The science behind the mermaids of Miri Attwater: octopus camouflage

In celebration of the release of Book 2, Miri Attwater and All that Glitters, I thought it would be fitting to go a little into the science behind the magic of the Miri Attwater series.

Science is amazing. It's better than magic! Because it's real.

When I first started the Miri books, my intention was to write pure fantasy, with magic and everything. Magic makes things easy. Yeah, I know you have to come up with rules but -

Need something? Make up a rule and -

Bam!

You have something. It's magic!

The problem was, every time I got to the point in the story where Miri's legs magically turned into tails, it just didn't feel right to me. Even though other writers used it - in fact the original myths even used it - it still felt hollow and unbelievable. I mean, how could legs turn into tails?

Really.

I mean, I knew it wasn't "real," but still my brain wanted to understand exactly how that could happen.

The answer?

An octopus.

Now you might be thinking, "Ew! What could an octopus possibly have to do with mermaids! That's gross!" just like Miri. But it wasn't just the octopus itself, it was octopus camouflage.

I saw a video of octopus camouflage. And I believed it was possible for mermaid legs to turn into tails.

Watch. And believe.

 

Want to learn more about octopuses? Check out these websites. (Ask a parent's premission before clicking on the links below.)

Squid and Octopus Switch on Camouflage at bbc.co.uk
8 Feet of Justice at ScienceFriday.com

The new cover for Miri Attwater and the Ocean's Secret now avaible on Amazon for Kindle

The new cover for Miri Attwater and the Ocean's Secret is up! Check it out on Amazon.

Miri Attwater and the Ocean' Secret book cover design, part 5 - the new cover

Now it's time to put it all together! Miri in full color, the background...

Oh! And we added a title, of course.

And the author name. That's really important.

So here it is - the brand new cover for Miri Attwater and the Ocean's Secret!

So what do you think?

A new cover coming soon for Miri Attwater and the Ocean's Secret

So I've been a bit busy lately working on a bunch of technical details to move my author website and blog to a new site, esivy.com. If you're interested in crafts and other things that occupy my mind, hop on over and check it out.

But we've also been busy with a whole new cover design for Miri Attwater and the Ocean's Secret! I still love the old cover, but when we were trying to come up with a cover for Book 2, Miri Attwater and All that Glitters, things just weren't working. Among other things, we wanted to make the books look friendlier and more colorful.

This, of course, has the drawback that it's slowing down the release of All that Glitters. So in the meantime I thought I'd show you some progress on the new covers.

TechnoTim started by drawing a bunch of different sketches for Miri using pencil and paper. I critiqued them and he tweaked them. Here's the one we finally decided looks just like Miri.

Let me know what you think. Does the drawing look like Miri to you?

Hannah, age 9, gives Miri Attwater and the Ocean's Secret 5 stars (and 22 exclamation marks)

For kid's books, there's nothing better than a book review by kids.

Here's what Hannah, age 9, over at BookCubs had to say about Miri Attwater and the Ocean's Secret.


If you like funny fantasy books you’ll love this. It is fantastic. If you do not think it is great, you are crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And as a writer, there's nothing better than a kid's review like that. :) And yes, all those exclamation points are her's. I didn't add any.

Her favorite part was Miri's dinner with the Queen. That makes me happy, because I had fun writing it. (Sneak Peek - there'll be more fancy dinners with funny dishes in Book 2.)

Before I wrote about Miri's first meal in Kai Kaona, I ate some seaweed salad! It wasn't too bad. A little rubbery. :) Some of the rest came from memories I have - like when someone advised me to order "seafood" noodles in Japan and it turned out to be "seaweed" noodles. 

And the time at a fancy restaurant in New Orleans that my grandmother was served a baked fish with its head still on.  She was a proper Southern lady, a phenomenal cook, and had cleaned a few fish from my grandfather's catch in her day. She would never have served a fish head at her table. She sent that fish right back to the kitchen to be properly prepared!

What about you - what's the strangest, most adventurous, thing you've ever eaten? Leave a comment and tell us about it!