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If you’re a bibliophile, you love books, plain and simple. You probably have more than you know what to do with (or have space for), but you always acquire more. You have yellowed old classics and brand-new glossy New York Times bestsellers. But now you’re looking for something more unique to round out your book collection, maybe something vintage, or something that reminds you of your childhood.

Today, Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice celebrates its 200th anniversary.

As Quirk fans know, we sure to do love Jane Austen here at the HQ, what with our mashups like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters. To celebrate, we’ve got some giveaways on our Facebook, the interactive eBook App for Pride & Prejudice & Zombies is free (today’s the last day!), and I’ve got this cute excerpt from the Jane Austen Handbook on letter writing.

Why letter writing?

Letters play an important part in Pride & Prejudice (ie: the letter Darcy writes to Elizabeth and Jane’s letter about Lydia running off with Wichkham) and a lot of other Austen books.

So read on, and learn how to write and prepare a proper, Jane Austen era note. Enjoy!

When you’re the host of a get-together, there’s nothing more reassuring than to know you’ve got a ginormously gorgeous baked ham ready to be the centerpiece of the table.

Your guests will not be able to resist the sweet glaze that flavors each spectacular, succulent slice of this ham. Make it ahead, bake it while you’re wrapping presents or writing cards. And when you’re ready to serve, put it beside other entrees, the bread basket and wine.

This ham’s versatility is the best part. If there are leftovers, you can have some flavorful ham sandwiches, sides, salads or whatever ham heaven your heart desires.

For the 40th anniversary of Apollo 17, December, 2012

I

Soon after brutal apes were graced
With cunning minds and nimble hands
That grasped both word and implement,
They sought more fruitful far-off lands.

Devising hieroglyph and rune,
They logged the heavens, wielding tomes
To guide their craft across the seas,
Subduing wilds to make new homes.

Withdrawing wisdom from its sheath,
They felled old plagues, then lit the waste
With bolt and arc in copper veins,
Contagion and the dark erased.

II

Then clad in fragile armor, we
Assailed the sky, defying void
Between the Earth and distant Moon;
Man’s highest boundary destroyed.

Our race’s ardor tried and spent,
With thinning purse and swollen fame
We shunted wealth to mend the poor,
Make well the old, a carnal aim.

We climbed down from our highest mount,
Resigned the goal, shook off its dust,
Surrendered gear as monuments,
Consigning all to moth and rust.

Then christening metallic thralls
In zeal for life and fearing woe,
We coasted shallows in their shade;
Paid absent heed; remained below.

III

But then a ghost rose into view
Discerned through artifice of glass;
Bleak omen of a monolith,
Far portent of some deadly mass.

With former prowess at its ebb,
We forged new arms to meet the bane
And flung our shafts against the foe,
Contesting blood and home in vain,

For they who measure signs foretold
The writ of doom would not be stayed.
Our scruples fled; we furled the law
And sundered oaths; all cried, some prayed.

The common clung to brood and creed,
While kings fled to a deep retreat;
Then stony fist turned flaming spear
And stabbed the Earth with melting heat.

IV

When mortal blow had landed home
To score the ground and cast its plume,
Then every vale was made a pyre
Of leaden ash and choking fume.

Bereft of drink, of grain, of kine,
Stark hunger reigned past any ban.
Each set his face against those dear,
Ate brother’s flesh, devoured clan.

Dim sunlight shone through fatal clouds
On pillars dashed, on fallen throne,
On mounds of corpses bound in earth,
Souls humbled to mere drifts of bone.

Epilogue

If strangers from a far-flung sphere
Should trace and track our trail of wit,
Then sailing to our furthest shore
Would come to find upon it writ

Small furrows dug by dust-shod feet,
Bold sigils of an Earth-ward land,
A fleet exalting ancient gods,
Its iron vessels now unmanned.

If they could solve a distant tongue,
On metal remnant they would find
Our sentiment made epitaph:
“We came in peace for all mankind.”

Sole witness now, this sterile orb,
Proceeding ’round through ageless span-
Grim herald of the tomb below,
A stone to mark the grave of Man.

Scott Hendrik Van Hoeven is a computer systems coordinator for Northwest Independent School District. He lives in Saginaw, Texas with his beautiful wife and two sons.

Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice turns 200 this Monday, and here at the Quirk HQ, we've been busy celebrating. Giveaways with bloggers, some fun guest posts, all kinds of good stuff. 

And now, thanks to our friends at Padworx Studios, the Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: Interactive eBook App is available for FREE through Monday, January 28th. 

The app is regularly priced at $8.99 and "features hundreds of illustrations, an original musical score, buckets of gory animation, and a pair of literary masterpieces: Hold your device right side up to enjoy Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Turn it upside down to read Jane Austen’s original Pride and Prejudice. Turn the device 90 degrees to read both novels." You can check out the App in this video.

Give it a download, and enjoy! 

The Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: Interactive eBook App [iTunes]

Image via

Let’s start with the obvious: young adult (YA) is booming. It’s an unavoidable fact of book life. You find yourself waiting for weeks for a copy of The Hunger Games from your library, you get lost in the mass of books shoved onto the small shelves in bookstores, and publishers seem to only talk about YA in all its forms. YA is the “it” group, and for very good reason.

If you’re over 18 and reading this post, do not be ashamed to walk into the teen section of a bookstore or library. You’re in the midst of some great stories about self-discovery, overcoming adversity and discrimination, and all those things that every individual experiences at some point in life. The age of the protagonists in YA defines the genre, not the readership. Take a look at the Harry Potter craze! Children, teens, and adults were all reading about the boy wizard.

Speaking of wizards, another enticing and popular genre is fantasy. It’s a genre people love to love, or love to avoid. Surely there’s a story in each reader’s life when they first read fantasy, even if it was just to try it out. Depending on the book, the reader either became hooked or avoided the genre like the plague.

But fantasy can be intimidating; all those alternate worlds, creatures, pages to keep track of. It’s overwhelming!

And that’s where the beauty of YA simplicity waltzes in. YA is notorious for simpler writing with big plots. This is perfect for those extending feelers around the fantasy genre. No one wants page after page of description and back-story on a bush on the side of the path (think Lord of the Rings) for their very first. While those can be nice and interesting, it’s more suited for the established fantasy lover. Instead, YA fantasy is like a giant pool with tiny steps leading you ever so slowly deeper and deeper into the variety of magical possibilities.

So… what makes a good YA fantasy, you ask?