With our many words, we struggle to directly express our desires to those we know and love. Perhaps our trouble isn’t lack of effective communication skills but our inability to confront grief.

Herein lies the irony

“Why can humans not use their millions of words to simply tell one another what they desire?”

In the 2024 debut novel Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby VanPelt, Marcellus—the main character, an octopus whose days are numbered—makes notable observations about humans in relationship; asking, for example,

coming soon

Spring 2026 Relationship Intensive
For Remarkably Bright Creatures