A Game of Words: You Spell or You Die

At this epically nerdy spelling bee, contestants choose between two preliminary rounds: “swords” for fantasy buffs and “space” for science-fiction geeks. Finalists tackle vocabulary from both genres, spelling words like morsmordre (that’s the incantation used to conjure the Dark Mark in the Harry Potter series) and hooloovoo (a superintelligent shade of blue mentioned in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which author Douglas Adams also managed to sneak into season 17 of Doctor Who). E-mail brooklyn@wordbookstores.com to sign up and prove you actually read the books.