewhat in peril. Many younger gamers flock to video games, not table-top games. Some old school gamers have abandoned the hobby entirely, or …
Continue ReadingDouble Time is Jane Roper’s memoir of her first three years raising twin daughters. I’ve heard Jane read from it and I can attest it’s hilarious, serious and intimate. It’s also gutsy: Roper bravely describes her battle with depression and …
Continue ReadingHowever you describe this hobby/art form/performance — Part Dungeons & Dragons game gone native, part walk-through choose-your-own adventure, part live video game with padded battle-axes and swords, part improv theater performance in the woods — larp is experiencing a cultural …
Continue ReadingHis original gaming dice. His original Dungeons & Dragons and Blackmoor campaign manuscripts. His first printing, woodgrain boxed set play copy of D&D. Letters from Gary Gygax. Other letters, notes, documents, artwork, photos, cartography, rare wargames and hand-made models and …
Continue ReadingAs widely reported yesterday, J.K. Rowling and her publisher Little, Brown have announced her new book. And, as you may have heard, it’s not for kids. The “blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising” book, her publisher says — her first …
Continue ReadingWhen is a Joss Whedon movie not a Joss Whedon movie? In the case of The Cabin in the Woods, the new horror movie send-up, you might say it’s a Whedon half-breed. The man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, …
Continue ReadingNow spanning two coasts, west and east, the annual PAX conventions in Seattle (PAX Prime) and in Boston (PAX East) have become the two largest gaming events in North America. With PAX East only in its third year, organizers are …
Continue ReadingThe next time you hear folks complaining that kids aren’t reading enough, point them to a new study by the Association of American Publishers. A new monthly industry snapshot report produced by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) confirms what …
Continue ReadingTolkien Reading Day occurs each year on March 25 — the actual day in The Lord of the Rings when Frodo and the Fellowship were successful in destroying the One Ring and defeating Sauron. To honor that, The Tolkien Society wants you to …
Continue ReadingFirst, E. Gary Gygax died in 2008. Then, a year later, in 2009, the passing of Dave Arneson. Now, we mourn the death of author, game designer and world-builder Professor M. A. R. Barker. Barker, who passed away a few …
Continue ReadingHow would Gandalf match up against Treebeard in a slam-dunk contest? Or Aragorn vs. Merry and Pippin, one-on-two? (Don’t underestimate the feistiness of those hobbits.) Our friends over at TheOneRing.net have launched an alternative to the NCAA basketball tournament called …
Continue ReadingIt’s been a heckuva week of Viggo-ness here at GeekDad. After a spending a long day at Boston’s Coolidge Corner Theatre on March 5, and conducting one audience Q&A, one press conference, several other interviews, and getting his Coolidge Award, …
Continue Reading“It’s more than just ‘I love Legolas.’ OK, in some cases maybe it’s only that,” jokes Viggo Mortensen on the popularity of The Lord of the Rings. “There’s something very profound about those stories.” Then he continues, “They could have …
Continue Reading