"When first creating the Saturnites, a race of rock-based aliens, as antagonists to evil genius, Emperor Mollusk, I knew I had to do more with them. Cragg has a blink and you'll miss it part in the original novel, but like Ogbunabali, god of death, Cragg won me over instantly. This was a guy, down on his luck, living on a world he didn't really belong on, disgraced and thoroughly defeated. He's down and most definitely out, but life goes on. I think we all relate."
— Author's Notes
Cindy and Cragg is a Science Fiction short story written by A. Lee Martinez and published in the 2013 anthology book Robots versus Slime Monsters. The story is set after the events of the novel Emperor Mollusk versus The Sinister Brain, where a human woman and a Saturnite spend a date/not-date at a company gathering.
Cindy and Cragg provides examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Anthony is a chauvinistic lech who constantly hits on Cindy and "compliments" her in ways that don't help much, made much worse since he's her boss. She gets so sick of it that she really lays it on him when he calls her meaty "as a compliment."
- Interspecies Romance: The whole premise of the story is a single-mom getting back in the dating game and the date is with a Rock Monster from Saturn.
- Like Parent, Like Spouse: Cragg explains that he likes Cindy because she reminds him of his vulkon (an assigned caretaker to adolescent Saturnites), so the closest translation to what he's saying is that he's into her because she reminds him of his mother.
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Ignis is a Saturnite woman who used to date Cragg. Though they've long since broken up, she becomes jealous of Cindy when she sees that he's dating Cindy, even willing to challenge her in single combat.
