My Connection Addiction

I can’t begin to tell you how the Internet would have changed my life, had it been around when I was a kid.

In my own home town, I was considered a bit of a freak by almost every other kid in school. Worse, any freakishness that went unnoticed was only spared me because I hid my true nature as best I could. Which wasn’t very well at all, but all the sadder that I felt I had to try.

I’ve loved science fiction and fantasy stories ever since I first discovered the genre, but in the days before Harry Potter, speculative fiction was not considered cool. Not that it’s always cool now, especially among the “grown-ups” of my own generation. But today there are thousands of us–nay, millions of us–all connected on the World Wide Web.

It’s hard to feel like a freak in a crowd like that.

A simple Google alert on “fantasy book” comes up with tons of hits every day. Just yesterday I found “Fantasy Debut,” a blog dedicated entirely to the debut novels of brand new fantasy authors. How cool is that?

It’s not just wonderful that the blog exists. It’s wonderful that I found it. Heck, finding people with the same passionate interests is so easy in the modern world that my computer can actually do it for me while I sleep, which is about the coolest thing ever. (Seriously, ever.)

And don’t even get me started on World of Warcraft.

I’m telling you, no matter what you’re into, just set up a Google alert and await the masses. They’re out there…

(Then come back and tell us who you found! What did you search for? Did it work? Tell us in the comments what you’re freakish about!)