[This is a lightly edited, retitled entry from my previous blog: urbanfantasyfan.com, reposted here with apologies for those who've already read it] Our next author interview at FanLit Frankly will be Ann Aguirre, currently scheduled for the first week of November. Meanwhile, I am once again (previous attempt interrupted by the move) accepting questions for our mid-November interview with Lev Grossman, International bestselling author of The Magicians, Codex, and Warp. Mr. Grossman is also a book critic for Time Magazine where he also writes for their hip-to-be-square blog glorifying “nerd” culture: Nerd World. Grossman apparently feels that attending Harvard and Yale, writing about technology, playing dungeons and dragons as a child and writing fantasy novels are enough to qualify him for the distinguished title: nerd. Now, being a first-rate journalist, (note: this claim has not yet been fact checked), I found myself unwilling to accept Mr. Grossman’s claims of nerdhood at face value. So, I decided to investigate.
Step 1: Conduct Research on Fantasy Author Nerds
In my extensive research, (note: I poured myself a strong drink and logged onto Amazon.com’s author pages), I discovered the claim that fellow upcoming FanLitFrankly interviewee Jim Butcher (of Dresden Files and Codex Alera fame) “can fly the nerd flag with anyone and frequently does.” Evidence cited includes his hobbies: “horseback riding (including trick riding, stunt riding, drill riding, and competitive stunt racing), archery, martial arts, costuming, music and theater…” [I pause here to allow a collective gasp for the deep shame Jim Butcher must feel.] (long pause)
Admittedly, Mr. Butcher does also play, “a lot of role-playing games, a lot of fantasy-based tactical computer games, and …… live-action role play where players beat each other up with boffer weapons.” (Aside: Is boffing other people truly more nerdish than not boffing them?)
Frankly, after reading these two examples, I felt my own nerd star rising. I began to think that even I could stake a claim to the exalted title of fantasy nerd.
Step 2 Market Survey: So, I took a quick household poll. (Partial transcript follows)
Me: I’m blogging about being a fantasy nerd.
Son: Finally.
Wife: (Rolls her eyes)
Daughter (with great loyalty): You’re not a nerd, daddy, you’re just …different.
Ah, the pain. With the exception of my son, I do not enjoy the support of my family in this, my title quest. (And even in my son’s case the verb ‘enjoy’ might be a bit strong).
Step 3: Assert my inner alpha nerd
So, with a clear definition of fantasy nerd and a visceral need to assert my status, I turned to that widely accepted, objective arbiter of who has contributed the most to the fantasy community. No, not the Nebula awards or some such small-time recognition…
That’s right, I’m talking the product tags on Amazon.com.
For those not “in-the-know,” Amazon encourages customers to contribute to the online community by “tagging” product items, essentially labeling these items as “fantasy” products. Top contributors and their profiles are posted on the right-hand side of the discussion boards. As of last week, [two weeks ago at time of reposting] the top contributors for the Amazon fantasy community were MagiC Vector, Cousin It, and Walter F. Croft who had each tagged: 6,828, 5,966, and 2,544 items, respectively.
My quest to outnerd Mr. Grossman (who, as you may recall, is the topic of this blog article) now had a purpose. It turns out that “tagging” products as “fantasy,” is so easy even a child (in this case my money-grubbing daughter who cleverly charged me a penny per tag) can do it.
Finding products to tag was also easy. By my estimation there were a thousand products related to Harry Potter alone. After we exhausted the Potter knick knacks, I instructed my daughter to: “tag anything with a wizard or sword on the cover, anything where someone is riding inappropriate means of transportation such as tigers, polar bears, flying horses, snakes, unicorns, or dragons, as well as any book cover sporting an armed woman clad in chain mail lingerie.” These instructions proved more than sufficient to our task. After a mere seventeen hours (note: we were recovering from Swine Flu and clicking a mouse was about the extent of our energy), we had topped the charts with a new record of 6,950 product tags. That’s right: #1 fantasy contributor. Ha! All you people who thought I was just a loser geek who’d never amount to anything? I guess I showed you. But while I’d like to stay and bask in the praise I am rightfully due. I have to go play legos with my teenage son (Note: not kidding). So, fantasy nerd smackdown issued, I retire.
Please submit your questions for Mr. Lev Grossman regarding his Nerd World blog, his personal nerd status, or, you know, if you want to be all prosaic about it, his books, especially his newly released, The Magicians. All questions considered for inclusion in interview and all comments will constitute an entry into our giveaway drawing of The Magicians.
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[...] Lev Grossman’s The Magicians [...]
Have you ever been shocked by your own nerdiness? Have you had a moment of clarity where you step back and say, wow that was pretty ridiculous?
Where did you get your idea for your novel, and then how did you transfer that to a written story?
I have no problem declaring myself a nerd! And, based on Mr. Grossman’s criteria, I would say I am just that! My favorite thing in the world is reading…anything bookish. I have been a professional student my whole life…have currently been at university since 2003 majoring in history and English. I’m also writing books. Finally, I played Dungeons and Dragons between the age of 14 and 16. I was the only girl so I think that makes me particularly nerdy…lol!
Now, a question for Mr. Grossman:
As I stated above, I too played Dungeons and Dragons. My character was an elf, but I unfortunately can’t remember her name. What race (elf, wizard, warrior, etc) was your character and do you remember his name?
Thanks for the interesting post!
Michelle
miller4plusmore(at)bellsouth(dot)net
Congratulations to Joe Scanlon who wins the drawing for The Magicians. Please send me your mailing address at sbfrank[at]live.com to claim your prize.