title: The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons and Growing Up Strange
author:  Mark Barrowcliffe 
description: Funny . . . [Barrowcliffes] gently knowing style makes the pain of identification a pleasure.<i>Entertainment Weekly</i> <br /><br />Mark Barrowcliffes humorous, self-deprecating memoir of his misspent youth, The Elfish Gene, is another welcome addition to the growing nerdsploitation genre.Associated Press <br /><br />Hilarious, unbelievably well-remembered . . . begs a movie adaptation. . . . Barrowcliffe writes . . . with uncommon insight.<i>The Seattle Times</i> <br /><br />In the best tradition of British humor. . . . Laugh-out-loud funny.<i>The Christian Science Monitor</i> <br /><br />Wonderfully captures the insensitivity, insecurity and selfishness of the adolescent male.<i>Publishers Weekly</i>, starred review
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  ![](index-1_1.jpg)
  
  
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  **THE ISLANDS OF**
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## **THE BLESSED**
  
  
  ### **Sea of Trolls - 03**
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## **Nancy Farmer**
  
  
  **(An Undead Scan v1.5)**
  
  
  
  
  
  1
  
  
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  ## **To Harold**
  
  
  May we find the Islands of the Blessed together
  
  
  
  
  
  2
  
  
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  ## **CAST OF CHARACTERS**
  
  
  **HUMANS (SAXONS)**
  
  
  _**Jack:** _ Age fourteen; an apprentice bard
  
  
  _**Hazel:** _ Jack’s sister; age eight; stolen by hobgoblins
  
  
  _**Lucy:** _ Jack’s foster sister; lost to Elfland
  
  
  _**Mother:** _ Alditha; Jack’s mother; a wise woman
  
  
  _**Father:** _ Giles Crookleg; Jack’s father
  
  
  _**The Bard:** _ A druid from Ireland; also known as Dragon Tongue
  
  
  _**Ethne:** _ Daughter of the Elf Queen and the Bard
  
  
  _**Pega:** _ An ex-slave girl; age fifteen
  
  
  _**Mrs. Tanner:** _ The tanner’s widow; mother of Ymma and Ythla
  
  
  _**Ymma and Ythla:** _ The Tanner girls; ages ten and eight
  
  
  _**Brother Aiden:** _ A monk from the Holy Isle
  
  
  _**Gog and Magog:** _ Slaves of 