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—Kirkus on The Coldest War
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—RT Book Reviews (4.5 stars, Top Pick) on The Coldest War
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—Library Journal on Bitter Seeds
"Engrossing... Tregillis ably mixes cold war paranoia with his mythology."
—Publishers Weekly on The Coldest War
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Because I Haven't Posted About Cephalopods in a While
Recent Blog Entries:

The End: NECESSARY EVIL Is Out! - 5/1/2013, 10:29 AM Because I Haven't Posted About tDCS In A While - 4/8/2013, 04:07 PM Announcing the NECESSARY EVIL Signing Tour - 4/5/2013, 05:15 PM Nuclear Deterrence in a Blood Magic World - 2/22/2013, 09:41 AM Guest Post #2 at Charlie Stross's Blog - 2/17/2013, 04:41 PM Guest Post at Charlie Stross's Blog - 2/15/2013, 09:17 PM A Conversation with Charlie Stross - 2/8/2013, 11:06 AM NOW OUT in the UK: THE COLDEST WAR - 2/7/2013, 12:22 AM Clarion Is Accepting Applications for the Class of 2013 - 1/27/2013, 06:38 PM Holy Smokes! Cover Art for Something More Than Night - 1/23/2013, 09:44 PM

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Sunday, May 23 2010, 09:39 PM

Okay, some of these items are over a month old, but I do loves me some cephalopods.  And besides, when the octopus revolution happens (and it will) we'll have to know everything we can about our new masters.

Tool use, theft, and a crooked fight, all below the cut.

Rough Neighborhood

I'm not sure I would ever voluntarily hand a spear gun to an octopus that just robbed me blind, but I'm not a scuba diver, so what do I know.  Anyway, that's what this diver did when an octopus jumped him and stole his camera. 

I'm kind of shocked the octopus didn't shoot him with the spear gun and then arrange the crime scene to make it look like a suicide... just because it could.  Guy's lucky he ran into a white-hat octopus, is what I'm saying. 

Glad I Didn't Have Money on this Fight

I'm pretty sure the octopus in this next video purposely threw the fight. 

I mean, come on -- in the past I posted a video of one of those things taking out a shark.  And giant squid are known to fight whales.  And the octopus in the previous video tricked somebody into giving up his goddamn spear gun.

Am I really supposed to believe a sea lion could take an octopus?  Sure, they're cute and all, but they don't have eight arms, jet propulsion, and a built-in spyhunter-style inkscreen capability.

I figure this particular octopus had some gambling debts, and maybe owed the cephalopod mafia a few favors.

This Delicious Powered Armor Suit is Biodegradable

So, yeah.  Octopodes are now officially the first invertebrates known to exhibit tool use.

I admit it.  This video freaks me out just a little bit.  Because that octopus has big plans for his coconut armor suit.  You can see it in the eyes.

Take That, Aristotle

And, in other cephalopod news, researchers have cracked a long-standing mystery surrounding the paper nautilus. 

 

 

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Comments (2)
untitled - Susan, Wednesday, May 26 2010, 01:59 PM
Ahh...the sneaky cephalopod -- by far the coolest of the molluscs. *Although* there are some pretty wicked gastropods out there, mind you. Don't cross that cone snail. I'm just sayin'...

Re: untitled - Ian, Wednesday, May 26 2010, 11:28 PM
I'd never heard of the cone snail until now, but then I found this and am reasonably freaked out. Especially by the part about how the toxin is a cocktail of hundreds of other toxins.

I'm still putting my money on the cephalopod in a fight, though...

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Interviews
Interview with SFX Magazine
Unwalkers interview [English | French ]
Interview with Speculate! Podcast Interview with Adventures in SciFi Publishing
Ian Tregillis on the Sword and Laser Podcast
Ian Tregillis on John Scalzi's The Big Idea
Interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview with SFRevu
Interview with Mad Hatter Book Review
Interview with Apex Books

Interview at Literary Musings Interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
An interview with the authors of Busted Flush at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview with Travis Heermann at The Write Line
9-way interview with the contributors to the Wild Cards novel Inside Straight at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview in the February, 2008 newsletter of the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
An extended interview with Ian Tregillis by Ty Franck, on www.wildcardsbooks.com.

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