Imagine your kid is too young to care about the weather outside. Imagine (s)he’s so young (s)he won’t even notice it’s snowing, except if you stick his/her tiny nose to the window and point the strange white falling things, exclaiming loudly “Look! It’s snowing!” (or “Regarde! Il neige!” if your geekling is supposed to understand […]
Continue ReadingYou might have experienced this feeling. The admiring amazement towards these flowing ideas that flit around your brain when reading a book, almost overwhelming, about one per second, ideas which all could be developed into full stories of wonder. Except they aren’t. They’re just grace notes, elements of the wonderful BookWorld’s backstory, even footnotes. After […]
Continue ReadingI am a voracious reader and am always on the look out for new books that I can read. I tend to gravitate toward the same kinds of books however, and am trying to expand my horizons beyond historical ficiton, vampire novels, and Harry Potter. A friend of mine recently recommended the Divine series by […]
Continue ReadingAs a new mum and a compulsive reader, I’m beginning to feel concerned about the lack of cool moms “role models” in literature, especially geeky literature like fantasy, comic books and so on. Are you feeling the same? Even in books I love, even with authors who build great female characters, I find very few […]
Continue ReadingPlain Kate by Erin Bow I can’t remember where I first read about Plain Kate and I wish I could, because the reader said some great things about the father-daughter relationship and the nature of art, much more elegantly than …
Continue ReadingI have two boys. I didn’t have to worry (like some of my friends with daughters did) that reading or watching movies about princesses saved from peril by handsome princesses would inspire a “rescue me” attitude. Even so, I did want my boys to grow up knowing that women are just as capable as men. […]
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The Wormworld Saga is a new graphic novel by artist Daniel Lieske. It’s a story about a young boy who discovers a doorway into another world tucked away in his grandma’s attic.
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Pokemon fever has hit our household, as it can in even the best of families. For those readers who have been in solitary confinement for the last decade, Pokemon is a collectible card game with hundreds of little creatures that “evolve” from one bodily form to the next. The word “evolution” gets tossed around early […]
Continue ReadingHarry Potter Week is coming to a close over at GeekMom, but that doesn’t mean we’re short on posts. As we prepare for the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the posts are just heading up. First …
Continue ReadingReaders, I’ve got something explosive to say. OK, here goes (nervous throat-clearing sound): I just don’t like Harry Potter. I don’t loathe Harry Potter, I just don’t see the magnificence and originality that others do. The first book left me cold, and even my boys lost interest at around book three. There, I’ve said it. […]
Continue ReadingOverview: It’s a small world—literally. A bunch of different races (halflings, dwarves, ratmen, skeletons, giants …) have decided to settle a territory which is sparsely populated by a few remaining tribes, but there’s simply not enough space for everyone, which …
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Ethan Gilsdorf is the celebrated geek author of the very awesome book, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks. It’s the sort of book that, if you’re a lifelong geek like me, you can’t put down. The book chronicles Ethan’s life as a young geek, his escape from his roots, and then his return. From Tolkien to […]
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My husband brought home a dark red cardboard box that was no bigger than a schoolbook. When I found out the little rat warrior miniatures in the box weren’t for any Dungeons and Dragons story line we were playing, but instead were for a wargame called Warhammer, I quickly lost interest in what my husband […]
Continue ReadingOverview: Thunderstone, along with the expansion Wrath of the Elements, is a deck-building game. Each player starts with a few basic cards, which they use to collect new weapons, spells, villagers and heroes. Once they’re sufficiently armed they attempt to …
Continue ReadingIf kids grow up fast, videogame franchises grow up slow. I hadn’t really settled down to a Kingdom Hearts game since our second child arrived, which I realized today was a good five years. It’s been that long since the …
Continue ReadingIt used to be difficult to find genuinely good female characters in science fiction and fantasy. And even today, with plenty of excellent female characters to pick from, there still aren’t that many that are also mothers. In honor of …
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When I first read about Iconica on BrettSpiel, I was immediately struck by the graphic design on the cards, which really looked unlike any of my other board games.
Continue ReadingOkay, I know, “Geekiest Comic Ever” is a big claim to make, considering there are other comics like “When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth.” But I had to get your attention somehow, right? And Erfworld is incredibly geeky in a fantastic …
Continue ReadingIt wasn’t until last year that I was introduced to the Carcassonne board game. Once I had been though, I wish I’d discovered it years ago. Our family simply fell in love with the game and couldn’t stop playing it. …
Continue ReadingWe all love board games at GeekDad, so I was excited when iguk sent over the forth edition of Talisman. As many will know this is the much awaited upgrade adds 14 3D figures, a fresh revision of the rules, …
Continue ReadingYou know that unicorn & dragon original you picked up at the fantasy convention? Don’t throw it away, it might be worth a million bucks some day. Grand Master Frank Frazetta’s cover painting for the Lancer paperback, Conan the Conqueror …
Continue ReadingGeekDad or not, when you’ve got a daughter, it’s awfully hard to avoid the whole princess scene. Me, I tried to balance it out with regular doses of fossil digging and Star Wars. And anyway, my daughter turned 12 this …
Continue ReadingThe paradox of book reviews is that it’s hard to know whether you’d be interested in a book unless you know something about it first; but quite often a review tells you more than you’d want to know so you …
Continue Reading“I span the entire geek spectrum.” – Joe Abercrombie Joe Abercrombie is primarily known for The First Law trilogy, and his particular take on the fantasy genre: violent, witty and wicked. And if you frequent his blog at all, then …
Continue ReadingThe world of fantasy literature has lost one of its modern giants. David Eddings, best known for his Malloreon series and The Belgariad, passed away Tuesday at the age of 77. Eddings enjoyed a long career of writing popular books …
Continue ReadingI just saw this start making the rounds of the geekier sites (I forget which of my RSS feeds I saw it on, but probably theonering.net), and I’m so there! Just like Star Trek New Voyages, a team of “amateur” …
Continue ReadingWhen I was a kid, Starlog was my connection to the world of geek media. The internet as we know it was still many years away, so there were no pirated videos being sent all over the world, and no leaked rumors flying all over the world in ten minutes. Yes, we had to get […]
Continue ReadingThere is a new line of postage stamps that is due out this summer in the United Kingdom, portraying mythical creatures that are famous nationally and regionally. The set includes a unicorn, mermaid, giant, fairy queen, pixie and dragon. The images are drawn by fantasy artist Dave McKean, who has worked on the Harry Potter […]
Continue ReadingMany GeekDad readers likely remember author Jeff VanderMeer; we’ve profiled Jeff and some of his work in previous posts. The pirate anthology Fast Ships, Black Sails, edited by Jeff and his wife Ann was featured during Pirate Week, 2008. And in March of 2008, GeekDad offered an exclusive download of Jeff’s novelette, The Situation. You […]
Continue ReadingI got an alert about these Scholastic Harry Potter science kits from a homeschooling mom who recommends them highly. According to the seller’s website, Home and Family: The Harry Potter Activity Kits have been honored by The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio and Parenting For High Potential Magazine! They are a great item for any fan or […]
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