Observations from the Observatory

The Kitschies and Other Tentacles

A month ago, my boyfriend and I went on a shore dive in Madeira. The water was cold and foggy with silt, and the swell was fierce, doing its best to grate us against the rocks. We didn’t care – when we came up again we were grinning.

We’d just seen our first wild octopus.

Maybe this was a good omen, because a couple of days ago I found out that A Face Like Glass is on the shortlist for the Kitschies‘ Red Tentacle award!

Here you can read a Guardian article written in admiration of the Kitschies. (There’s also a fine picture of the Kitschies’ patron monster, the Kraken, in the process of devouring a galleon canapé.)

The (wonderfully varied) 2012 shortlist itself is here. The other books on the list look fascinating…