Do you love beautiful comics? Do you love cats? Do you love beautiful comics about cats? A Cat Story by @umurrayhusted.bsky.social is for you! It’s a sumptuous book about a journey to find a mythical garden, full of compelling creatures on the way and references to classic artwork. Read it ASAP!

⚡️ CREATOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Ursula Murray Husted @umurrayhusted.bsky.social Ursula Murray Husted is the creator of the graphic novels "A Cat Story" and "Botticelli’s Apprentice." Read more: www.mncba.org/archive/MNCB... #MNCBA #TwinCities #ComicCon #ComicConvention

No spoilers, but Pixar's latest film Hoppers was great. The scientists were picture perfect and my mom would have loved every bit of it. Very much worth going to see in the theater.

Missing my friend, the great Diana Green.

Mexican-American farm family in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, 1937. Photo made by Russell Lee for the WPA.

Some rare good news! Botticelli's Apprentice was put on the American Library Association's selected feminist reading list. 💙 www.ala.org/srrt/2026-ri...

My designer diary for The Two Towers: Trick-Taking Gameis up on the BoardGameGeek homepage! boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogp...

My own @bbornmueller.bsky.social's new game is out today! It is hard here in Minneapolis, but we are still making art and taking care of our neighbors because that's what artists must do. "Even darkness must pass."~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

New Year's pen/pencil/mark-making-tibbets of all types reckoning and reconnoitering.

Day 24/the last day. 4 layer Italian chocolate squares. We both loved this one. 💙

Day 23: German marzipan caramel. Sparky loved this one! I liked the flavor fine, but it was a bit too sweet for me.

Day 22: Swedish Glögg (mulled wine) taffy. Not a hit with the kid. I rather liked it, but it was very strong.

Day 21: Pistachio cream candy from Tarfalla in Spain. A delightful continuation of good things coming my way from Spain in 2025! Visually unassuming, but both the kid and I put this one at the top tier of our charts. Apparently you can take a tour of the factory. New bucket list item unlocked!

Day 20: Salty liquorice taffy from Finland which made me feel nostalgic for the high arctic. It made the kid feel deeply skeptical.

Day 19: Chewy yogurt candy from Greece. I liked this one and was surprised the kid, who eats yogurt daily, emphatically did not. Chewy yogurt was just too high a bar to cross.

Day 18: Turkish sour cola chewy toffee. This was a really fascinating hard to describe candy. The cola wasn't our favorite, but I am going to seek out other flavors.

Day 17: Lithuanian black current/melon jelly candy. VERY sweet. Neither Sparky nor I liked this one very much.

Day 16: Bitter orange and chocolate flavored chewy toffee from Spain. I liked this one! Sparky not so much.

Day 15: Sour apple/orange taffy from Pakistan. Similar to laffy taffy. Sparky liked this one, but it wasn't my favorite.

Goat Magic from @kagwheeler.bsky.com tops our kids list, unsurprising since we hosted a launch event. A Cat Story from @umurrayhusted.bsky.social and Mooncakes have been consistent favorites in the store from 2023 to 2025! Plus we have our favorite not-lesbian transfemme rep in Girlmode. :3

Day 14: Italian lemon soda candy. I adore lemon soda and like bitter citrus, so this candy not being to my taste was kind of a bummer. Pretty typography, though.

Day 13: Lithuanian Pineapple/Strawberry jelly candy. More pineapple than strawberry and very VERY sweet. Both the kid and I were just okay on this one.

Day 12: Chocolate cream blended with pistachio and hazelnut, dall'Italia. Both the kid and I found this one to be delicious.

Day 11: "Big Frut", gooseberry jelly candy from Italy. I loved it, but Sparky is not acquiring a taste for jelly candy.

Day 10: Sour violet hard candy from Belgium. Sparky liked the sour but not the violet. Violet has never done much for me as a flavor, much as they are one of my favorite flowers.

Day 9: Tapioca/ginger/orange candy from Indonesia. Too spicy for the kid, but I liked this one.

Day 8: Belgian chocolate with coffee cream. Good enough that the coffee hating kid ate 2.

Day 7: Walker's Nonesuch Milk Chocolate Eclair from England. Sparky liked the caramel outside but was iffy on the filling. I've had these before and like them just fine.

Day 6: Belgian chocolate with salted brownie filling: no notes! Solidly tasty.

Day 5: "Yupi": gummy candy from Indonesia. Bryan and I went to Java to visit my brilliant brother during his fullbright. Not a week goes by where I don't search up flights and daydream about going back. That said, Sparky observed that Yupi resembled a strawberry eyeball and was not wrong.

Day 4: Apologies to all my beloved readers in England, you were done dirty with today's offering. I fondly remember a piece of fudge from a street vendor in Bath that would make angels weep. This...was not that. Sparky liked the taste fine, but the kid will happily chow down on a box of sugar cubes.

Day 3: Italian Fruit Toffees. Elah brand, lemon/peach/apple/orange flavors. Both Sparky and I liked these! They started out hard and smooth then shifted into a sort of melty buttermint texture. Hard to describe but lovely.

Day 2: Obuoliukai, Cocoa-Coated Lithuanian Apple Jelly. Sorry Lithuania, you're a beautiful country filled with lovely people but neither Sparky nor I cared much for Obuoliukai. Visiting Trakai Island Castle is still on my life list, though!

My wonderful mother-in-law sent us an international candy advent calendar this year! The first day was pomegranate Frugeli from Greece, a sugared fruit jelly. I adored it on all fronts. Sparky liked the taste but noped out hard on the texture.

Come find me later this week at Pax Unplugged. I'm excited for folks to get their hands on The Two Towers: Trick-Taking Game.

Please come out and draw with me at the Twin Cities Book festival this Saturday!

Got my first one of these today. Heads up new authors! Never pay for a review, to be interviewed, OR to have your book included in a book club. writerbeware.blog/2025/09/19/r...

Feeling a little more hopeful this morning.

As a lover of both #graphicnovels and #art Botticelli’s Apprentice by @umurrayhusted.bsky.social was a brilliant afternoon’s read. Particularly liked the explanations of art techniques from the period. Recommend for all but teachers of art in #primary or #secondary will love it.

See y'all at @cartooncrossroads.bsky.social, table #98! 💙

Well, I guess the STrib let the corn out of the bag. My tribute to Alice Neel made it to the MiA's Cream of the Crop show. This is a genuine and entirely unexpected honor. new.artsmia.org/exhib.../min...

I am so sorry, folks. Due to a family health emergency, I am unable to leave for the Siglufjordur Comics Fest. I'm heartbroken and plan to come another year, but can't travel at this time. Hug your loved ones.

Do I hand-carve stamps to hand-print hundreds of two color stickers for every convention I attend? Hard nope. But I am doing so for the Myndasöguhátíð Siglufjarðar / Siglufjörður Comics Festival because they deserve my very best efforts. I can't wait to come up and draw comics with y'all! 💙

Comics as citizen journalism by @tylerpage.bsky.social! Seems like something @racketmn.com would appreciate. 💙

Got a maddening scam email and, since I don’t currently have any students to rant at, drew this to warn new author folk to never ever EVER pay to be interviewed for a podcast or anything else! Augh! 1/4

@umurrayhusted.bsky.social An absolute, absolute, absolute joy! I've just finished #BotticellisApprentice We read and discussed #ACatStory at our #LetsTalkGraphicNovels group a few years back & you kindly showed up. This is just as wonderful. Congratulations - I wish it every possible success!

@sandiegocomic-con.bsky.social: I will be on a @cbcbooks.bsky.social panel moderated by @noethematt.bsky.social ! Come rock out with me and the rest of the crew about graphic novels, bandes dessinées, tankōbon, and how both format and serialization of long-form comics affects story structure!

Siglufjörður Comics Festival: Guest of Honor! If you're anywhere near Iceland this Aug.15-17, come join me in one of my favorite places on earth: Siglufjörður! I will be leading a comics workshop for kids, chatting with Icelandic comickers, and signing books! comicsfestival.is/en/artist/ur...

SanDiegoComicCon: I will be on a @cbcbooks.bsky.social panel moderated by @noethematt.bsky.social! Come rock out with me and the rest of the crew about bandes dessinées, tankōbon, and how both format and serialization of long-form comics affects story structure! www.cbcbooks.org/2025/07/11/c...