BIBLIOGRAPHY 
(INTERMITTENTLY ANNOTATED)
This bibliography allows the reader to follow up on the subject matter set out in my monograph. Many of these books I conjure whole from memory, the originals having haunted the shelves of my long-abandoned childhood library. (Thus this bibliography serves as a kind of memorial to the one saving grace of my youth.) As for the question of publication dates, even those books found in the pathetic library I currently have access to are likely to be hopelessly antiquated editions. Most of these tomes are either so common or so rare as to make the question of time moot, even if I could set out the dates with anything approaching consistency. Where necessary, I have placed my own comments about a particular book in parentheses following the bibliographical information, in the hopes that my added insight will be of some small value.
Absence, Thrasher T., Squid Camouflage: What Are They Trying to Hide?, Squid Mill Library Press.
Aldrich, Clyde, Squid?, Distant Bells Press.
Allans, John, The Hoegbotton Guide to Nymphomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Alsop, Seymour, Ammonia Among Old Beaks: Essays and Idylls of a Squid Lover, Dyfold Press.
(Precise in its data yet utterly false in its conclusions.)
Anon, The Hoegbotton Book of Absurd Synonyms, Hoegbotton & Sons.
Anon, The Hoegbotton Book of Obscure Insults, Hoegbotton & Sons.
Anon, The Hoegbotton Guide to Psychological Terminology, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Babbit, Cynthia, A Child’s Coloring Book of Squid, Featuring Three Imaginary Ones, Libyrinth Press.
Bamardot, Allison, The Squidularch and His Watery World, Nicea Publishers.
(An interesting argument for a crude form of squid government.)
Batton, Sarah, ed., Squid Sightings Magazine, Vols. 1—23, Renegade Mollusk Press.
Bender, Voss, “A Refutation of the Claim that Certain of My Operas Have Been Aided by Squid-Written Arias,” Ambergris Drama Digest, Vol. 234, No. 12, Front Row Publications.
(Would that they had been.)
Bender, Voss, Bender for Riverside Reading, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Bender, Voss, Libretto with Squid, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Bentinck, Bargin, The Library of Robert Quill: An Instance of Squidophilia, Borges Bookstore Publishing.
(Bentinck’s library far exceeded that of my parents, especially in the area of squid-related books. It is one of the great tragedies of my life that I have been unable to visit it. If I ever do, it will blissfully eclipse memories of my own red-spined volumes.)
Blade, Jeremy, The Hoegbotton Guide to Oikomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Blei, Frank, “Invasive Foreign Squid: The Visitors That Never Leave,” The Morrow Wildlife Quarterly, Vol. 400, No. 4, Mandible & Crossclaw.
Bordman, Ann K., Squidopolis, Buzz Press.
(A novel, this book is, in fictional form, the twin to my nonfiction and, lacking my purpling prose, my better half.)
Brecht, Richard, Jr.,Jackaclock Squidulous: The Life of a Squid Boxer, Savor Press.
Breitenbach, Joseph A., ed., The Hoegbotton Guide to Common Cephalopod Mannerisms (chapbook), Hoegbotton & Sons.
Breitenbach, Joseph A., “Caudal Fin Exercises You Can Do at Home,” published in The Amateur Squidologist, Vol. 19, Issue 7, Ambergris Squidology Society.
(Quite useful—these exercises do indeed strengthen the arms.)
Breitenbach, Joseph A., ed., Hoegbotton & Sons Parts Catalog for Squid-Grade Freshwater Filters, Hoegbotton & Sons.
Breitenbach, Joseph A., Mating Rituals of the Freshwater Squid (Illustrated Edition), Hoegbotton & Sons.
(As debauched a book as one is likely to own. Salacious and steamy—complete with hard-to-follow diagrams.)
Breitenbach, Joseph A., The Book of Squid Sense, Alfar Publishing Consortium.
Breitenbach, Joseph A., The Hoegbotton Pricing Guide to Collectible Ceramic Squid (chapbook), Hoegbotton & Sons.
Brek, George, The Squid and the Shade-Head: Philosophical Loci of the New Art, Tarzia Publishers.
(I much prefer the views on the New Art set out in Rogers’ Torture Squid books.)
Brisk, Susan, A Compendium of Squid Sounds and Squid-Related Sounds, Southern Cities Press.
(What, you might ask, is a “squid-related” sound? The unexpected gush of a water funnel. The wet slap of a tentacle against a railing. Suckers clamping down on skin.)
Brisk, Susan, The Illustrated Book of Squid, Hoegbotton & Sons.
Brod, Maxwell, Classic Fallacies in the Work of Jonathan Madnok, Debunked Press.
(I include this misshapen and monstrous text only to provide a balanced bibliography. Not a word of this book, except for some conjunctions and prepositions, contains any truth.)
Burden, Rosetta, The Cephalopod’s Colophon, House & Garden.
Burke, K. Craddock, The Short Lives of Squid Cults: Annals of a Long Legacy, Hoegbotton & Sons.
(Squid cults have afflicted us since before the rise of the Dogghe Tribes. This fascinating book traces their development and frequent demise. The most interesting chapter explains the intricacies of the Squid Head Cult that arose during the civil unrest caused by the Reds and the Greens.)
Burlveener, William Barnett, Encyclopedia Cephalopodia, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Burlveener, William Barnett, The Compleat Squider, Outdoor Adventure Publishing.
Burlveener, William Barnett, The Inkmaker’s Reference Guide, Borges Bookstore Publishing.
(Most relevant for the whimsical aside on Hellatose the performing squid.)
Butterhead, R.G., The Double Cephalopod Folio: The Story of Daffed’s “Squids of Ambergris” Hoegbotton & Sons.
Butterhead, R.G., The Squidqueller’s Handbook, Fisherman’s Hook Publications.
Cane, Albert, Squidanthropy: Causes and Appropriate Reactions, Modern Psychiatrics Press.
(One of the few doctors to grasp the true nature of this tragically misunderstood phenomenon.)
Chisler, John, The Hoegbotton Guide to Anthomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press. Chisler, John, The Hoegbotton Guide to Paramania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Clark, Machen, The Squid on Our Backs, the Tentacles in Our Brains: An Account of a Descent into Madness, Grievance Press.
Cram, Louis, A List and Description of Ambergris Squid Clubs, Blackmarket Publications.
(Squid clubs, for the uninitiated, constitute one of Ambergris’ dirty little secrets. Squid clubs vary in degeneracy, from those that feature betting on squid fights to those that boil live squid right in front of you. And in some of the city’s most dangerous establishments, you can partake of debaucheries best left to the shadows of wordlessness.)
Cram, Louis, Squidphilobiblon, Squid-Lover’s Press.
Cram, Louis, The Cephalopod Codex, Squid-Lover’s Press.
Cross, Templeton, “An Analysis of the Mating Call of the Crimson Bull Squid,” Bulletin of the History of Mollusk Studies, Vol. 676, No. 6, Libyrinth Press.
Cross, Templeton, “Maestros of the Deep: A Proposal Towards Revising Our Notions on the Intelligence of the Crimson Bull Squid,” Bulletin of the History of Mollusk Studies, Vol. 678, No. 4, Libyrinth Press.
Cross, Templeton, “A Note on Rook’s Misappropriation of Crimson Bull Squid Mating Calls in his Proposed ‘Opera,’” Bulletin of the History of Mollusk Studies, Vol. 679, No. 12, Libyrinth Press.
Ditchfield, Marc, Squid Fatal to Their Owners, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
(It astonished me to read just how many squid have been fatal to their owners throughout Ambergris’ history.)
Dormand, Samuel T., The Hoegbotton Guide to Bruxomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Dormand, Samuel T., The Hoegbotton Guide to Pathomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Drabble, Smocke, A Compleat Dictionary of Squid Types with Small But Comprehensible Drawings of Tentacles and Beaks, Diverse Kinds Press.
(The dictionary is compleat, all right. Alas, the drawings are not comprehensible, consisting as they do of a series of spasmodic scribbles.)
Dribble, Larken, Squid Inks: A Catalog of Cephalopod Political and Personal Satire Preserved by the Ambergris Department of Broadsheet Licensing, Ambergris Department of Broadsheet Licensing Publications.
Dundas, Elayne, “And I Heard of a Mollusk in Your Ear”: Folk-Humor Among the Squid Fishermen of the Moth River Delta, Tarzia Publishing.
(So this is what the squiders said to each other as they tended the squid mills! It was a revelation to discover this book one sticky sweet summer day stuck—bliss and torment—in the library. It gave voice to those far-off men otherwise only visible to me through my spyglass.)
Enamel, George, The Hoegbotton Guide to Cheromania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Enamel, George, The Hoegbotton Guide to Phaneromania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Evens, Langerland, “Squid Mating Activity on the Southern Coastal Plain During the Late Pre-Trillian Period,” Vol. 29, No. 11, Squidologist Digest, Morrow Squidologist Association.
Everlane, Brian, Gentleman Squid, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
(A risky and risque novel that charts the downward course of a promising young architect as he tries unsuccessfully to deal with his squid obsession. The evocation of the infamous Oleander Squid Club—closed down twenty years ago—has true poignancy.)
Everlane, Brian, Squidy Jenkins: The Great Prize Fighters of Yesteryear, Volume 9, Southern Cities Press.
(Gerald Jenkins received his “Squidy” nickname for the rapidity of his punches, which at times made his arms appear multiplied to a more cephalopodic number.)
Fain, Corbett, “An Analysis of Squid Feces Obtained at Various and Divers Locations Around the City,” published in The Amateur Squidologist, Vol 10, Issue 5, Ambergris Squidology Society.
(The less said, the better.)
Fain, Corbett, Nicean Cuttlefish Rarities Discovered in a Second Portfolio of Louis Verden’s Squid Plates, Southern Cities Press.
Fangmountain, Eliza, Squid in Myth, Magic, and Medicine, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
(The myth, the magic, if not the medicine, are all, as far as I’m concerned, to do with the author’s dangerously precipitous surname.)
Farmore, Arthur, “Rising Bubbles: The Case for Squid Indiscretions,” published in The Amateur Squidologist, Vol. 19, Issue 7, Ambergris Squidology Society.
(Farmore would have enjoyed talking to Fain, no doubt—both covered their subject from the same end.)
Feaster, Elaine, “B&H: The Circumstantial Evidence,” The Amateur Squidologist, Vol. 44, Issue 4, Ambergris Squidology Society.
Feeney, Dora, The Hoegbotton Guide to Poriomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Fisher, Marian T., “Wrede’s Aporia: A Refutation of Gendered Hydrotherapy,” Current Cephalopodic Remedies, Vol. 21, No. 7, Libyrinth Press.
Fisher, Marian T., “Spilled Ink: A Deconstructionist Critique of Wredian Methodology,” Current Cephalopodic Remedies, Vol. 21, No. 11, Libyrinth Press.
Flack, Harry, Squid Stalking at Home and Abroad, Action-Danger Press.
Flack, Harry, The Further Deadly But True Adventures of the Squid Hunter, Hoegbotton & Sons.
Flack, Harry, The Latest Horrifying and Yet Oddly Magnificent Adventures of the Courageous Squid Hunter, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
(Probably the best of this tough-man series. Ironic, really, that I read him as a child and fill him out as an adult.)
Flack, Harry, The Return of the Squid Hunter and His Horribly Dangerous Profession, Hoegbotton & Sons.
Flack, Harry, The Squid Hunter’s Ferocious Adventures in the Wilds, Hoegbotton & Sons.
Flack, Harry, Voss Bender Memorial Mental Institute Clinic Check-In Form.
Flack, Harry, Voss Bender Memorial Mental Institute Handbook of Regulations.
Flack, Harry, Voss Bender Memorial Mental Institute Patient Evaluation Form.
Flack, Harry, Voss Bender Memorial Mental Institute Patient Sign-in Sheet.
Flaunt, Contense T., How to Order Your Bibliography for Maximum Reader Impact, The Writing Life Consortium.
Flex, Drednaught, Squid Squinting: The Elmor Brax Story, Mathew Press.
Floxence, Edna, The Mysteries of the Freshwater Squid Revealed, Credence, Ltd.
(Acarpous!)
Floxence, Edna, The Strange World of the Freshwater Squid, Credence, Ltd.
(Feeble-brained theorists should not tackle squidology!)
Forrest, Hayden A., An Outspoken Condemnation of Squid Wrestling, Six Doors Press.
Forrest, Hayden A., Beaks to Beakers: The History of Squid Science, Mollusk Medicine Press.
(A harrowing volume in which electric squid experiments and nerve ending research make me cringe in sympathy even now.)
Forrest, Hayden A., Cephalopodectomy in Theory and Practice, Mollusk Medicine Press.
Forrest, Hayden A., Famous Tentaclopheliacs, Snark & Daughters.
(Even Trillian, apparently, was one—and most of his Banker Warriors.)
Forrest, Hayden A., Kraken Dawn: An Investigation of the Post-Celebration Sleep Patterns of Festival Attendees, Wry Investigations, Inc.
Forrest, Hayden A., Squid Wrestling for Fun and Profit, Engelbrecht Club Publishing.
Fragnall, Dibdin, Puddling by the Docks: An Ecstacy of Collecting, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
(Truly a career-affirming experience for any aspiring squidologist. Dibdin understands the squidology subculture better than any living author.)
Fragnall, Dibdin, The Coffee Table Book of Squid Forgeries, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Furness, Raymond and Leepin, Paulina, Anatomy of a Betrayal: Why We Left the Water After 20 Years of Squid Studies, Bypass Press.
Furness, Raymond and Leepin, Paulina, Discredited: Why We Have Been the Target of Unfair Ridicule and Persecution by Other Squidologists (chapbook), privately published.
Furness, Raymond and Leepin, Paulina, King Squid Nocturnal Prey Stalking Tactics, Buzzard Publishing.
Furness, Raymond and Leepin, Paulina, Some Interesting Metaphors Conveyed to Us By the King Squid (chapbook), Ambergris Squidology Society.
Furness, Raymond and Leepin, Paulina, Squid Communication in Murky Conditions (chapbook), Leoprand Collective Publishing.
Furness, Raymond and Leepin, Paulina, Sucker Strength in King Squid Juveniles, Nicea Publications for the Betterment of Science.
Furness, Raymond and Leepin, Paulina, That Which Cannot Be Said: The Real Case for Squid Intelligence, Cephalopod Press.
(Although not specifically cited within my monograph, this book most influenced my arguments for squid intelligence.)
Furness, Raymond and Leepin, Paulina, The Darkness of Squid Ink: Our Personal Journey into Obscurity (chapbook), privately printed.
Furness, Raymond and Leepin, Paulina, The Loss of Dignity in the Face of Persecution: Scientists Forced to Beg for Food (broadsheet), privately published.
Furness, Raymond and Leepin, Paulina, The Sociological Significance of Beak Size in King Squid Communities, Southern Cities Press.
Furness, Raymond and Leepin, Paulina, The Terrifying King Squid Speaks, privately published.
Furness, Raymond and Leepin, Paulina, Vital Similarities Between the King Squid and the Skamoo Icicle Squid of the Extreme North, Absence Publications.
Gambol, Nils, Flashions: The Influence of Squid Tentacles on Ambergrisian Hair Salons, Nail Biter Productions.
(One might consider the recent squid fads in hair styles and other primpings to be a kind of passive squidanthropy—although to one truly afflicted with the disease, it no doubt feels like cruel mockery.)
Gevers, Nicholas, Last and First Squid, Johannes Publishing.
Giflank, Henry, The Hoegbotton Guide to Cresomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Giflank, Henry, The Hoegbotton Guide to Pseudomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Gort, Joan, Investigations, According to Licensed Dock Number and Maritime Phratry, of Squid-Haul Tallymen on Public Aid: Volume Seven of the Statistical Survey of Mothian Municipalities, With Figures Representing the Flux of Civil Posts During the Partition of the Ruling Government, Tarzia Public Document Archives.
Gort, Marmy, “A Select Listing of Squid Catalogued at the Fish Markets of the Ambergris Docks,” published in The Amateur Squidologist, Vol. 12, Issue 6, Ambergris Squidology Society.
Gort, Marmy, “Remarks Addressed to an Ignorant Squid Fancier,” published in The Amateur Squidologist, Vol. 11, Issue 5, Ambergris Squidology Society.
(This speech is perhaps the funniest rebuttal of ignorance ever published. It consists of a conversation between two squid as they perform an autopsy on a drowned human. The squids’ absurd mislabeling of parts and purpose—the heart is determined to be a tumor, the liver a misplaced tongue—still makes me chuckle.)
Gort, Marmy, “Seven ‘Profane’ Properties of King Squid Ink,” published in The Amateur Squidologist, Vol. 15, Issue 3, Ambergris Squidology Society.
Gort, Marmy, A Detailed Diary of Mold, Great Moments in Science Press.
(This boring tome chronicles the spread of fungus to the river’s bank over 300 long pages; however, there is some payoff for the amateur squidologist at the end of the account, as a tentacle flicks briefly from the water and then disappears.)
Gort, Marmy, ed., Homage to a Squidman: Essays on Cephalopods Written for Clyde Aldrich on the Occasion of His 75th Birthday, Ambergris Squidology Society Press.
(I had the great pleasure of meeting Clyde Aldrich at this event. Whatever one may think of Aldrich’s ridiculous theories, his passion for squidology has done more to legitimize this noble science than a hundred more logical theorists.)
Gort, Volman, The History of Tenticular Creatures, Southern Cities Press.
(Perhaps a bit fanciful—for example, I do not personally consider frogs to be tenticular creatures unless born deformed.)
Griffin, Magni, The Vanished Squid: An Exploration of the Extinguished White Ghost Squid, Walfer-Barrett Publishers.
Halme, J. P., An Annotated Bibliography of References Pertaining to the Biology, Fisheries, and Management of Squids, The Squid Lover’s Press.
Halme, J. P., Squid Strandings, Southern Cities Press.
Halme, J.P., “There Are Giants in the River”: Monsters and Mysteries of the River Moth, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Hatepool, J. D., The Dictionary of Obscure Insults, Up Yer Arse Publications.
Hewn, Reese, Decadence with Decapods, The Real Cephalopod Press.
Hewn, Reese, Nine Arms Are Not Enough, Cephalopod Publications.
(My good friend Reese is wrong—nine arms are more than enough. Seven arms are not enough.)
Hoegbotton, Henry, ed., Henry Hoegbotton’s Squid Primer, Hoegbotton & Sons.
Hortent, Nigel, The Hoegbotton Guide to Dipsomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Hortent, Nigel, The Hoegbotton Guide to Pyromania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Istlewick, James, The Hoegbotton Guide to Doramania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Istlewick, James, The Hoegbotton Guide to Siderodromomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Jakes, Laura, My Life As a Squid, The Squid Lover’s Press.
Jitterness, Jonathan, The Hoegbotton Guide to Sitomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
John, Samuel, Confessions of an Asylum Inmate (chapbook), Sensational True Life Story Serials Press.
Keater, Mathew, A Report from the Cappan’s Ministers on an Odd Occurrence Involving Certain Types of Intractable Squid, Bits and Scraps Publications.
(To Keater, the president of the Ambergris Gourmand Society, any squid that resists being harpooned and eaten is an “intractable” squid. Although I am sure that any squid sampled by his rubbery lips must at least feel somewhat at home.)
Keensticker, Harrod, The Malicious Monster: An Experienced Seaman’s Heated Oral Ejaculations on the Coming Battle Between Squid and Man, Tales of the Sea Press.
Kickleback, John, The Hoegbotton Guide to Drapetomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Kickleback, John, The Hoegbotton Guide to Squidomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Kleyblack, Nora, Squid of the Southern Isles, Being an Abridged Description of the Cephalopods and Other Mollusks of Saphant, Nicea, Briand, and Wrayly, Arranged According to the Natural System, Pulsefire Products.
Kron, Michael, “Sensory-Motor Skills of the Injured Squid,” Squidology Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, Southern Cities Press.
Kron, Michael, Squid Death Danses & Habitual Mourning, Southern Cities Press.
Laglob, E.A., The Story of My Boyhood Amongst the Squid Folk and What Became of Me Because of It, privately printed.
(Laglob’s story, although poorly written, is a poignant, sometimes heartbreaking, tale of acceptance and ultimate betrayal. Too intense for me to finish.)
Larsen, David, Ambush Courtship in the Moth River Delta, Source Press.
Larsen, David, Beak Soup: A Season Tracking Bull Squid, With a Note About Night and a Caution Regarding Riverbank Assignations, Source Press.
Lawler, L. Marie, Combating Compression, Cephalopod Publications.
(Compression is usually more of a problem for squidologists writing essays than for the squid.)
Lawler, L. Marie, Critical Inking, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Lawler, L. Marie, Invisible Ink: Tentacles from the Dark Side, Cephalopod Publications.
Lawler, L. Marie, Squibble: An Indepth Look at Squid Personality Disorders, Cephalopod & Cuttlefish.
Lawler, L. Marie, The Colors of Fear: Squid Self Defense, The Real Cephalopod Press.
Lawler, L. Marie, The Curious Case of Changed Careers: The Tragedy of Freelance Writer Harry Flack, Ex-Squid Hunter, Hoegbotton & Sons.
Lorstain, Michael, The Hoegbotton Guide to Eleuthromania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Lorstain, Michael, The Hoegbotton Guide to Timbromania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Madnok, Frederick, “Squidanthropy: The Silent Disease,” published in The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases, M. A. Roberts, ed., Chimeric Press.
(In retrospect, I chose a bad title. The disease is not so much “silent” as “inappropriate.”)
Madnok, Frederick, Certain Subtle Aspects of Squidanthropy (chapbook), Madnok Press.
(What many do not realize is how disconcerting sudden non-binocular vision can be to sufferers—not to mention the loss of muscular control as one’s hindquarters “melt” into a funnel and mantle and one’s legs “dissolve” into eight arms.)
Madnok, Frederick, Tentative Tentacles: A Failure of Nerve Among Amateur Squidologists (chapbook), privately printed.
(The publication that resulted in the Ambergris Squidology Society banning me from any future meetings. Even so, I stand by every statement I made.)
Madnok, James, The Meaning of Mushrooms, Murmur Press.
(Even then the house was crumbling. Many of my father’s finest experiments revolved around fruiting bodies situated in some dark corner of the basement or wine cellar. My mother, dedicated to the eradication of all rot, hated this situation—especially since my father sometimes went out of his way to encourage rot [“but not rubbish,” as he was fond of saying]. When my father was at his most mischievous, my mother might open the tea cupboard and find tendriled gray-and-crimson fungi peeking out from the side of each perfect saucer.)
Madnok, James, Experiments into the Transformative Element of Fruiting Body Absorptions, Southern Cities Press.
(The most amazing transformation my father ever made involved the alchemy of merging metal and mushroom. The result was uncanny. For days, my father slowly weaned the red-dappled gort cap from its normal diet of compost and dead beetles, replacing its sustenance with iron shavings. After months of careful regulation, the mushroom became shiny, gray, and hard. After a year, it became almost entirely metallic, with but a few flecks of red-and-beige to hint at its formerly edible nature. It had become a decorative ornament. [My own experiments have been of an opposite nature: turning the decorative into the sinuous and fleshy . . . ] He gave it to my mother for her birthday; she gave it to me soon thereafter and I still have it somewhere in storage.)
Madnok, James, The Invisible World, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
(My father’s masterwork: A beautifully-designed 400-page book that was unfairly ignored by reviewers and readers at the time of publication but which is now widely recognized in certain circles as the definitive statement on Southern fungi. I still have a copy of this book. The sarcastic jabs at Truffidian “theories” on the gray caps drove a wedge between my parents.)
Madnok, James, A Unified Theory of Spore Migration, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
(I would like to believe that my father was on the right track in this, his final book, posthumously published—alas, he was forced to abuccinate; the book never saw print in the Southern Cities—and that he felt no pain.)
Mannikan, A., The Great Cephalogod (fiction), Hoegbotton & Sons.
Marmont, E.D., A Raucous Yet Commercial People: Living on the Banks of the Moth, A Study, Not Worthy Publishers.
Midan, Pejora “The Architectural Marvel That Is the Cephalopod”, published in Architecture of the Southern Cities, Vol. 95, Issue 12, Barqology Press.
Midan, Pejora, Squid Iconography as Expressed in Ambergrisian Architecture, Blueprint Publications.
(Midan’s infatuation with squid did not last. His planned Mollusk Palace and Tentacle House never came to fruition; all we have now are the plans for such wonders.)
Midan, Pejora, The Underwater Gardens of the Mollusk: God’s Design, Blueprint Publications.
Mipkin, Siffle, The Hoegbotton Guide to Entomomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Morge, Ralph, Squid Theories Involving the Sabotage of Haragck Flotation Devices (chapbook), Ambergris Squidologist Society.
(Morge’s postulation that squid sabotaged the Haragck during their famous attack by puncturing their flotation devices seems circumstantial at best.)
Nanger, D.T., “The Fish Preferences of a Freshwater Squid in a Controlled Experiment Involving a Hook, Bait, a Really Big Boat, and a Strong Line of Inquiry,” Hablong Research Institute Quarterly Report, Hablong Publications.
Nick, Robert, The Edge of Madness, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Nick, Robert, The Role of Madness and Creativity, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
(That squidanthropy should be cited so inappropriately in this context discredits the book before the reader has even finished a quick skim of the index.)
Norman, Hugh. Beware of Random Letters: The History of Non-Human Communication, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Nymblan, Kever, The Hoegbotton Guide to Erotographomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Parsons, Kevin, A Field Guide to Freshwater Squid, Southern Cities Press.
Pickleridge, Timothy, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, Adapted to the State and Condition of All Orders of the Religious, Being a Call to Worship Our Father the King Squid (chapbook), privately printed.
Plate, S. N., Eight Arms to Choke By: The Suicide of a Squidler (poems), Tarzia Publications.
Pond, Samuel, The Hoegbotton Guide to Florimania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Povel, Bernard and Sighly, Enoch, Vice Squidologist Enoch Sighly’s and Doctor Bernard Dovel’s Journey Up the River Moth by Way of Native Canoe and Indigenous Ingenuity, Culminating in a Boat Wreck, a Near Escape, and Some Unfortunate Negotiations with the Aforementioned Natives, Society of Scientists Abroad in Morrow Press.
Pulling, Leonard, “An Account of the Squidlings’ First Hours by the Banks of the River Moth,” Ambergris Journal of Speculative Zoology, Fungoid Press.
Quiddity, Teresa, Sucker Punches, Feeble Bleatings Press.
Quiddity, Teresa, The Case to be Made for Hellatose Authorship of Various and Sundry Theatrical Performances, Front Row Publications.
(Leave it to Quiddity to spend nearly 300 pages digging around in the archives of various Ambergris theaters only to conclude that “the evidence for Hellatose authorship of any dramatic production, other than those sponsored by the carnivals and circuses he was associated with, is circumstantial at best.”)
Quork, Corvid, The Hoegbotton Guide to Ornithomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Rariety, Maurice, The Ambergris of James Kinkel Lightner: His Species and Types, Collecting Localities, Bibliography, and Selected Reprinted Works by Guyerdram, Historic Archive Publications.
(The first of an accursed breed, the “gentleman squidologist,” Lightner hired others to observe the squid in its natural habitat—while he frequented bankers’ clubs and other dens of equity. In smoke-filled back rooms, Lightner would then recount, as if he had experienced them first-hand, exploits and dangers related to him by his underlings. Guyerdam, Lightner’s chief expert, snapped one night and murdered Lightner in mid-sentence, using nothing more complicated than a Nicean Mud Squid wound around the old man’s neck. Unfortunately, the perception that Lightner was a great scientist has not died as easily as the man himself.)
Redfern, Kathryn, The Odd Account of Malfour Blissbane and His Squid of Fear, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
(Sensationalist stories for young adults and impressionable adults.)
Redfern, Kathryn, The Strange Tale of Ronald Battlebuss and His Seven Squid of Doom, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Redfern, Kathryn, The Stranger Tale of Bartley Gangrene and His Three Squid of Destiny, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Riddle, William, The Hoegbotton Guide to Hamartomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Riddle, William, The Clash of Science and Religion: Personal Explorations, Squid Mill Library Press.
(One day, my father entered his workshop to find that my mother had cut off the fruiting bodies of the King Fungus central to his research. It had taken 17 years of trial-and-error to grow them in the artificial environs of his laboratory. Mother had methodically snipped them with a small scythe, placed them in his wastepaper basket, and put them to the match. All that remained was a little ash and a stringent smell. I would imagine he stared into that circle of smolder and smoke until his eyes watered. Then he got up and went into the library.)
Roberts, M.A., The Big Book of Squid, Chimeric Press.
(Marred in its otherwise splendid authenticity by illustrations showing the mature Morrowean Mud Squid with two tentacles.)
Roberts, M.A., The Captain’s Advanced Freshwater Squid Telemetry, Tales of the Sea Press.
Roberts, M.A., The Odd Case of Hellatose & Bauble (chapbook), Chimeric Press.
Rogers, Vivian Price, Laying Low with the Torture Squid, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
(The Torture Squid will always remain my favorite fictional creations. The books take as their premise that five jackanapes, steeped in the ways of petty thuggery, are transformed by the gray caps, through the medium of squidanthropy, into King Squid. As squid, the five of them—renamed Squidy Johnson, Squidy Macken, Squidy Slakes, Squidy Taintmoor, and Squidy Barck (the leader)—have lost none of their criminal ways. They take up their old prowling grounds in the decrepit Bureaucratic Quarter and wreak havoc on its citizenry. In this installment, Squidy Taintmoor suggests that the Torture Squid lay low for awhile, since the Cappan’s men are after them. By the end of this blackly humorous story, “laying low” has resulted in burglary, arson, armed robbery, and many other offenses against the law.)
Rogers, Vivian Price, The Return of the Torture Squid, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
(Squidy Barck and his mates decide to visit their mums, with disastrous results. Stepfathers take a beating, as does most of the criminal code.)
Rogers, Vivian Price, The Torture Squid and the Magnetic Rowboat, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
(Squidy Macken finds a magnetic rowboat, possibly left behind by the gray caps, and the Torture Squid have fun propping it up near major thoroughfares and cackling as motored vehicles driving past suddenly find themselves stuck to it—windshield glass flying in all directions—and soon on the receiving end of demands from the knife-wielding Squidy Barck, Squidy Johnson, and Squid Slakes. At the end, they hijack one motored vehicle and smash it into a tree, laughing through their bruises.)
Rogers, Vivian Price, The Torture Squid Beat Up Some Priests, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
(Squidy Slakes remembers how the priests who brought him up in the orphanage used to do mean and nasty things to him. Squidy Johnson suggests getting some revenge and Squidy Barck seconds the motion. The Torture Squid cruise the Religious District, punching out mendicants and stealing donations from collection boxes. In the stunning conclusion, they smash the stained glass of the Truffidian Cathedral and beat a confession of sodomy out of the Antechamber himself before Squidy Slakes breaks down and begins to cry—but, no: he’s not crying, he’s snickering. Squidy Slakes has been having everyone on—he wasn’t an orphan and a priest never raised him. The Torture Squid all share a good laugh.)
Rogers, Vivian Price, The Torture Squid Get Drunk in Trillian Square, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
(One day, Squidy Barck wakes up in the Torture Squid’s west Albumuth Boulevard hovel and finds that Squidy Johnson is missing! Have the Cappan’s men found him and arrested him? Squidy Barck and the rest of the remaining Torture Squid spread out and cover the adjoining streets. No Squidy Johnson. Where could he be? As the Torture Squid search ever more desperately for their companion, they inevitably become thirsty. Many a pub receives their gruff demands for alcohol, until finally, after a number of adventures—one involving a squid club—the Torture Squid converge on Trillian Square, as pre-arranged. Who should they find there but Squidy Johnson, curled up on a bench, nursing a massive hangover from having snuck out for a “quick pint” the night before. The Torture Squid assuage their irritation by kicking Squidy Johnson into unconsciousness.)
Rogers, Vivian Price, The Torture Squid Pillage the Towers of the Kalif, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
(In this slightly less successful book, Rogers takes the Torture Squid out of the familiar environs of Ambergris and sets them on a quest to plunder the Kalif’s treasure. By the time they reach the gates of the Kalif’s capital city, they are so drunk on cheap wine that they are mistaken for merrymaking pilgrims and allowed into the city. Once there, they proceed to pinch the bottoms of women, steal fruit from grocery stands, rob wealthy merchants, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. Eventually, the Kalif’s soldiers arrest them, sober them up by torturing them in the dungeons, and then release them, naked, into the wastelands beyond the city’s walls. Less clothed, but a bit wiser, the Torture Squid sadly wander home. As Squidy Johnson remarks, “Foreign conquest is not as exciting as I thought it would be.”)
Rogers, Vivian Price, The Torture Squid Take on the New Art, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
(Squidy Macken points out, one fine morning as the Torture Squid sit imbibing refreshments at the Cafe of the Ruby-Throated Calf, that, as a group, they are under-educated. True, Squidy Barck once spent a semester at the Blythe Academy as a janitor, thus qualifying him to lead the Torture Squid, but in general they lack refinement. After Squidy Slakes punches Squidy Macken several times, Squidy Barck decides Squidy Macken is right. But how to become better educated? After some thought, Squidy Barck suggests that they attend a retrospective of the New Art down at the Gallery of Hidden Fascinations. So the Torture Squid don their best clothes, sharpen their knives, slick back their hair, and head off for the gallery exhibit. Once there, however, they are sorely disappointed. Most of the canvases seem unfinished—one is just a blotch of blue with some white blobs on it. Squidy Barck, embarrassed, decides maybe he should try to finish a few of the paintings—show the other Torture Squid some true culture. Alas, the museum guards try to stop them and the room erupts into a prolonged tussle, accompanied by the sound of knives tearing canvas. When the museum guards are finally disposed of, the Torture Squid turn their back on the gallery—and all “refinements”—although they read in the Ambergris Broadsheet the next day that spectators found their resulting performance art piece “oddly appealing.”)
Rogers, Vivian Price, The Torture Squid Torch an Underground Passage, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
(One of Rogers’ simplest books, this title delivers exactly what it promises—the Torture Squid torch an underground passage. They spend 50 pages planning the torching. They spend 50 pages torching the passage. They spend 50 pages escaping from the Cappan’s men as a result. Many critics believe this book was ghost-written for Rogers.)
Rogers, Vivian Price, The Torture Squid Trash a Restaurant, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
(For once, the Torture Squid do not instigate the nastiness. Squidy Barck and Squidy Johnson sit in the River Moth Restaurant minding their own business when they are recognized by members of a rival gang, the Moth Heads, who happen to be walking by. A fight ensues, during which Squidy Barck holds off the Moth Heads by throwing chairs and dishes at them while Squidy Johnson goes around the corner for reinforcements. When Squidy Slakes, Squidy Johnson and Squidy Taintmoor join the fracas, the Moth Heads soon find themselves on the receiving end of too many blows to count and wind up being chased down the street by the Torture Squid. Not content with the evening’s activities, the Torture Squid then proceed to blow up a bakery and set a motored vehicle on fire. As Squidy Johnson says, “Them Moth Heads provocatated us.”)
Rogers, Vivian Price, The Torture Squid’s Stint in Prison: Memories of Beastly Childhoods, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
(Perhaps Rogers’ masterpiece, this book relates, in six chapters, the childhood experiences of Squidy Johnson, Squidy Macken, Squidy Slakes, Squidy Taintmoor, and Squidy Barck—while, in the story’s present-day, all five occupy the same prison cell. Surprise, surprise: only Squidy Barck had a genuinely bad childhood, his mother a prostitute, his father unknown, and out on the street by the age of 10. The rest were the sons of privileged members of society who simply preferred thuggery to honest work. In chapter six, the Torture Squid break out of prison after beating the guards half to death and the previously nostalgic feel of the book gives way to the usual merry mayhem.)
Rogers, Vivian Price, The Torture Squid’s Last Stand, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
(Enraged by the Torture Squid’s criminal activities, the Cappan raises a small army dedicated to their eradication. In the climactic final scene, the Torture Squid, cornered in a barn outside of the city, escape by setting themselves on fire and running through the shocked encircling troops to the freedom of the River Moth. Finally released into their natural element, they never return to the city, “although even today mothers tell the story of Torture Squid’s exploits to their aspiring young thugs.”)
Rook, Alan B., Passion in Crimson; Pelagian Love; Rosy Tentacles; Dido and the Squid: Four Libretti and Scores for Unrealized Operas, Quail Note Publishers.
Rook, Alan B., Chamber Mass for the Nautilus & Requiem for the White Ghost Squid: Two Liturgical Scores After the Noran and Stangian Modes, Quail Note Publishers.
(There is no bliss in all the world as complete as listening to the Requiem for the White Ghost Squid [based on Spacklenest’s classic novel]. It is especially sublime if listened to on phonograph while relaxing in a small wading pool.)
Roper, Frederick, Incidences of Squid Incursions Amid the Communities of the Lower Moth: Anecdotal Evidence Supporting the Need for Squid-Proof Residences, Not Easily Read Publications.
Roper, Frederick, The Significance of Bookshelves in Domestic Squabbles, Squid Mill Library Press.
(In the library, through a trick of light in some cases, the books sat in their rows, steeped in red. Red were the bindings. Red was the floor.)
Roundtree, Jessica, Husbands Who Kill Their Wives, Squid Mill Library Press.
Rowan, Iain, “Tentaculon: An Approach to Human-Squid Communication,” Journal of Squid Studies, Vol. 52, No. 3.
Rowan, Iain, The Squid As Other: Transgressive Approaches to Hegemonic Dualities,” Journal of Aquatic Hermeneutics, Vol. 34, No. 1.
Ruch, Alan, Hops and the Amateur Squidologist, Tornelain Publications.
Savant, Charles, An Invitation to Squid Sightings: Its Pleasures and Practices: With Kindred Discussions of Maps, Depth Charts, and Physiology Tables (chapbook), Ambergris Squidology Society.
Savant, Charles, Historical Notes on the Relationship Between Fires in Quiet Port Towns and the King Squid, Ambergris Squidologist Society.
Savant, Charles, Sunset Over the Squid Mills, Squid Mill Library Press.
(He must have known I would find her there. Every summer, returning from Blythe Academy or from my expeditions, I would go there first, although they had been long abandoned—wooden husks where once the squiders swished to and fro on their squilts. Her head rocked gently against the rotted pontoons, gold-gray hair fanning out. Her gaze seemed peaceful although I could read nothing in her eyes. The echo of her words now as gentle as her caress. She had been in the water for more than a week. I almost did not recognize her.)
Shannon, Harold, Sorrowful Wake for Mother Squid: The Attachments of Juvenile King Squid, Mournful Press.
Shannon, Harold, Adaptations of Cephalopod Organisms to Non-Saltwater Environments, Woode-Holly Productions.
Shannon, Harold, Cephalopod Mating Behavior (Freshwater Seduction Rituals), Woode-Holly Productions.
Shriek, Duncan, The Hoegbotton Guide to the Early History of Ambergris, Hoegbotton & Sons.
Shriek, Janice, The Blythe Academy Squid Primer, Blythe Academic Press.
Sidlewhile, Henry, The Life and Times of Thackery Woodstocking, Amateur Squidologist, Ashbrain Press.
Simpkin, A.L., Gladesmen, Squidlers, Moonshine, and Sniffers, Candon Press.
(A rollicking adventure that properly immortalizes the tough, solitary life of the squidlers and the gladesmen who insure them.)
Sirin, Vlodya, Verse by Tentacle: An Anthology of Poetry Featuring Squid Down Through the Ages—Saphant Empire to William Buckwheat, Running Water Publications.
Skinder, Blas, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Festival Crowds, Southern Cities Press.
Slab, Thomas, The Redeeming Noose: The Reception of Doctor R. Tint Tankle’s Ideas on Social Discipline, Mental Asylums, Hospitals, and the Medical Profession as They Relate to Squid-Induced Suicide Attempts, Reed Publications.
Slab, Thomas, The Anatomy of Madness, Reed Publications.
Slay, Jack, Cephalopods: A Handbook of Decapodian Grammar, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Sleeter, M. J., The Hoegbotton Guide to Hippomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Sleeter, M. J., A Guide to the Mushrooms of Late Summer: The Poisonous and the Benign, Squid Mill Library Press.
(He was picking mushrooms in the forest behind the house and humming softly to himself. I paused a moment to marvel at his calm, even though the late afternoon sun, mottled through the deep silence of the fir trees, cast my shadow far in advance of his gaze. He must have known I would find him there.)
Smutney, Jones, The Squid That Killed His Own Father: A Novel of Cephalopodic Revenge, True Tales Press.
Smutney, Jones, Wealth, Virtue, and Seafood: The Shaping of a Political Economy in Ambergris, Archival Squid Press.
Smythe, Alan, The Physiology and Psychology of the King Squid (illustrations by Louis Verden), Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Sneller, Daniel, A History of Traveling Medicine Shows and Nefarious Circi, Spectacular Press.
Sourby, Pipkick, A Carousel for Squidophiles: A Treasury of Tales, Narratives, Songs, Epigrams, and Sundry Curious Studies Relating to a Noble Theme, Borges Bookstore Publishing. Sourby, Pipkick, Mollusk Wise, Squid Foolish, Borges Bookstore Publishing.
Spacklenest, Edgar, Lord Hood and the Unseen Squid, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
(This tale of a Nicean nobleman haunted by the ghost of the squid he jigged has a simple poignancy to it. In the book, Lord Hood lives alone in his ancestral home, his parents murdered in a terrible double tragedy some years before. Once a year, Lord Hood leaves his property to attend a fishing expedition with his fellow lords. On one such expedition, he spears the mantle of a young female King Squid. The squid dies and is eaten that night by the aristocratic fishermen. The very next day, as Lord Hood sits reading in his extensive library, the apparition of the squid appears before him, beseeching him with mournful eyes. At first, Lord Hood flees in terror, but over time, as the visitations become more frequent, he becomes used to the company of the squid ghost. As the reader learns more about Lord Hood’s tortured past and his parents’ fate, it is clear that he is as much a ghost haunting his own house as the squid. Eventually, he comes to feel affection for the squid who haunts him and he begins a kind of squidanthropic transformation on an emotional level. He finds himself drawn to the nearby River Moth—and as the squid ghost manifests itself more often the closer the proximity of water, Lord Hood begins to spend most of his time in the river. Lord Hood finds himself less and less attached to the land. In the heart-breaking final scene, he—not truly blessed with squidanthropy—sinks beneath the waters and drowns . . . only to liberate his ghost, which finds union with the ghost of the squid.)
Stang, Napole, Edict the Fifth: On the Question of Whether Squid Shall Have Souls, as Written by the 12th Antechamber of Ambergris, Napole Stang, Truffidian Religious Books, Inc.
Stark, Rokham, Further Adventures in Squidology, Tannaker Publications.
Starling, Lee D., Squid Dish: An Esoteric Seafood Lovers’ Cookbook, Bait & Hook Press.
Starling, Lee D., The Squid Scrolls, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Stiffy, Madeline, An Argument on Behalf of the New Science Known as Squidology (chapbook), Ambergris Squidologist Society.
Stiffy, Madeline, The Curious Case of Manzikert VII and the Squid What Burped, Arcanea Publishing Collective & Outdoor Market.
(An undignified, mocking, and completely worthless amalgamation of rumor, hearsay, and libel.)
Stim, Zyth, Sarah Volume (I) and the Great Squid Migration, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
Stim, Zyth, Sarah Volume (II) and the Mysterious Squid of Zort, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
Stim, Zyth, Sarah Volume (III) and the Treasure of the Squid, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
Stim, Zyth, Sarah Volume (IV) and the Squid With No Name, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
Stim, Zyth, Sarah Volume (V) and the Underwater Valley of the Squid, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
Stim, Zyth, Sarah Volume (VI) Goes Squidless, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
Stim, Zyth, Sarah Volume’s Eight-Armed Volume of Squid Stories for Bedtime, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
Stindel, Bernard, A Refutation of the Theories of Jessica Roundtree, Squid Mill Library Press.
Stine, Allison, ed., Squid Lover, The: A Magazine of Squid Lore, Being a Miscellany of Curiously Interesting and Generally Unknown Facts About Squid-dom and Squid-Related People; Now Newly Arranged, with Incidental Divertissement and All Very Delightful to Read, The Squid-Lover’s Press.
Sumner, Geoffrey T., Behind a Cloud of Ink: A Biography of the Enigmatic A. J. Kretchen, Squid Hunter, Southern Cities Publishing Company.
Sumner, Geoffrey T., Cuttlefishing, Ecropol Press.
Sumner, Geoffrey T., How to Make Jewelry from Polished Squid Beak, Arts & Crafts Publishers (Squidcraft imprint).
Sumner, Geoffrey T., The Squid as Aquatic Angel in Religious Visitations, Truffidian Cathedral Publishing.
Tanthe, Meredith, Taste & Technique in Squid Harvesting (chapbook), Ambergris Gastronomic Society.
Tribbley, Jane, The Hoegbotton Guide to Hypomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Umthatch, Wiggins, The Hoegbotton Guide to Mentulomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Ungdom, George, Squid Anatomy for the Layperson (illustrated by Louis Verden), Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Vielle, C. M., Naughty Lisp and the Squid: A Polyp Diptych, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Viper, Arnold, The Hoegbotton Guide to Mesmeromania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Vosper, Robert, The Pauseback Collection of Rare Squid Children’s Books, Small Books/Big Dreams Incorporated.
Willis, Sarah, The Book of Average Squid, Savor Press.
Willis, Sarah, The Book of Greater Squid, Savor Press.
Willis, Sarah, The Book of Lesser Squid, Savor Press.
Wortbell, Randall, The Hoegbotton Guide to Mythomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Wrede, Christopher, “‘I Think You’re Both Quacks’: The Controversy Between Doctor Blentheen Skrill and Squidologist Croakley Lettsom,” Bulletin of the History of Mollusk Studies, Vol. 689, No. 7, Recluse Press.
Wrede, Christopher, “Gender, Ideology and the Water-Cure Movement,” Current Cephalopodic Remedies, Vol. 21, No. 5, Recluse Press.
Wrede, Christopher, “Hysteria, Squid Hypnosis, and the Lure of the Invisible: The Rise of Cephalo-mesmerism in Post-Trillian Ambergris,” Bulletin of the History of Mollusk Studies, Vol. 699, No. 3, Recluse Press.
Wrede, Christopher, “Squidology and Spiritualism in the Pre-Trillian Era,” Bulletin of the History of Mollusk Studies, Vol. 700, No. 9, Recluse Press.
Wrede, Christopher, “The Chronic Squidanthropist, the Doctor, and the Play of Medical Power,” Journal of Squid-Related Psychological Diseases, Vol. 377, No. 2, Recluse Press.
Wrede, Christopher, Institutions of Confinement, Hospitals, Asylums, and Prisons in the Southern Cities, Recluse Press.
Wrede, Christopher, Squidologist Quackery Unmasked, Recluse Press.
Xyskander, Melanie, The Hoegbotton Guide to Nosomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Yit, Florence, The Hoegbotton Guide to Nudomania, Hoegbotton & Sons Press.
Yowler, John, The Beaten Child: The Essential Iniquity of Physical Abuse, Mother’s Milk Publishing.
(The noted writer Sirin once said, “Every unhappy family is the same. Every happy family is unique.” The beatings could be bad, but not as bad as the ones here.)
Yowler, John, The Present-Absent Father, Mushroom Studies Press.
(The old grandfather clock dolling out my doom. The nightly “calls to prayer” that he could not protect me from.)
Zeel, George H., The Book of Squidanthropy, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
(It is coming sooner than I thought—the transformation they wish to deny me. One night, although it is forbidden, I shall sneak past the guards and slide out into the yard, sidle up to the fence, and flow through and over it as suits my new self . . . )
Zenith, C. N., Effective Techniques for Building Suspense, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Zither, Marianne, The Triumph of Madness Over Guilt, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
( . . . under the light of the moon, with sweet, sweet longing, I make for the River Moth. Through the tangle of branches and moon-bright leaves, I surge toward the river. I can smell it, mad with silt, and hear its gurgling roar. Finally, the mud of the riverbank is under my tentacles, firm yet soft, and the grass can no longer lacerate my arms. For a moment, I remain on the river bank, looking out across the black waters reflecting the clouds above, and just watch the slow current, the way the water wavers and flows . . . I remember my mother, my father, the squid mills of my youth, the vast, silent library . . . )
Zonn, Crathputt, How to Hold Your Audience in Thrall to the Very End, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
Zzy, Veriand, Satisfying Conclusions: Epiphanies in Squid Transformations, Frankwrithe & Lewden.
(. . . then, with the strobing lights of my fellow squid to guide me, I baptize myself in the water, let it take me down into the silt, the sodden leaves, my lungs filling with the essence of life, my mantle full, my third eye already raking through the darkness, filling it with luminescence. The water smells of a thousand wonderful things. I am feather-light in its embrace. I want to cry for the joy of it. Slowly, slowly, I head for my brothers and sisters, disappearing from the sight of the doctors and the attendants, impervious to their recriminations, once more what I was always meant to be . . . )
