Remarkably ugly creatures

Many years ago, in my early twenties, I used to go scuba diving off the Oregon and Washington coasts. When I was getting certified, the diving instructor warned us about octopuses, which, with their very long and strong arms could grab your air hose and hold it away from you, effectively drowning you. I’m not sure whether that has ever actually happened, but I gained respect for (or fear of) these animals, even though they look quite primitive. The diving instructor also warned us about seals, which are like dogs that swim underwater. Apparently, seals will grab your goodie bag where you may have stored a fish or scallop you’ve harvested. Again, not sure that’s real. We might have just had an instructor prone to telling tall tales.

Many years since and no longer a diver, I’ve come to respect octopuses as very intelligent animals. I recently read two amazing books, one fiction, one nonfiction, about these creatures. You may have heard of them: Remarkably Bright Creatures, a novel by Shelby Van Pelt (now a movie starring Sally Field), and The Soul of an Octopus, by Sy Montgomery. As you can see in the picture, Wall-E was also intrigued by The Soul of the Octopus book, or he just needed to investigate the residues left by all the other readers who’ve held this book.

Speaking of misunderstood and not terribly attractive creatures, the cover of Book 2 in the Madeline McPhee mystery series originally featured a large vulture center stage. I’ve noticed sales of that book aren’t as high as the third book in the series, which has a beautiful black cat on the cover. There’s a reason for the vulture in the story in that he helps introduce the victim, and though he remains unnamed, I think of him as Vinny the Vulture, Private Eye in the Sky. Perhaps someday he’ll get his own short story written about his life. In the meantime, it appears that Vinny may be scaring readers away from the book. So, I asked my wonderful cover artist, Steven Novak, to create a new version. Introducing the new cover of A Curious Corpse Was He, alongside the original: