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Last week was a busy week for us here at the Quirk HQ.

Some of us were off in Germany at the Frankfurt Book Fair, while others were setting up shop at New York Comic Con. The rest of us were busy with a DesignPhiladelphia event, where we showcased alternate and original covers for a number of our fiction titles. 

DesignPhiladelphia 2012: Quirk's Alternate Covers Gallery from Quirk Books on Vimeo.

From a pulp-horror-novel inspired Bedbugs cover to the original oil paintings for some of our mashups, we had a lot of great art hanging on the walls in DrinkPhilly's spacious Old City office. If you missed it, we've got a video and some photos for you. Have a look, and enjoy! 

A huge thank you to everyone who came out, and a very special thank you to DrinkPhilly for letting us use their office. We're already looking forward to next year! 

RAWR!

Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden is coming out in Germany on October 22nd, and we sure are excited. It's being published as Mini-Monster: 20 Amigurumi-Monster zum Selberhäkeln with Goldmann. 

Though the best part about this news might just be the adorable photos we were sent. Claudia Bitz, an editor at Goldmann, and the folks at Random House Germany made a handful of amigurumi projects from the book, and sent some pictures over to us. 

Check them out after the jump. 

Welcome back to Freaky Friday, where we’re dishing out some fun Halloween tips through the month.

Last week, we showed you how to whip up a cauldron of Witches Brew from Witch Craft. Continuing the food and Halloween theme, today we’ve got cute little pumpkin cupcake toppers from Craft-A-Day by Sarah Goldschadt. Perfect for decorating delicious treats you might be serving up at your Halloween party, these toppers are simple and easy to make.

Check out the directions and download the pattern below!

If you can make pancakes, then you can certainly cook crepes. These are thinner and lighter, but with the same flavor and texture as flapjacks. And these egg crepes aptly honor the egg in celebration of World Egg Day.

This is sheer egg on egg. A rich, elegant open-faced egg crepe which softly cradles a fabulous filling of plump apple slices cooked in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, fresh strawberry slices, on a base of dulce de leche caramel. Layer upon layer of this decadence is finally crowned by huge dollops of whipped cream. Cook the crepes ahead or make them on the spot for a warm dessert. Enjoy them with a cup of tea or coffee.

It’s simply egg-cellent!

Hey everyone!

Paul V. here, author of Born This Way: Real Stories of Growing Up Gay.
 

First, I send a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has so fervently supported my book. And as a gift to show my appreciation, I’ve created a megamix of incredible music (above) – all created by the LGBTQ community (and a few non-gay allies, too).

As you might know, I've been a club DJ for 30 years now, and back when I was coming up (and out) in the early 80's, it was just about the greatest era for music. And it was a time when many artists and musicians did not hide their sexuality. With everyone from Boy George to Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys) to Frankie Goes To Hollywood to Jimmy Sommerville (Bronski Beat) and Marc Almond (Soft Cell), these were my heroes and my peers at the time. And what a thrill it was to play their songs in the clubs I worked at during that era.

You'll find all of them in the mix, along with my good friend Andy Bell of Erasure (who is in my book), and some newer artists like Hercules & Love Affair, Ladyhawke, Gossip, Adam Lambert, Le Tigre, Scissor Sisters, and of course Sia (who is also in the book). They are all carrying the torch for LGBTQ pride. And though Freddie Mercury (Queen) was never officially out, we knew his truth. And his spirit rules this mix!

There's also some bits of comedy and many other artists I will leave to surprise you. And, as I like to keep you dancing, this is a continuous 30-minute DJ mix.

Here’s something cool I realized as I did my research for The Kickstarter Handbook. More than almost anything out there, Kickstarter is a laboratory of What People Want. The founding principle of Kickstarter, after all, is that you pledge dollars so that this film, or artwork, or awesome iPad accessory or building toy or desk lamp can be born. It won’t come into existence without your cash, and you want to see it happen. In fact, you want one.

Traditional investors in products and ideas often have a different motivation. They may like an idea, but the bottom line for a product investor is whether it will become popular enough to make money. What’s the return on the investment going to be? By contrast, when you give money to a Kickstarter project, you don’t get any equity in the venture. There is no pretense or hope of financial upside. It’s purely a vote for stuff that you wish would exist.

And because the vote is with real money, I think it’s more indicative of what people truly want than, say, a consumer survey, where you can say anything — sure I’d buy a hybrid car or Android-based hat — but you don’t have to actually put up any cash to prove it.