Rating:
(12 reviews)
Author: Visit Amazon's Lizzie Stark Page
ISBN : 1569766053
New from $11.75
Format: PDF
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Review
"Whether you thoroughly appreciate the work of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon [LARP's newly appointed overlord] or just have a mild interest in geek culture, Stark makes this world of pretend a little more real." —
BUST “Lizzie Stark takes us down the rabbit hole and into the curiouser and curiouser world of larp and shows us a place where imagination lives and breathes. Enter if you dare . . . and enjoy the ride! It’s an enlightening and wondrous journey.” —Tracy Hickman, New York Times bestselling fantasy author and game designer
“Rarely does a book so deftly crack open the everyday world to reveal the riot of imagination within. With humor, intelligence, and more than a little bravery, Lizzie Stark guides us into the vast subculture of larping, where lawyers become vampire hunters and systems analysts turn into knights. Hilarious, honest, and enlightening, Leaving Mundania reminds us how thin the boundaries are between the roles we play and the selves we believe ourselves to be.” —Stacey Richter, Pushcart Prize-winning author of My Date With Satan, and Twin Study
"Lizzie Stark isn't afraid to walk the goblin walk, talk the in-character talk, wear the make-up, and wield the boffer sword. With verve, wit and candor, Leaving Mundania provides an important contribution to the history of role-playing and gaming, and proves the cultural significance of this flourishing game/performance/medium." —Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms
"Lizzie Stark valiantly throws herself into the sword-swinging world of live-action role-playing games in Leaving Mundania." —Vanity Fair
“A fascinating trip through the looking glass and into the subculture of larp. Stark gives us both the magic and the humanity of live-action make-believe. And as a social historian, she incisively points to a pop-culture trend on its way from the fringe toward the mainstream.” —Samuel Freedman, author of The Inheritance and Letters to a Young Journalist
"Rich, unexpected and compelling . . . Stark’s keen observational skills and crisp writing style successfully cut through those hackneyed stereotypes to reveal the very real people who are drawn to deeply imaginary worlds."—
Kirkus Reviews"A fascinating look at the world of live-action role playing-with a book jacket that slays me."—SchoolLibraryJournal.com
About the Author
Lizzie Stark is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the
Daily Beast and the
Philadelphia Inquirer. She is founder and editor of the literary journal
Fringe and holds an MS in new media journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Download latest books on mediafire and other links compilation Free Download Leaving Mundania: Inside the Transformative World of Live Action Role-Playing Games
- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Chicago Review Press (May 1, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1569766053
- ISBN-13: 978-1569766057
- Product Dimensions: 0.6 x 5.5 x 8.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Free Download Leaving Mundania: Inside the Transformative World of Live Action Role-Playing Games
I tore through Leaving Mundania over the course of several hours upon receiving the book in the mail, riveted by the various accounts of live action role-playing contained within: convention larps, boffers, military simulations, reenactment groups, parlor-style Cthulhu, and Nordic Larp. Though the author does not self-identify as a larper, she manages to succeed where most other journalistic representations of larp fail. Stark invested over three years of her life into exploring local subcultures of larp in the Northeast United States, then travelled to the Nordic larp convention Knudepunkt in Denmark for the climax of this brilliant exploration of larp communities.
Her stalwart dedication to her craft is evident in each richly-layered page; not only did Stark immerse herself into the lives of her subjects, but she also took the plunge into uncertain waters, exploring a multitude of different game styles and theoretical approaches to larp, despite her self-confessed apprehensions. Stark's clever voice never overshadows her vivid, respectful depictions of her interview subjects; her savvy wit never slashes to bits the activity that these individuals hold in such reverence. Other American journalists often fail to delve deeper than the surface of the complex tapestry of role-playing communities, preferring instead to treat participants like exotic animals at a bizarre zoo. Such an approach would have been easy for Stark, as the stigma towards larp remains deeply embedded in the history of the hobby in America, the threads of which the author artfully summarizes in her chapter, "Closeted Gamers and the Satanic Panic." Instead of cheap potshots or sensationalist exaggerations, Stark invests herself completely in her project.
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