Political octopus in pop culture: “The Grand Map” in Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, and art by Keith Thompson. The map shows Northern Africa and the land below (or part of) “Serbia” as depicted by squid-like creatures.

You can see it in its full and glorious detail at Scott Westerfeld’s blog, where it is accompanied by information on how and why it was developed. There is also a version on Keith Thompson’s website that details each of the ‘allegories’ and why they were chosen.

For more cephalopod geographies: see “Of Maps and Octopuses“.

Big thanks to Mark Dominus for submitting this.