Sorry for the last minute post here, folks. I know I am not giving you a lot of time prior to the holidays to grab any of these treasures, but I only have the excuse of…well, nothing. I have been forgetful of late. Therefore, please accept my apologies and I hope you find something in this list for the D&D player(s) in your life.

Here’s the 2021 Holiday Gift Guide: Dungeons & Dragons Edition.

So this is the “new normal?” Or is it a return to the “old normal?” Either way, regardless of how you spent this past year, regardless of your thoughts on the world, politics, and economics of the world, furrowing your eyebrows at this or that or embracing all the necessary and arguably unnecessary changes in the world, one needs a constant personal and universal soundtrack to keep going, to keep sane, to keep grounded and inspired. As the newest round of the holiday season gets ready to dawn upon us, music not only acts as the perfect and always obvious choices for even the most discriminating of tastes, but also something that brings much-needed relief and communion to end another challenging year and brace everyone for what lies ahead in 2022. So as always, here’s my picks for some of the sonic highlights released this year, spanning all genres and tastes.

Check out our 2021 Holiday Gift Guide for Music.

We had hoped it wouldn’t come to be, but 2021 turned out to be more of the same from the previous year thanks to the pandemic. Lots of hunkering-down isolating or enjoying the great outdoors more often than usual. And once again, books played a big part in helping us all cope and maintain some kind of normalcy. Now more than ever, books in all their various formats will make a great gift this holiday season. This year saw a resurgence of Dune; illustrated versions of J.R.R. Tolkien works; memoirs from the world of rock and heavy metal; graphic novel collections; fun, pop-culture-themed cookbooks; stories from the imaginations of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Grady Hendrix; continuing adventures from the Star Trek, Star Wars, and Marvel universes, and much more.

Check out our Holiday Gift Guide 2021 for Books, eBooks, and Audiobooks for our favorite holiday gift picks for the readers in your life.

Reading comic books has always been a great way to escape from the real world and after the year we’ve just had, the situation of which is likely to continue on into 2021, now more than ever is a great time for some escapism. So this holiday season, give the gift of comics – there’s plenty of new offerings: an all-new Dune adaptation; a master edition of Alan Moore’s From Hell; and even an audiobook for Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman! There’s lots to choose from, so check out our picks in our Holiday Geek Gift Guide 2020 for Comic Books and Graphic Novels.

It’s truly been one helluva year. Our lives have been turned upside down because of a global pandemic and most things we felt were “normal” are not anymore. Thankfully, the act of gift-giving remains the same. And as I always say, a book is a fantastic gift to give and receive. Reading books and listening to audiobooks helped get a lot of people through some frightening times this year, and will continue to do so in the coming months. So why not gift some books to your friends and family to provide some comfort and entertainment while we wait for “normal” to return? This year saw a lot of great releases, including lots of attractive reissues of works from the great J.R.R. Tolkien; plenty of new adventures for Star Trek, Star Wars, The Hunger Games, and The Dresden Files; biographies from the world of heavy metal; some scary, yet fun Yuletide tales; and much much more.

Check out here below our Holiday Geek Gift Guide 2020 for Books, eBooks, and Audiobooks for our favorite holiday gift picks for the readers in your life.