In preparation of Balticon 42, I thought I'd hold my own little Geek Appreciation Week. You may be under the impression that every good geek spends more time in the World of Warcraft* than the land of Shakespeare, but without my geek friends, I would never have discovered Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Chuck Palahniuk's Choke or even The Areas of My Expertise, by the hilarious John Hodgman, BEFORE he became the cringeworthy personification of a PC we all came to love in those ubiquitous Apple commercials.

In other words, geeks are some of the most literary people I know. And while I'm going to focus on the science fiction and fantasy genres that can often be their bread and butter, the fact is that the stereotypes are way outdated. So let's all let our inner-geek out to for a while. Or...I will, at least.

Check back in the coming days for more information on Balticon, a few of our favorite sci-fi and fantasy books, and more.

*I hope all my WoW-loving friends recognize this as the shout-out it is, and not an insult. I would never have been able to hold a decent conversation comparing the merits of DC and Marvel without you.

(Photo by Morrhigan at stock.xchang)