Saturday, February 03, 2007

Charles Stross is a GOD. Or at least a Demi-god. Or maybe a Fiend.

WARNING: Geek content ahead. Get ready to roll a saving throw.

A friend likes to tweak me about our years playing Dungeons and Dragons, especially our fascination with some of the more obscure Fiend Folio creatures. (The new Fiend Folio cover is hideously Harry Potter-ized. Feh.)

So he sent me some snark about whether I remembered what githzerai were. I could only remember that they were related to (or next to in the Fiend Folio) githyanki, which is one of my favorite names from the entire D&D bestiary. (Not least because I can make stupid jokes to annoy my friends, like "Githyanki." "You're welcome." <rimshot>)

I of course went googling and found the githzerai WikiPedia entry, which mentions that they were invented by Charles Stross. This was a major surprise, because Charles Stross is now a hotshot SF writer whose stuff I've been reading recently, and enjoying immensely. (I strongly recommend The Atrocity Archives, especially if you've ever been a sysadmin.)

I feel like I've come full circle in some deep way. Some incredibly nerdy, sex-and-dating-impairing, deep way.

Thanks, Charles Stross!

2 comments:

Raven said...

But do you also remember American Bigolo?

rantingnerd said...

Augh, you just had to remind me of that, didn't you? I think I'm blind now.