I am proud to announce that I have written a book! It’s called I Was Geeky When Geeky Wasn’t Cool, and it’s available for at the Amazon Kindle store. This little book is a collection of memories and tales about what it was like for me as a young nerd in the 1980s. The book is humorous and melancholy at times, moving and engaging through all 30,000 words. There is plenty to reminisce about inside, with dozens of references to pop culture from that glorious decade, as well as more geeky fare like sci-fi, comic books, and of course, fantasy.

I devoted an entire chapter to my first time playing Dungeons & Dragons on the playground in fifth grade. A selection from this chapter is included below. Take a look at it, and if you like it, why not purchase a copy of the full book by clicking on the cover image above?

Jason led us on a journey to a dark, mystical land called Barovia. Packs of wolves howled in the distance as we traversed a muddy road shrouded in eerie fog. A creepy fortune teller cackled as she made predictions about the dire fate that awaited us. We made our way through thunder and pouring rain to the gothic towers of Castle Ravenloft. Inside, the treasures of the vampire wizard, Count Strahd von Zarovich, lie ripe for the plunder. The gloomy setting was incredibly evocative to my ten-year-old mind.

Jason would occasionally present choices for us, asking for our responses, and take the story a bit further. He deftly weaved our ideas and input into a compelling, if not campy, adventure story. It was as if all three of us were reading and writing a Choose Your Own Adventure book together at the same time. I loved every minute of it.

Inside the castle, we encountered all sorts of horrific entities, ranging from stone gargoyles to ancient witches and animated suits of armor. All manner of deadly traps had to be overcome, but vast stores of gold coins and ancient, powerful magical artifacts made the risk worthwhile. Anti-paladins and assassins are not exactly renowned for their sense of community and sharing, and thus Marty and I inevitably betrayed one another, but it was all in good fun. All too soon, the recess bell rang, pulling us from the clang of swords and daggers on undead bones back into the real world. Oh, what I’d have given for a longer recess that day, but it was not to be.