Indie Squid Kid

Mur’s octopus, originally uploaded by Cryptonaut.

I took this picture myself, so this might be cheating, but, hey, it’s my blog, and I choose to allow it!

This sinuous red cephalopod adorns the side of my friend Mur’s Rav4. Made by Tonky Designs, it is intended to be a wall decal, but it has actually weathered quite well on the outside of her car. (Mur has had it for several years at this point.)

It is available in fourteen different colors and in two sizes:
Large (43″ by 23″) – $50
Small (20″ by 10″) – $30

Buy it now from Tonky Designs.

This is Mur, one of my best and oldest friends. She rocks.

Her awesome octopus shirt is available on Shirt.Woot! for $15.00. I’m not sure why we don’t give all octopuses bubble guns, because “PEWPEWPEWPEW” has got to be one of the greatest onomatopoeia of all time. Well, sure these newly weaponized cephalopods might rise up and try to invade the mainland…but that’s why we don’t give them REAL guns!

Mur is an author and podcaster extraordinaire. Among her plethora of creative ventures are the podcasts I Should Be Writing and Princess Scientist’s Book Club, and the novels Playing For Keeps and Heaven. She is also the new editor of Escape Pod, the science fiction podcast magazine.

Enter The Murverse for informaton on all these and more!

happy Cthulhu cake, originally uploaded by Cryptonaut.

It was never “official,” but you might have noticed that it’s been Birthday Week here at Indie Squid Kid. Yesterday was the birthday of one of my oldest and closest friends, and this was her cake! Mur Lafferty is an author and podcaster, and she commands a legion of loyal minions who do her bidding at the drop of a hat. Most importantly, for six days every year we are the same age! Find out all about her creative works and ongoing projects at The Murverse. Mur isn’t nearly as cephalopod-obsessed as I am, but she does have a special fondness for H.P. Lovecraft’s betentacled elder god.

The cake is a recreation of “Cthulhu’s Day Out” by Ursula Vernon. (Ursula’s work has been featured here a couple of times before, as you may recall.) I don’t know who actually made the cake, but I will post that information here when I find out.

Update: Mur tells me the cake was made by Rebecca Hirschman (which is possibly misspelled, sorry!). Surprisingly, Rebecca is not a professional cake tech—she just loves to bake!