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How to Modify Your Bike to Accommodate an Alien

This holiday season, many people are going to find themselves in the same quandary: how you adjust your bike so your friendly extra-terrestrial can travel with you? Sure, Eliott in E.T. made it look easy. But not every alien can safely fit into a standard bicycle basket. Here’s a how-to guide to help with transporting even the most unusual off-worlder.

Posted by Jadzia Axelrod

Favorite Books as Halloween Candy: 2.0

We're bringing back one of our best loved posts—with a horror twist. What if these books were Halloween candy? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out these Quirk favorites too: Books as Halloween CandyBook Inspired Beer | Pairing Beer & Comics

Posted by Quirk Books Staff

Literary Roles of Tilda Swinton

Photo by JESHOOTS.com from Pexels

The incomparable Tilda Swinton has been on the big screen for over thirty years, bringing us characters who run the gamut from modern day mothers to fantasy ice queens, vampires and royalty, predators and angels. Her unique look and commanding presence is incredibly distinctive, yet it can be wrapped around a range of roles that most other actors would struggle to encompass. Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that Swinton has brought to life multiple characters from the pages of books—so many, in fact, that we aren’t even going to list them all. Instead, we take a look at her ten best and biggest—whether blockbuster movies, starring roles, amazing adaptations, or something else that makes these literary roles worth watching.

Posted by Rose Moore

Michael Crichton Films that Deserve a Remake

[Movie still form Jurassic Park, Universal Pictures]

Michael Crichton may be the author responsible for some of the most beloved and iconic science fiction on shelves today, but for some reason, his work hasn’t always weathered the jump to screen very well. While Jurassic Park endures as a modern classic, and Westworld is enjoying new life as a critically acclaimed HBO original series, most of Crichton’s sci-fi stumbled in the transition from page to screen. The screenplays often made sweeping changes to the stories and characters of the novels, the effects couldn’t keep up with the imaginative visuals described in the books, and talented actors were often stuck with clunky dialogue and ridiculous, nonsensical plots. Furthermore, while Crichton’s novels forced the reader to grapple with complex questions about humanity, cause and effect, communication, nature, and more, the movies rarely concerned themselves with such thoughtful reflection, retreating instead into spectacle and action and abandoning the very things that made the novels great.

However, now that special effects technology has evolved and filmmakers are increasingly making riskier, more cerebral films, perhaps we are due for a Crichton renaissance. Hollywood is already keen on revisiting many of the films and TV shows of yesteryears, so taking another cinematic swing at a few of Crichton’s novels seems like a natural next step.

Posted by Lauren Thoman

The Reading Dead

[TV still from The Walking Dead, AMC]

While the Walking Dead has had a bit of a controversial run this last year and a half, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t still one of the best shows on television. As the show runs into its eighth season, it is becoming a bit of a question of what the characters do in their down time. Not every single moment of every day can be filled with killing zombies and fighting Negan, right? So with that in mind, we thought it would be nice to give the characters some reading suggestions for the next time they walk into a town and have a chance to raid a library. After all, there must be tons of great books laying around in the zombie ravaged land, they aren’t exactly the same type of commodity as food or weapons.

Posted by David Winnick

Frankenstein’s Support Group for Misunderstood Monsters: Chapter 5

Last time: Dracula reflects.

Next time: Frankenstein's neighborhood.

Posted by Jadzia Axelrod