Cetus Insolitus: Sea Serpents, Giant Cephalopods, and Other Marine Monsters in Classic Science Fiction and Fantasy

by Chad Arment (Editor)

Cetus Insolitus is an anthology of twenty-six classic sea monster stories, from giant squid and invisible octopuses to sea serpents and strange deadly fish. The stories range from the humorous to the darkly apocalyptic. Well-known stories by authors like H. G. Wells and William Hope Hodgson are compiled with pieces that have rarely been seen since their first publication in the 1800s or early 1900s. The stories include The Tail of the Big Sea-Serpent, Jim Newman's Or, A Sight of the Sea Serpent, A Real Sea-Serpent, A Matter of Fact, The Rival Beauties, The Sea Raiders, In the Abyss, The Last Stand of the Decapods, The Voyage of the "Mary Simpson", Out of the Deep, The Sea Serpent Syndicate, A Tropical Horror, From the Tideless Sea, The Terror of the Sea Caves, The Mystery of the Derelict, Winkler The Sea-Serpent, Crew Saved by Sea Serpent, The Thing in the Weeds, The Finding of the Graiken, From the Darkness and the Depths, The Stone Ship, De Profundis, Demons of the Sea, The Habitants of Middle Islet, The Finless Death, and The Octopus Cycle.

396 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Two of the first "real" authors I read when I was young were Alistair MacLean and Rex Stout, and those remain favorites. Today, for personal reading, there are several mystery authors I enjoy; for non-fiction, I jump around a bit depending on what I'm interested in. (At the moment, suiseki and dragonflies, go figure.)
In 2004, I self-published my first print-on-demand book, on cryptozoology. Since then, I've added several other of my own titles, a fair number by other authors, and a whole lot of reprints (both public domain and licensed). Titles can be seen at www.coachwhipbooks.com.
I currently live in Ohio.

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly]

These anthologies published by Coachwhip publications can be prized as jewels, or can be thrown away out of frustration, both because of the same reasons: the authors of these tales are here solely because they have gone out-of-copyright. This being the sole yardstick, it is inevitable that the books get filled up with pathetic works that the authors' grandchildren would not like to read now (unless forced at gunpoint). But you can also find jewels, namely some of the best "sea-horror" stories written by William Hope Hodgson which are to be found no-where else (the excellent Night Shade Press volumes have vanished!). These stories are:
1) The Tropical Horror;
2) From The Tideless Sea;
3) The Mystery of The Derelict;
4) The Thing in The Weeds;
5) The Finding of The GRAIKEN;
6) The Stone Ship;
7) Demons Of The Sea;
8) The Habitants of Middle Islet.
Apart from these, the rest of the stories are trash, and hence the rating!