The giant squid is the perfect embodiment of a sea monster: it is huge, it has tentacles, it has big eyes, and it is absolutely frightening-looking. But, most important, it is real. Unlike the Loch Ness monster, we know it's out there.

I had always been a huge Sherlock Holmes fan.

I grew up in a small town that was absolutely a perfect embodiment of new urbanism.

The amazing thing about the sea is that it is perhaps the last truly unexplored frontier; most oceanographers estimate that only about ninety-five per cent of the sea has been studied. Meanwhile, the oceans are believed to contain more animals than exist on land, a majority of which have never been discovered.

It's funny: I don't know if she babysat, but I spent time with Judy Blume when I was little.

Books were a huge part of my childhood growing up. We would go on vacation, and my mom was always carting manuscripts around.