Thing you’d be most surprised a friend had not seen or read?

Fifteen or twenty years ago, I used to be shocked when I’d discover someone who hadn’t seen or read something I’d been enjoying for years. Like Star Wars. How do you be a geek and not see Star Wars?! As it turns out, pretty easily, but in my younger days I was quite the proficient little Gatekeeper, follower of the Tao of ‘No True Scotsman’. I’d insist they would have to make up this horrible deficiency, or else turn in their Geek Card (never mind that I didn’t have one either). Ah, the arrogance of youth.

These days it’s different. Not only do I not judge my fellow nerds for what they watch and read, I actually understand their plight. There is just so much! We’re in a time when the networks, speciality channels, streaming services, and YouTube have all figured out that nerdy content is, if not king, definitely in line for the throne. Concurrently there is an unprecedented ease to self-publishing, which has partially contributed to a wider than ever selection of fantasy and sci-fi books for hungry readers. Of course in both cases there will be a “quantity over quality” issue, but that is largely self-correcting as audiences and readers gravitate to their favourites.

But what this means is, there is no longer any way any one person can be expected to reasonably stay on top of every show, every movie, or every book. I am constantly running into folks who have not read or seen things I love, and vice versa. And that’s great! To my mind, discovering a new show or book through the passionate excitement of someone who loves it is the best way to find new things. In the end, I may not end up liking it as much as them, or at all. But that’s okay. What they love tells me something about them, and so when I want to talk about what I love I know who my best audience will be.

And I stopped being a Gatekeeper and never looked back. Took down the gates and turned them into shelves, for all the sweet new books and games I’ve got coming my way. Seems like a much better way to be a nerd, to my way of thinking.