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Here at Quirk HQ, we recently received 8 one-of-a-kind gig posters straight from the pages of Gig Posters: Volume 2. They are unique, high-quality proofs from Germany. We were tempted to take them home ourselves, but we’ve decided to give them away instead! They measure 24” by 28.5” by awesome, and feature some amazing bands. We’ve got posters for:

Vampire Weekend
Green Day
The Cranberries
Queens of the Stone Age & The Eagles of Death Metal
Deftones
Mogwai
Franz Ferdinand
Slayer

To win your own rock art, just comment (or tweet @quirkbooks) with either your coolest, or your most embarrassing concert story. But you’ll have to beat my story involving 11-year-old me, my Dad, and a Boyz II Men concert. Good luck!

We love it when people enjoy our books, but when people take our content and use it to inspire their own creativity… well, that's even cooler. 

Sam Cushion has not only created a fansite for Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, he is also working on composing a soundtrack to the book! Cushion says he has always loved music and literature, but only recently did he start to put his two passions together. He has created music for other books, most notably the Hunger Games trilogy, and hopes to complete an entire album of music inspired by Miss Peregrine.

He has four songs recorded already, and my personal favorite is Flashlight Fish. You can listen to everything he's created so far over on his Bandcamp page.

Don’t forget to check out his fansite at PeculiarChildren.net.

Happy Texas Independence Day!

173 years ago settlers living in Mexican Texas made it official: they broke away from Mexico and formed the Republic of Texas.

And while March 2nd is an official holiday only in the Lone Star state, we wanted to give them a nod this year by cooking up some Frito pie. A simple Texan dish to make, Frito Pie consists of corn chips (Fritos are originally from Texas) piled on with chili, shredded cheese, onions, and other optional toppings.

For an easy, breezy recipe that bypasses day-long chili simmering, check out The Homesick Texan. This site has an hour-long chili con carne recipe that is a piece of cake to pull together. Once the chili is done, put a heaping handful of Frito chips on a plate (or just open the Frito bag if you are feeling intrepid), add a cup of the chili, some shredded cheese, chopped onions, and other toppings you fancy.

We were inspired by the additions Serious Eats’ vegan Frito pie recipe used. Sure, they are probably not authentic Tex Mex, but the avocado, jalapeños, scallions, and cilantro trimmings gave our meal even more texture and flavor. Just make sure to have your fat pants on while eating this savory pie: it’s delicious, but thankfully for our waistlines, Texas Independence Day is only once a year.

Ah March! The month that rings in Spring, gives us all a reason to be Irish, and celebrates the lives of pigs. Say whaaa? Yes, that’s right. March 1st is National Pig Day, a holiday instituted in 1972 by two sisters to honor the pig for its intellect and greatness. Probably a bad day to eat bacon.

To do my share in honoring the pig I have gathered a list of the greatest porkers in literature. I lift my glass to all of them, but also slightly apologize for giving you more information on pig characters than you probably need to know.

1. Wilbur: Oh, Wilbur. The beloved children’s book Charlotte’s Web introduces Wilbur, a rambunctious pig who befriends the clever spider Charlotte when he learns he’s on the menu for Thanksgiving dinner.

Interestingly, E.B. White wrote Death of a Pig years prior, based on a true event of how he couldn’t save his sick pig. Some believe Charlotte’s Web was a way for White to retroactively save that pig. I think E.B. would have been all smiles on Pig Day.

2. Piglet: I almost turned a blind eye to Piglet because he has received enough attention throughout the years, but then I realized it would give me an opportunity to talk about “Pooh Sticks.”

For the uninitiated, Pooh Sticks is a game created by the Hundred Acre Wood clan whereby each player drops a stick over the side of a bridge to see whose stick first appears on the other side. There is even a World Poohsticks Championship, which takes place annually on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England. Nerd alert!

3. Gub-Gub: Who, you say, is Gub-Gub? Gub-Gub was one of the first animals that Dr. Doolittle spoke to in the 1932 children’s book Gub-Gub’s Book, An Encyclopedia of Food by Hugh Lofting. The book is told from Gub-Gub’s point of view. Gub-Gub is a great lover of food. He is also the first animal to experience Dr. Doolittle’s onset schizophrenia.

4. Napoleon and Snowball: These two young pigs were born from the mind of George Orwell in Animal Farm, published in 1945.

The Stalin-inspired Napoleon starts off as a regular ol’ piggie but soon becomes dictator of the farm animals. Snowball, on the other hand, is busy trying to stir up other farm animals in a massive riot against humans. I think Snowball masks would have been way cuter than Guy Fawkes’ masks during Occupy. No?

There is nothing more uninspiring than the drugstore Valentine aisle. Forget Hallmark this year and impress your Valentine with a love letter from their favorite author tucked inside a paper mailbox — complete with a hinged door and quaint red mailbox flag.

For this DIY-Valentine you’ll need the following materials:

– 3 sheets of card stock
– double-sided tape
– single hole punch
– paper fasteners
– craft knife
– pen
– mini envelope and card
– craft scissors

Feel free to use this lovely template from her Craftacular Highness, Martha Stewart, if you’re artistically challenged like me or create your own version of the 3-D paper mailbox.

Once you’ve assembled your mailbox, inscribe a note with a short quote or passage from your Valentine’s favorite author, slip it inside a mini envelop and deliver it to your “mailbox.”

Hopefully, your beau’s favorite writer is someone romantic like poet, Pablo Neruda. You’ll have an easy time finding lovey-dovey quotes encapsulating your true feelings. But perhaps your Valentine is more into stark Russian prose. Not incredibly romantic but — fear not! Your letter will just be that much more unique.

I’ve chosen to use a quote from one of my guy’s favorite authors, Fyodor Dostoevsky, but you can borrow from any author that has meaning to you or your Valentine.

On the small note tucked inside the mailbox, I wrote:

We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at
first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.

Works every time. You're welcome.

-FD

Short. Sweet. And completely unique. Your beau will appreciate your creativity and hey, you remembered their favorite author! Bonus points.

{C}

On the evening of Tuesday, January 17th, I gathered at the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver to celebrate the release of my debut novel, Taft 2012.

Tattered Cover is a Denver institution as well as being one of the finest booksellers in America, and it was an honor to be their guest. The crowd was amazing–must have been at least a hundred people there, and not even all of them were my family!–and despite my nervousness I was somehow able to keep people from fleeing.

But in all seriousness, I couldn’t have imagined a better book launch. Thanks to everyone who came!