Planet Bret

Help support the book, connect with other fantasy and gaming aficinados, and keep up with the author as he embarks on his first book tour

Fantasy. Science fiction. Role-playing games. People around the globe turn away from the “real” world to inhabit others. Movie fan-freaks design costumes and collect Lord of the Rings action figures. Some attend comic book conventions and Renaissance fairs, others play live-action role-playing games (LARPs). The online game World of Warcraft (WoW) has lured twelve million users worldwide. Even old-school role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) are still wildly popular.

What could one man find if he embarked on a journey through fantasy world after fantasy world?

In an enthralling blend of travelogue, pop culture analysis, and memoir, forty- year-old former D&D addict Ethan Gilsdorf crisscrosses America, the world, and other

worlds—from Boston to New Zealand, and Planet Earth to the realm of Aggramar. On a quest that begins in his own geeky teenage past and ends in our online gaming future, he asks gaming and fantasy geeks how they balance their escapist urges with the kingdom of adulthood. He speaks to grown men who build hobbit holes, and to grown women who play massively multiplayer online games. He seeks out those who dream of elves, long swords, and heroic deeds, and mentally inhabit faraway magical lands. What lures them—old, young, male, female, able-bodied, and disabled—into fantasy worlds, and for what reasons, whether healthy, unhealthy, or in between?

Our noble hero battles online goblins, trolls, and sorcerers for weeks on end. He travels to pilgrimage sites: Tolkien’s hometown, movie locations, and castles. He hangs out with Harry Potter tribute bands. He LARPs. He goes to fan conventions and gaming tournaments. He camps with medieval re-enactors—12,000 of them. He becomes Ethor, Ethorian, and Ethor-An3. He sews his own tunic. He even plays D&D. What he discovers is funny, poignant, and enlightening.

Fantasy. Sci-Fi. Role-playing games. Tens of millions of people around the globe today turn away from the “real” world to inhabit others. The online game World of Warcraft has alone lured nearly twelve million users.

Who are these game-players and fantasy fans? What explains the irresistible appeal of such escapist adventures? And what could one man find if he embarked on a quest through fantasy world after fantasy world?

In an enthralling blend of travelogue, pop culture analysis, and memoir, former role-player Ethan Gilsdorf crisscrosses America, the world, and other worlds—from Boston to California, New Zealand to France, Planet Earth to the realm of Aggramar. He asks gaming and fantasy geeks how they balance their escapist urges with the kingdom of adulthood. He seeks out those who dream of elves, long swords, and heroic deeds. He hangs out with Harry Potter tribute bands. He goes to fan conventions. He battles online goblins, trolls, and sorcerers. He camps with medieval reenactors. He becomes Ethor, Ethorian, and Ethor-An3. What he discovers is funny, poignant, and enlightening.

From The Washington Post’s Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Andrew Ervin “To me,” Peter Laufer writes early in “The Dangerous World of Butterflies,” “journalism is an all-or-nothing calling. A real journalist is a journalist to the grave.” But even the toughest reporters can get worn out. Laufer, the author of many hard-edged books — about the rise of neo-Nazism, vigilantes on the Mexican-American border and, more recently, the suffering of soldiers returning from Iraq — has decided to take on a more lighthearted subject: butterflies. He begins his sally in Nicaragua, where he learns of a conflict between the “butterfly huggers” of the North American Butterfly Association and the International Butterfly Breeders Association over the staged release of butterflies at public events. His investigation reveals a sordid underworld of butterfly hobbyists in which “nefarious collectors fuel criminal butterfly poachers worldwide.” Laufer writes with humor, as if to concede that he’s trying too hard to find an exciting story where one doesn’t exist. Nevertheless, his book is charming and his attention to detail, combined with a real gift for describing these fascinating characters — he calls entomologist Arthur Shapiro “an endless litany of intriguing butterfly stories” — made me want to read everything else he has written. And I’m certain to look differently at the butterflies in my own backyard, knowing now how far they may have traveled to get there.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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