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Welcome to our reader's guide to Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf. We have chapter summaries, character descriptions, discussion questions, an exclusive interview with the author, and so much more to help you get more out of your reading experience. Use our menu up above to help yourself navigate through our blog. Thanks for stopping by and feel free to look around!

Prologue: The Momster

The prologue begins with a shattering cry from Ethan Gilsdorf’s sickly mother, known only to him and his siblings as the “Momster.” It was the summer of 1979 and Gilsdorf was twelve years old. He describes his once caring, loving, and nurturing mother as being the Kitchen Dragon, with smoke spewing from her nostrils as she chases him with her prying questions. His old mom, as he calls her, had left the family the year before, when an aneurysm damaged the right side of her brain. Her brain was scrambled and her spontaneous seizures scared her then young children. With no father or husband to help control the collateral damage, Gilsdorf, his sister Jess, and his brother Adam were left to take care of their incapacitated mother on their own. He was stuck with a mother who he didn’t know how to love. His struggles at home were muted when a new neighbor introduced him to Dungeons and Dragons. Gilsdorf was able to forget about his home life and the horrible situation surrounding him while he fought monsters and saved kingdoms. From the minute he began playing, he was hooked.

By Helen Schmidt

Chapter 1: I Was a Teenage Magic-User

As a child, Ethan struggled with his mother’s illness and the social aspects of school.  He felt like he didn’t fit into typical team or school activities, but he found his niche with a group of other boys like himself, and together, they lost themselves in the world of Dungeons and Dragons.  This outlet gave Ethan a sense of belonging and gave him chances for adventure and heroism. Ethan and his friends dove into this world completely.  While the scenarios were far-fetched, the extensive rules and guidelines provided a sense of stability in a somewhat turbulent home-life.  During his high school years, Ethan and his friends mastered the rules of this rare area of their life where they felt completely at home.

After high school, Ethan left these fantasy worlds behind.  Slowly, Ethan’s old D&D gang dispersed, and Ethan focused on having a normal college experience. Although his passion for medieval fantasy worlds never really left him, he pushed that side of himself away for many years. When Ethan was thirty-one, his mother passed away, nineteen years after her aneurysm. Shortly thereafter, Ethan found himself sucked back into the realm of fantasy with the emergence of the Lord of the Rings movies. This new, mainstream side to alternate worlds puzzled Ethan and made him curious to explore these places again.  Ethan found an old cooler in his parents’ basement with his old D&D gear, and it was not long before Ethan was once again plunging, sword raised, into a new adventure. 

Does everyone crave a form of escapism from there everyday troubles? What forms of escapism do people partake in besides fantasy games?

Ethan’s blue cooler, represents a part of his childhood that he has tucked away but is now revisiting.  Do we all have our own blue cooler?


By Frances Brumley