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March 31^st is Hug A Medievalist Day, the most important holiday of the year if you chose to devote your course of study to Chaucer, Charlemagne, or Camelot. As Quirk’s resident medievalist, I am DELIGHTED to provide you with some additional ways to celebrate that special Middle Ages expert in your life (especially if they’re not too keen on the hugging thing). Let us sally forth!

Editor's Note: We're bringing back one of our best loved pumpkin-y posts. Read on, friends, with a Pumpkin Spice Latte in hand. 

When it comes harbingers of fall, the pureed-squash coffee cocktail known as the Pumpkin Spice Latte looms large. Somewhere around the autumnal equinox, Pumpkin Spice hysteria settles over the nation like a miasma, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Lines stretch around corners. Bank accounts are liquidated. Pumpkin-deprived consumers sprawl in the gutter, eyes dull and devoid of spiciness.

But the cult of this artificially-flavored hot beverage is far from a modern phenomenon. Writers through time immemorial have devoted countless words of pen and page to this wondrous drinkstuff. The PSL has inspired more beauty, mystery, and whimsy in the world of literature than absinthe, opium, and upper-downer goofballs combined. Behold:

Ah, college dormitories. The cinderblock walls! The fluorescent lights! The windows that don’t open except with a vigorous shoulder-check! Okay, so a dorm’s not the most glamorous of digs. But for the next semester, your dorm is your home—once you actually move in, that is. Schlepping all your stuff up narrow staircases (or in tiny elevators) can be amazingly stressful, and that’s before your parents step in to “help” you. Avoid day-of meltdowns with these handy tips.

Last year, I took it upon myself to hastily pull together carefully write the least most useful guide to Book Expo America—the publishing industry’s biggest North American trade show—ever. And I figured that, having gamely completed that arduous act of public service, I could rest on my laurels a bit and watch from my chaise longue as generations of writers, editors, publicists, marketing teams, sales managers, book buyers, librarians, and bloggers harvested the benefits of my BEA knowledge, sealed forever and for all time.

But then it happened.

A cataclysm was unleashed. Reality itself was RENT IN TWAIN. Because—and there is really no way we could have anticipated this—it turns out that there is MORE THAN ONE major city in the United States. I know, I’m shocked too!

Yes, this year’s Book Expo America will be held in Chicago—a plucky, big-hearted metropolis in the “Midwest” portion of the country. But NEVER FEAR. I am here to provide a guide to Chicago so thorough that you’ll swear I speed-read the Wikipedia article just prior to writing this post!*

*Which I did, but I also lived there for four years, okay?

Get offa my book, ya pesky leaf!

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but EVERYONE these days is buzzing about fall. Haven’t heard of it? Open your eyes, trend-misser-outer! A perky season with a flashy kick of color, fall brings together the outdoorsy delights of summer and the bundled-up coziness of winter, but without crippling dehydration and/or Vitamin D deficiency!

Like the gradual discoloration and death of all plant life after the first frost, fallsiness is inevitable and pervasive—it must be part of every aspect of your life, and your TBR pile is no exception (you do not want to be one of those poor souls whose reading life is aseasonal, do you?!) Here’s how to wow your bookish friends and impress your literary enemies with a full-on fall-times reading-stuff makeover!

Is your dad the coolest dad around? Or are you a cool dad yourself? Let us take your picture! Quirk is searching for some volunteer dad models in the Philadelphia area to be featured in photos for an upcoming book. We're looking for dads roughly age 50 and up who could commit to a half-day of shooting in early August. (Dads of color highly encouraged!)