Indie Squid Kid

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!

Today the family took a trip to Chapel Hill Comics–our favorite local comic book shop–to get a signed copy of Ursula Vernon’s newest illustrated children’s book. Dragonbreath (published by Dial Books) is the story of Danny Dragonbreath, a young dragon who attends the Herpatix-Phibbias School for Reptiles and Amphibians. Life is tough for Danny–he cannot breath fire, he gets harassed by bullies, and he has just failed his science paper on “The Ocean.” In order to pass, he must base his rewrite on actual research. This is where the cephalopods come in, of course, and not just the giant squid depicted on the cover. Danny also meets an octopus and a Vampyroteuthis, as well as a plethora of other sea creatures.

I’m not going to give away anymore of the story because you must go buy Dragonbreath now! The Management here at Indie Squid Kid strongly encourages you to support your local comic book shop or independent bookseller, but you can always buy Dragonbreath at Amazon.com…if you really have to. Maybe because you have no feet.

Ursula’s painting “The Squid Tree” was featured here during last year’s Art Week. You can find out more about Ursula’s work at www.ursulavernon.com (comics and kid’s books) and www.redwombatstudio.com (art, often for grownups).

It seemed only fitting that the next Art Week installment after “The Kraken Always Follows Its Heart” would be the picture that hangs next to it in my front hall (next to the coat rack, and the first thing you see when you come in through the front door)–”The Squid Tree” by Ursula Vernon.

Depicted here is a weird little guy in blue, happily eating his lunch, but little does he realize that the tree–if it is a tree–has its eye on his sandwich…

Ursula is another amazing artist that I have the good fortune of knowing personally. The various and sundry subjects of her fabulous illustration include ninja frogs, the wombat tarot, bird golems, and some very dangerous fruit. See more of her work on deviantART, her personal site, Metal & Magic, and her webcomic, Digger.

Of course, for the purposes of this blog, I feel obligated to direct you to some more specific examples of her cephalopod-themed art:

• Walking the Kraken
• Happy Cthulhu
• Cuttlefish Hat
• Cthulhu’s Day Out
• Klimt’s Octopus