Chronicle Books Blog

Here at Chronicle HQ we’re getting mega-psyched about the premiere of True Blood Season 5 this weekend. (Waiting has, yes, sucked!)

HBO is running a really fun giveaway promotion, featuring a recipe from the new True Blood Drinks and Bites book (details below). :

And preview one of the bites recipes from the book below, so you can be the toast of Bon Temps this weekend!

Head to Lafayette’s Libations on the DIRECTV Facebook page to get your own True Blood-inspired beverage from True Blood’s favorite bartender—Lafayette.

Enter for a chance to win the Grand Prize—a Merlotte’s Bar Makeover and other fang-tastic prizes—including a copy of the True Blood Drinks and Bites book.

Plus don’t forget to take the Which Supe Suits You? quiz and discover which supernatural are you. Are you a vampire, werewolf, fairy or witch—the town of Bon Temps certainly has its fare share of supernatural beings. Take the quiz to see what powers you possess.

[click on the image for a PDF of the recipe]

Catch the season premiere of True Blood this Sunday, June 16th at 9PM EST. Only on HBO.

Peter Perez
Associate Director, Marketing

Subscribe to our monthly Cooking Newsletter.

Purchase True Blood Drinks & Bites.

With Father’s Day upon us, we asked author Jeffrey Brown to be a guest blogger. His new book, Vader’s Little Princess, just celebrated 5 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list! Jeffrey shares the process behind one of the frames in the book below. Read on for his post, and enter to win signed uncut printer’s proofs and a finished copy of the book here.

The process for making Vader’s Little Princess involved several stages. Obviously, the first step was coming up with ideas. I had suggestions from a few friends who have teenage daughters, as well as stories from my wife’s teenage years, and my own observations. I came up with a little over a hundred ideas, from which my editors and I would whittle down to the best ideas to include in the book. Sometimes, the idea would have more detail than others. For this page, the initial idea was just a teenager telling their parent they were mean for some reason or another. In this case, I figured Leia would probably be mad at Vader for putting Han Solo in carbonite.

My editor at Lucasfilm, J.W. Rinzler, suggested adding “All he did was kiss me” to the dialogue, and I had the go-ahead to start working on finished artwork. That starts with pencilling out the page on Strathmore illustration board, and getting feedback on that.

I had included Boba Fett, because Boba Fett is always fun to draw, but he ended up on a couple other pages too, so it was suggested for me to include Lando instead. I went ahead and made that change, and began inking.

After I started inking, though, the drawing didn’t feel right. Lando seemed to be looking at Leia’s dialogue balloon, Vader’s body language didn’t seem right, and carbon-froze Han didn’t look quite right. So I re-penciled and started inking again, realizing I could add Boba Fett back in on the other side, as well as including Chewbacca.

I moved the dialogue balloon, but after inking realized it still didn’t seem like the right placement. I wasn’t completely happy with Vader’s position, either, or Han’s look – especially his right hand, which I tried to fix but couldn’t without affecting the coloring. So I began working one more time, ultimately moving the dialogue down into the middle, and finding the right body language for both Vader and Leia, as well as switching Lando and Chewie’s position, and Boba Fett’s helmet position, all making for a composition that I was much happier with. After inking and then erasing the pencil, the drawing was colored with Faber Castell Pitt artist pens. Once finished, I had to submit the drawing to J.W. Rinzler again for final approval, which thankfully he gave, so I didn’t have to re-draw this page anymore…

Celebrate Father’s Day on ChronicleBooks.com with 25% off + free ground shipping! Use code THANKSDAD through June 16th.

And don’t forget to subscribe to our monthly Pop Culture Newsletter.

Nathan Tan is the CEO of Forgetful Gentleman, a men’s stationery and accessories line, and the author of The Forgetful Gentleman, which offers advice on choosing the right suit silhouette, fostering the art of conversation, hosting a successful party, mixing a signature cocktail, working out like a Navy SEAL, developing creativity, and more.

In honor of graduation season, we asked Nathan to share some advice on digital etiquette. Read on for his do’s and don’ts—which can be applied whether you’re a new or not-so-recent grad.

DO:

DO conduct a periodic audit of your online presence to ensure the persona that you are projecting is an authentic representation of who you are or the person you want the world to see. Look at your social network profiles as a prospective employer, father-in-law, or parent. Check every photo that you are tagged in. Read old emails and text messages for politeness, clarity, and content. Take any necessary steps to ensure your virtual persona matches your real-life character and values. New web services like BrandYourself.com even allow you to control your online reputation via SEM, helping people find you, not the drug dealer who happens to share your name.

DO take advantage of social network targeted privacy settings or “friend” groupings to separate your nine-to-five from your five-to-nine.

DO review and proofread before hitting send/post. Digital communication is absent of facial expression, tone of voice, and body language and is therefore easily misunderstood. Proofreading is especially important on a mobile device where small keyboards, sensitive touchscreens, and diabolical auto-correct features can conspire against you. As a gentleman, be acutely aware that all communication is a direct reflection on you. Don’t let typos, malapropisms, or grammatical mistakes send the wrong impression.

DO be careful with apps that share information about what articles you read or which sites you visit. Your decision to read up on the latest celebrity rehab stint during work hours is questionable enough already without broadcasting your potentially embarrassing reading habits to the rest of the world.

DON’T:

DON’T shout by typing in all caps. If you want to add emphasis, underline, bold, or italicize the word(s) instead.

DON’T get too personal or overshare. Status updates and comments are meant for short, general statements and well wishes. Anything more personal needs to be taken out of public view to email or, better yet, offline communication.

DON’T tag or post pictures of other people that they themselves would not tag or post. When in doubt, ask permission first.

DON’T “friend” people you don’t know or hardly know. You can waste a lot of time on social media “rabbit holing” through the lives of people with whom you don’t really have any meaningful relationship. That time is much better spent deepening relationships that matter.

Albee Dalbotten
Associate Marketing Director, Entertainment/Digital

Subscribe to our monthly Pop Culture Newsletter.

This week, we’re excited to have Ben Applebaum and Dan DiSorbo guest posting on the blog. Ben and Dan are the authors of The Fart Tootorial: Farting Fundamentals, Master Blaster Techniques, and the Complete Toot Taxonomy. They are also the authors of The Book of Beer Awesomeness and The Book of Beer Pong.

The great Louis C.K. said it best, “You don’t have to be smart to laugh at farts, but you have to be stupid not to.” The fascinating world of farts is just under your nose. And with the upcoming celebration of the greatest fans in farting (dads, of course), it’s the perfect time to rip a few… pages from The Fart Tootorial.

1. FARTS ARE TIMELESS.
The word “fart” is both a noun and a verb and, believe it or not, is one of the oldest words in the English vocabulary. The root of this toot can be traced back to around A.D. 500 with the Old High German word ferzan. Similar words are also found in Old Norse, Slavic, Greek, and even Sanskrit. So needless to say, breaking wind is here to stay.

2. FARTS ARE COMPLEX.
Unseen by the naked eye, farts are about one-half cup of a gas cocktail, mixed fresh by the bartender in your belly. They are comprised of common gases like nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, oxygen, and occasionally methane (more on that to come). After that, it’s a lineup of stink all-stars: sulphur, hydrogen sulfide, methanethiol, dimethyl sulfide, ammonia, skatole, and indole. These compounds give every gas it’s unique, um, linger print.

3. FARTS ARE FINICKY.
Only one in three people produce farts that contain methane. Methane comes from the archaea microorganisms found in the human gut. When ignited in a lab or in a dorm room somewhere, most fart flames will be orange. But for those who have the bacteria to produce methane farts, their flames can be blue. How do you know if you have the gift for blue flames? Check your stool: consistent floaters could be a sign of methane production.

4. FARTS ARE NATURAL.
It’s ironic that the healthiest foods are, in fact, the gassiest. The most infamous olfactory offenders, such as beans, cabbage, and broccoli, all contain an indigestible carbohydrate called raffinose—aka nature’s revenge.

5. FARTS ARE FUNNY.
In fact, the world’s oldest recorded joke is a Sumerian knee-slapper from 1900 B.C. and, you guessed it, a fart joke. (Here it is: “Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband’s lap.” We guess you had to be there.) But what makes them funny? We subscribe to the theory of “benign violation.” That means they break enough rules to be taboo but not too many to be dangerous. And that means they are supercharged for funny. So it’s almost a shame not to share this gift of gas with others.

Speaking of sharing the stink. Dads are not only key contributors to farts but also to preserving tooting traditions. They are heroes to handing down the art of the fart (one pulled finger at a time). So this is the perfect time to celebrate this year’s “Father’s Day” as “Farter’s Day.” Enjoy it with the big cheese cutter in your life and break bread—and wind—together.

Celebrate Father’s Day on ChronicleBooks.com with 25% off + free ground shipping! Use code THANKSDAD through June 16th.

Check out the The Fart Tootorial Facebook page.

And don’t forget to subscribe to our monthly Pop Culture Newsletter.

This week we’re so excited to have BikeSnobNYC guest posting on the blog. BikeSnobNYC (a.k.a. Eben Weiss) is the blogger behind bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com and writes a regular column in Bicycling magazine. Check out the mini-site to learn more about his books, Bike Snob, The Enlightened Cyclist, and Bike Snob Abroad, enter our Bike Month Giveaway for a chance to win a bike and a copy of Bike Snob Abroad, and tune in to a virtual chat with Fat Cyclist this Thursday.

In Boston? Meet up with BikeSnobNYC for a ride and booksigning with Landry’s Bicycles this Saturday, May 18!

In my latest book, Bike Snob Abroad, I write a lot about cycling as a family—you know, the kind of cycling where you actually do stuff together, as opposed to the kind where you put on some stretchy clothes and go off on your own to try to get a good time on Strava.

In particular, I write about cycling with a child in tow, which is something I’ve been doing for a couple of years now. (I mean I’ve been doing it with my child, I didn’t just borrow one.) As Americans, we’re pretty comfortable with putting on stretchy clothes and beating our best time on Strava, and we’re even pretty good at getting on a bike to go to the store, but we’ve got a long way to go as far cycling with a child passenger being considered “normal.”

I’m no different than most Americans, and I have a lot to learn in the “riding with kids” department. However, I have managed to figure out some stuff so far, which I’ll share with you herewith.

So, Like, Where Do You Put The Kid?
If you don’t want to spring for a giant Dutch-style bakfiets, there are three basic ways you can adapt your current bicycle to carry your child: a front-mounted seat, a rear-mounted seat, or a trailer. Here are the pros and cons of each:

Front:
Pros: Better weight distribution, you get to interact with your child.
Cons: Lower child weight limit, you have to interact with your child so it’s harder to ignore their incessant requests to “stop for ice cream” or to “please slow down” because they’re “scared.”

Rear:
Pros: Higher child weight limit, larger seats more conducive to napping.
Con: It may take a day or it may take a year, but your child will learn how to give you a wedgie.

Trailer:
Pros: Stable, weatherproof, kid can bring his or her favorite toys.
Cons: You’ll need to find someplace to store a bike trailer, bike may be less maneuverable, and your dry child will laugh and taunt you when it rains.

Kids Like To Be On Bikes
It’s true! A bike can turn even a mundane journey into a delightful one. You can drive down the same street a million times and be bored to tears, and then all of a sudden you do it by bike and it becomes an expedition filled with wonder. In the car, all they really see is the seatback. On the bike, they’ll point out all the stuff they never noticed before (“It’s Santa!” they’ll squeal with delight as you pedal past the bearded wino sleeping under the overpass) with one hand while they administer a massive wedgie to you with the other.

You Are Now At The Public’s Disposal
People generally won’t look twice if you ride with your child in the park, but if you actually use the bike to do stuff around town you tend to draw lots attention. You know how nobody’s interested in you when you help your kid into your Hyundai? Well, it doesn’t work that way with bikes. When you show up at school or the local grocery store, expect your neighbors to loiter and gawk while you load or unload, and they expect you to account for yourself. Mostly they’ll ask you questions about your child seat and comment on what a lovely day for a bike ride it is, which is their polite way of letting you know they think you’re totally crazy. Occasionally, they’ll also congratulate you for being “green,” which means they think you think you’re better than them.

You Will Be Judged
Your neighbors don’t just think you’re crazy because you’re doing all the work by pedaling instead of driving. Some of them also think you’re crazy because they’ve been brainwashed by the automotive industrial complex to think that bikes are “dangerous” whereas cars are “safe.” As far as some people are concerned, riding a bike to Whole Foods at 9mph is somehow much more reckless than driving a top-heavy SUV at 70mph while simultaneously following a GPS and rooting around under the passenger seat for your crying kid’s sippy cup.

Still, It’s All Worth It
It’s corny, but it’s true: riding with your child is even more rewarding than that Strava KOM. (Or at least I’m assuming it is, since I’ve never actually attained a Strava KOM.) And the more people do it, the more normal it will become—which I hope happens soon, because if another person congratulates me for being “green” I think I’m going to puke.

Purchase Bike Snob Abroad: Strange Customs, Incredible Fiets, and the Quest for Cycling Paradise

Subscribe to our monthly Pop Culture Newsletter.