Short Stories
Bite of the Ocean
Just Beneath Your Boat
Dark Moon Rising Publications 05/17/2026
Just Beneath Your Boat.
23 authors and 11 artists came together to create this aquatic horror anthology curated and edited by Tom Folske. Throughout history, tales of water monsters have fueled sailors’ and swimmers’ stories, bringing a new fear from the murky depths of the world’s most unexplored regions. As it stands, we know more about space than what we know about what lurks at the bottom of the deepest trenches of the ocean and many other water systems. Urban legends, mythical creatures, and cryptids alike were spun together in a terrifying mix of chaos. This anthology will leave you with one lingering question: Do you dare to venture into the water?
All proceeds to be donated to Nature and Culture International, which works with Indigenous peoples, communities, governments, and partners to protect intact forests within large, connected landscapes across Latin America. Not only does deforestation endanger the lives of people across the globe due to rising climate change, but they also force many species into extinction. Help us protect and conserve the planet!
Contributing Authors: Blake Hoss, Charles Reis, Claire Davon, David McDonald, Denise Landry, Dino Parenti, Kasey Hill, Rob Tannahill, DJ Tyrer, Don Anelli, Justin Carlos Alcala, Lillian Csernica, LJ Jacobs, Margaret Eve, Matthew Chabin, Jeff Parsons, Mawr Gorshin, Michael Mortimer, Miguel Fliguer, Milan Simić, Pip Pinkerton, Stephen A. Roddewig, Thomas Folske, and CJ Hooper
Contributing Artists: Alhiya Hoffman, Amelia Folske, Blake Hoss, Kelsey Grimmell, Ben Merk, Michelle Hanson, Milan Simić, Olivia Davis, Sidney Shiv, Todor Gotchkov, and Warren Muzak
NOTE: My story included in this anthology is a reprint. The story was originally published in The Depths Unleashed, Book 1.
Excerpt
At five feet, the water was cool, but sunshine still warmed the surface area. The ship—what was left of it—was still visible. As I plunged further underwater, I could still see it.
…the octopus rising from the depths, each tentacle bigger than a man, with suckers that latched onto the shipboards to tear it apart…
At fifteen feet the water was cooler and my hazy view of the vessel faded, yet the bits of detritus were evidence of what was still happening above.
My Finnish ancestors talked of the Iku-Turso, a giant creature every bit as big and lethal as the Kraken. It lived in the deepest ocean, in legend, banished there by Väinämöinen. We did not trust that any oath to a human could hold such a monster.
I told the tales at night, over glasses of rum, to anyone willing to listen. If any of my fellows still breathed, they might credit my stories now. I would go to my watery grave knowing I was right, and giant beasts did lurk in the briny depths.
For all the good it did me.
The first sighting of the behemoth had been mistaken for a dolphin, though the tentacle had not behaved like one.
The second spotting had not. The sailor was shouting and pointing, and the captain began crying out furious commands. The Iku-Turso, a hundred feet long—or bigger—cruised beneath the water, the shadow of its massive form visible below the waves.
At forty feet the sun was a distant orb, its light wavering. No sea life was near.
…It rose from the ocean, most of its body still unseen. Its giant head, like an octopus but also not, surfaced. The beast was ten times—a hundred times—the size of the biggest of known octopus. It swam into view, fixing on the boat…
I didn’t have long. Hypothermia would set in almost at once. If I didn’t drown first.