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As we know, there are some characters written out there who would make amazing boyfriends. Well, for every one decent human being, there are dozens of terrible ones. I mean, terrible. Would-not-date-ever. And I’m not entirely sure why anyone would.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 1, 2013

QUIRK BOOKS GOES “NORMAL.”

Quirk Books, the independent publisher known for its irreverent reference guides and innovative works of fiction, has gone and done the unexpected once again. Effective immediately, the company is launching a new imprint that will give readers exactly what they expect. Book-lovers of the world, meet Normal Books.

"We think that becoming more conventional is truly the most 'strikingly unconventional' move we could make," says President and Publisher David Borgenicht. "Readers have come to expect the unexpected from us, and I'm pretty sure no one was expecting this."

The Normal Books imprint will offer a completely retooled frontlist of regular, completely straightforward books, with titles including Breakfast for Breakfast, Miss Peregrine's Home for Regular Children, and Pride and Prejudice without Zombies.

This groundbreaking, daringly creative move was engineered with readers in mind, says Associate Publisher and Creative Director Jason Rekulak. "We’re convinced there’s an audience out there that craves the same-old, same-old,” he says. “We're excited to stop pushing the envelope, and start nudging it back into the desk drawer next to the pens and rubber bands." The concept is expected to yield a more manageable workflow as well. “The sales reps have been clamoring for less buzzworthy titles,” notes Moneka Hewlett, Senior Sales Director.

Besides its new catalog of traditional print titles, Normal Books intends to release all subsequent books in eBook format: as plain text with no pictures and in a single small, non-dynamic font. Says Vice President Brett Cohen: "In the digital age, Normal Books will be square in the middle of the pack when it comes to using new, innovative technology. There’s no need to show off."

Below are the titles that Normal Books will be releasing in the coming months:

This April, read the Edgar® nominated book that everyone is talking about for only $2.99.

Slate’s “One of the Best Books of 2012”

Named a Book of the Month by Amazon, Indie Next List, and Shelfari

Named a Book of the Week by Google Play and  the iBookstore

“Ben H. Winters makes noir mystery even darker: The Last Policeman sets a despondent detective on a suspicious suicide case—while an asteroid hurtles toward earth.”—Wired

“I’m eager to read the other books, and expect that they’ll keep me as enthralled as the first one did.”— Boing Boing

“…an insightfully drawn portrait about a police officer living in a world on the edge of the apocalypse.”—io9

“Extraordinary—as well as brilliant, surprising, and, considering the circumstances, oddly uplifting.”—Mystery Scene Magazine

“Exhilarating. . . . do not wait for the movie!”—E! Online

The trilogy continues on July 16, 2013 with Countdown City: The Last Policeman Book II.

Here are a few February highlights from the Craft-a-Day Craft-a-thon!

Guest Post from Kersten Fons of the the Brentwood Library

Planning a book club for teens is amazingly fun, but challenging.  They are very picky about the books they read and don’t want anything too "schoolish." I try to combine a cool craft with each book I pick, and since I fell in love with the terrific pictures in Ransom Riggs's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, I wanted to do something that incorporated the pictures into the craft.  So I came up with… photo transfer tile coasters!