Edgar Allan Poe: The Master of the Macabre
Pocket Portraits series
Hardcover | Kindle Edition | Audiobook
Written by Levi Lionel Leland; illustrated by Kim Arrington
Publisher: Adams Media
Release Date: September 23, 2025

It was 176 years ago today that Edgar Allan Poe died under mysterious circumstances, with his reported last words being “Lord help my poor soul.” And a poor soul he was. Though Poe is now a household name whose works are world renown, during his own lifetime he lived a difficult, impoverished existence, constantly struggling to earn a living and make a name for himself as a writer. What little success he did manage to achieve was often undercut by either his rivals or his own self-destructive ways. Even after death, he was the victim of defamation, which led to many misconceptions about the man that are still held til this day. Yet it was after his passing that chilling short stories like “The Black Cat,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “The Pit and the Pendulum,” as well as the poem “The Raven,” became ingrained in our pop culture, rightfully securing his legacy as the “Master of Macabre.”

In Edgar Allan Poe: The Master of the Macabre, the first entry in Adams Media’s Pocket Portraits series, author Levi Lionel Leland not only provides a concise biography of Poe, but also sets out to debunk some of those enduring rumors surrounding the great poet.

Forbidden Knowledge
101 Things No One Should Know How to Do
Hardcover | Kindle
By Owen Brooks
Publisher: Adams Media
Release date: October 8, 2019

Since the beginning of time, humans have had an insatiable thirst for forbidden knowledge, and even though history has shown we’ve gotten into a lot of trouble for it, still our quest to learn more continues. That’s probably why Adams Media has continued to release new installments in their Forbidden Knowledge line of books for over a decade now.

This time around, author Owen Brooks has compiled instructions for 101 Things No One Should Know How to Do, which is basically a simplified survival guide for unlikely and/or preposterous scenarios, several of which are also dangerous and sometimes criminal. Some is stuff you shouldn’t have to know, but just in case, it tells you what to do.

Geeks Who Drink Presents: Duh!
100 Bar Trivia Questions You Should Know (And the Unexpected Stories Behind the Answers)
Paperback | Kindle
Edited by Christopher D. Short
Publisher: Abrams Image
Release date: September 3, 2019

According to their website, the appropriately titled geekswhodrink.com, Geeks Who Drink is a Denver-based company that hosts Bar Trivia at over 800 pubs and restaurants in 46 states. Unlike a typical “trivia night,” their quizzes are collective efforts by dozens of quizmasters, writers, fact-checkers, graphic designers, and artists. Several of my friends are huge Bar Trivia aficionados and for the trivia nut in your life here comes the quintessential accompaniment: Geeks Who Drink Presents: Duh!: 100 Bar Trivia Questions You Should Know (And the Unexpected Stories Behind the Answers), edited by Christopher D. Short.

The Unofficial Divergent Aptitude Test: Discover Your True Faction!
Paperback | Kindle Edition
Written by Noel St. Clair
Adams Media
Release Date: March 15, 2015
Cover Price: $14.99

Insurgent, the second movie of the Divergent series starring Shailene Woodley, opens on Friday, March 20th and we are definitely ready to rile up some factions!

Read more about it and enjoy the Insurgent clips here below.

Just in time for this release, Noel St. Clair wrote up fun little aptitude tests for us to figure out which faction we would belong to, in The Unofficial Divergent Aptitude Test: Discover Your True Faction! Personally, I think we all are a bit too complicated to be any one thing. So aren’t we all “divergent?”

The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook
From Lamb Stew to “Groosling” – More than 150 Recipes Inspired by The Hunger Games Trilogy
By Emily Ansara Baines
Adams Media
Release Date: December 1, 2011
Hardcover | Kindle

Full disclosure, I cannot cook at all. My best attempts at baking, in any capacity, end with small yet fierce kitchen fires and more wounds than an amateur snake-handler. So, when the opportunity for me to review The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook rolled around, I had to take it. After all, who better to judge than someone who is easily confused and frightened by the art of cooking?

The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook sells itself as a companion to the dual lives of the book’s protagonist, Katniss. Half of the cookbook is dedicated to hearty salt of the earth style dishes, while the other half concerns itself with the decadent dishes that would be found in the Capitol. Seeing as how most of my meals are hastily eaten in front of a computer screen, I figured that a decadent recipe would be a nice change of pace.