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Game of Thrones is baaaaaack! Season 4 premiered on Sunday and we’re all atwitter. Winter is coming, guys.

If you’ve read the books, you already know that some crazy stuff is gonna go down this season. Gather your friends (you’ll need emotional support handy in case your favorite character dies), scrounge up some edibles, and make a party of it! Because the only things better than watching GoT is eating while watching GoT.

When it comes to making Game of Thrones-inspired treats, the snack dragon has three heads. Choose your preferred approach to being a Westeros chef.

Poems can invoke the deepest of emotions, the most beautiful of sentiments, but they can also pack a huge, insulting punch. There’s something about the form—maybe the lilt, the rhythm—that lends itself perfectly to derision and condescension. Need to tell someone that they’re beneath you? A short story won’t do. Want to skewer your professional rival? Veiled allusions in your novel aren’t going to cut it. What you need is a good meter to set your scorn to.

Since April is National Poetry Month, let’s explore the poems that expertly take their targets’ ego and grind it under their perfectly cadenced heel.

Why hello there, Quirk readers. 

Please, allow me a moment to introduce myself. My name is Quirk E. Newsletter. I'm a monocle wearing cat who enjoys the finer things in life. Wide-brimmed top hats, leather-bound books, bronze monocles, and newsletters that are sent out monthly via an electronic mailing service.

My my, we live in such exciting times. An era where a cat such as I can enjoy the pleasures of reading books and sending out finely curated pieces of electronic mail. 

In my monthly letters you'll read about exciting news at the offices of Quirk Books. Readers will also be treated to exclusive giveaways, details about upcoming events, and lists of our best online literary entries, which I'm now being told are known as blogs, that month. Blog. A curious word. 

So please, go forth and sign up! There's a button you can press below, and one on the right hand side of this online website. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to figure out what tweeting is, and where the delicious birds are that do it. 

Yours,

Quirk E. Newsletter

* the E stands for Exuberant

Stop biting yourself! Stop biting yourself! Mooooom!

Like it or not, you can't choose the family you're related to by blood. It just… happens. And most of the time, it turns out pretty good.

But some families are so poisonous that it isn't just bad to be a part of the clan. It's also bad to be associated with them in any way, even from the outside. Below is a list of families that I wouldn't want to be a part of, but equally as importantly, wouldn't want my circles to intersect with in any way. They're that bad.

"[I]t's our game; that's the chief fact in connection with it: America's game; it has the snap, go, fling of the American atmosphere; it belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as significantly as our Constitution's laws; is just as important in the sum total of our historic life." — Walt Whitman

Convention season is upon us, Quirk fans. And we are psyched. We love heading to these events, and spending time with all of you! 

This month, we're heading off to C2E2 in Chicago from April 25th to April 27th. You'll be able to find me and Nicole De Jackmo at Booth #520, selling books, giving away swag, and dishing out high fives galore. 

Now, on to what we've got planned.

SWAG: Over the course of the convention, we'll be giving away plenty of fun Quirk totebags (for you to lug all your other swag around in, of course) and tons of posters, including posters for The Empire Striketh Back, The Jedi Doth Return, How to Make Your Cat an Internet Celebrity, and Nick & Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab. 

BOOKS: We're bringing plenty of our fan favorites, including signed copies of Ransom Riggs' Hollow City and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. 

SIGNINGS: On Saturday, April 26th, some guy named Eric Smith will be signing copies of The Geek's Guide to Dating at 2:30pm at our booth.

And on Sunday, April 27th, Ian Doescher will be signing William Shakespeare's Star Wars and The Empire Striketh Back at 2:45pm. He'll also be on a panel from 1:15pm to 2:15pm in room S403.