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Hey everyone,

Today is a special occasion: it’s marks the 1^st Anniversary of the release of my Born This Way: Real Stories of Growing Up Gay book. I can’t believe a whole year as passed! For now, let’s all light some rainbow colored candles and blow them out for the book. To check out some videos from our spectacular book launch event in LA last year (featuring Frank DeCaro, Miss Coco Peru, Jackie Beat, Patrick Bristow, Prince Poppycock and more), you can click here.

In the year that’s passed, I’ve seen my book get met with such positive, wonderful reviews and feedback, and I’ve been contacted by many parents who have found it to be a really helpful tool in understanding their own gay children. And I know that it’s reaching kids too – gay and straight alike – and that’s really all I ever wanted to see: that my book could have a positive impact on their lives. And if you have someone in your life that might be gay or questioning, give them a copy of my book. I bet it will make them smile.

Also, this Friday October 11^th marks another National Coming Out Day. It’s interesting to see what coming out looks like in 2013, because now when someone in the public eye does it, it’s usually done so casually and smoothly, sometimes we barely notice. But it is no less important. And the better news is that being out today is not met with the shock or career-damage it once was. In fact, these people are almost always applauded and celebrated for being out.

An eBook exclusive re-release of Sam Stall's Suburban Legends came out October 1st! So through the month of October, we're sharing excerpts from the collection of spooky stories. Because Halloween! 

They told you the suburbs were a great place to live. They said nothing bad could ever happen here. But they were wrong.

This collection of terrifying true stories exposes the dark side of life in the ’burbs—from corpses buried in backyards and ghosts lurking in fast food restaurants to UFOs, vanishing persons, bizarre apparitions, and worse. 

So lock your doors, dim the lights, and prepare to stay up all night with this creepy collection of true tales. We promise you’ll never look at white picket fences the same way again!

Read an excerpt below (The Prime-Time Poltergeist), and pick it up for $3.99 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or the iBookstore this month! 

I didn’t realize that Sweetest Day was a holiday until I started dating (and later got engaged to) a lovely gal from Michigan.

Founded in the 1920’s with the intention of giving out candy to people who had fallen on hard times, Sweetest Day is generally celebrated in the Great Lakes region of the United States… which means a majority of my friends haven’t heard of it. Though thanks to my fiancee it is now regularly celebrated in at least one confirmed apartment in Philadelphia. Mine.

I’ve long since given up the hope of trying to hunt down anything Sweetest Day related in Philadelphia. Bringing up the holiday to friends simply gets me strange looks. So when it comes to finding the perfect gift, like most gentlemen in crisis, I turn to Etsy.

Behold! Three perfect presents for your bookish Sweetest Day sweetheart. If one of these is out of stock by the time this blog post goes live… it’s because I bought it. I’m not even sorry.

Yesterday we revealed the cover for Hollow City, the sequel to the New York Times bestselling Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, over on Entertainment Weekly's Shelf Life.

Nicole (Quirk's super publicity manager) and I spent the whole afternoon and evening scouring Twitter and smiling at all of your reactions to the cover. Seriously, we can't wait to share Ransom's amazing book with all of you! January can't come soon enough. 

Until then, we've got a fun little giveaway to hold you over.

No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake Mousse with Summertime Sprinkles via Jackie Alpers’ blog

Hey there Quirk cookbook fans!

Next week we’re releasing Jackie Alper’s debut cookbook, Sprinkles! Recipes & Ideas for Rainbowlicious Desserts. It’s an adorable book that teaches you all about everyone’s favorite confectionary, and dishes out a number of recipes, projects, and even crafts that use these tasty little pieces of sugar.

To celebrate, we’ve put together a fun Rainbow Sprinkles Blog Tour with a number of great bloggers. Starting next week and running through November, bloggers will be experimenting with Sprinkles, and sharing their color specific recipes. One week, we’ve got red. Another week, we’ve got orange. Then yellow, green, blue, purple… hitting all the colors of the sprinkles rainbow. At the end of the tour, we’ll roundup all the recipes and photos.

Via Tumblr

I’m a little obsessed with organization. There’s a place for everything in my apartment. However, every season I’m inspired to move furniture around and change up my living space. My bookshelves are always the first to change. Right now my books are arranged by category (I have specific shelves for fairy tale anthologies, graphic novels, middle grade novels, etc.), but I assure you they won’t stay that way for long.

In honor of Get Organized Week, here are seven different ways to organize your bookshelves. Take advantage of proudly putting your books on display.