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DesignPhiladelphia, a local celebration of design here in our hometown, is currently in full swing. This year we're thrilled to team up with our good friends DrinkPhilly for a fun evening of book cover design on Friday, October 12th. 

Our talented team of designers (Doogie! Katie! Andie!) will showcase a gallery of alternative book covers, showing actual designs that didn't make the cut and totally new works inspired by older titles. Guests can look forward to interacting with our team and can expect a number of fun giveaways. Posters? Yup. Books? You bet. 

And thanks to our BFFs DrinkPhilly, books aren't the only thing ready to be consumed that night. There will be plenty of free nibbles and beverages at the DrinkPhilly HQ, and possibly some live music. Word on the street is the founder of DrinkPhilly plays a mean bass. 

The event is free and open to the public, running from 5pm to 9pm. 21+, as there will be alcohol. We've got a Facebook event listing, so feel free to RSVP and let us know you're coming. 

DesignPhiladelphia: Quirk Books Cover Gallery @ DrinkPhilly 
Friday, October 12th, 2012, 5PM – 9PM
www.facebook.com/events/333413393421587

Next month Craft-a-Day will hit stores and despite getting advanced copies, it still doesn’t quite seem real. Did I really write, craft, and photograph a book that is over 430 pages? Apparently!

What started as an idea from my editor, Margaret McGuire, ballooned into months of me designing templates, writing, crafting, and photographing like crazy.

Or just date someone who is a combination of both. 

Like many Hollywood monsters often do, Worst-Case Wednesday has returned.

Today we’ve got an excerpt from the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Paranormal. David Borgenicht and Ben H. Winters dish out sage wisdom on how to handle a love triangle with a werewolf and a vampire. If the worlds of Twilight, True Blood, and/or Underworld ever come to be, this might be an issue you’ll have to deal with.

Because damn, those vampires and werewolves are handsome.

In much of literature, love stories are about couples who have to overcome tremendous obstacles to be together – but sometimes the only obstacle to a happily ever after is the couple itself.

Two characters who spend most of a story arguing until a sudden realization and declaration of love is, of course, a romantic comedy staple, and not unique to the silver screen. Some of our favorite fictional pairs spend their books completely oblivious to the relationship that’s right in front of them.

Emma and Mr. Knightley in the 1996 film

Throughout the summer, I have done some Etsy loitering and have noticed an emerging trend in upcycle art: vintage book prints. From beautiful images impressed on torn Bible pages to absurd quotes imprinted on ripped-out chapters of Pride and Prejudice, this art form is on the rise.

The images atop the prints are almost always translucent, offering the idea that rekindling books as art can act as a unique publishing palimpsest. Many times, I’m interested in perusing book prints just because the descriptions are so romantic. The books are referred to as “rescued” and the yellow pages due to lignin concentration in paper pulp is a “golden finish of old age.”

While book artists emboss everything from hipster skulls to sweet squids (above), I have fallen in love with the practice of screening typographical quotes onto vintage pages, especially when the quotes make the least amount of sense. Sometimes, the quotes take on a confessional quality too, which is always good. Where better to announce that you’re a bibliophile than on an actual book?

Tomorrow marks the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in Tolkien’s tale. More than anything else, hobbits love food. In fact, they plan six meals a day, including breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, dinner, and supper—not to mention afternoon tea. So what better way to celebrate Hobbit Day than to enjoy some Shire food?

The following Pumpkin Cake recipe might be a family recipe from my non-Shire homestead, but it compliments any hobbit meal and is handy for parties—especially unexpected ones.