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[Movie still from Cleopatra, 20th Century Fox]

On August 12, 30 B.C.E., Cleopatra VII Philopater died in what we now call Egypt. You might be familiar with Cleopatra because of her renowned wit and intelligence, her beauty, and the way she died. When her enemy Octavian won the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra killed herself in the most metal way possible by inducing an asp (a highly poisonous snake) to bite her.

Middle grade sits awkwardly in the space between effortlessly adorable picture books for young children, and effortlessly trendy YA for teens. Maybe that’s why I enjoy writing it so much – because it reminds me of how I was at that age. I was a gawky, awkward kid with a nose that was growing too fast for my face, a mouth full of braces, and giant glasses that made me look like an even bigger dork than I already was. But much like the protagonists of many middle grade novels, I wasn’t yet jaded by the reality of life. I still believed in magic, and more importantly, I still believed in myself.

For Book Pop!, Paul Krueger wrote a special short story from the world of Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge. Read it below:

Photo Credit: Brandon Hill

Hey everyone! Will Staehle here, the creator and illustrator of Quirk’s Warren the 13th series. When I’m not busy working on Warren, I run a design studio, Unusual Co., out of Seattle. I’ve designed all sorts of fun things over the years, but the majority of my work continues to be in the world of book cover design. I’ve been really fortunate to have designed covers for some amazing authors, like Michael Crichton, Stephen King, Michael Chabon, V. E. Schwab, Ernest Cline, Andy Weir, Warren Ellis, Christopher Buckley, and so many more. I’ve never kept count, but I’d estimate that I’ve designed over a thousand covers so far in my career.

So you might assume that when it came time to design my very own book cover for Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye, it would be my absolute dream project, and you would be 100 percent . . .

Wrong.

Suzanne Wallace does branding and marketing at Roll20. Roll20 is a virtual tabletop that makes it easy to play tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder online. The company was launched via Kickstarter in 2012 and has since grown to over 2.4 million users. Since the platform is browser-based and free to use, it's both the easiest and most popular way to play tabletop games online. 

Get ready to spice up your tabletop RPG!

Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.

What do we love even more than books? When our favorite authors recommend their favorite books. It’s a book lover’s dream! Here are five incredible writers who are consistently blowing our minds with their stellar book recommendations.