A one-stop look into the popular genre of aquatic horror, blending film, literature, pop culture, legend, and modern-day stories
Humans are absolutely fascinated by the water, the creatures that live in it, the unrelenting power of its destructive force, and the unexplored nature of it. From our earliest campfire legends to our biggest blockbuster movies, our world has been filled with stories of what is hidden below, each period and culture crafting their own version of mermaid tales, fishing folklore, sea monsters, and flood legends.
In Something in the Water, horror experts Lisa Kröger, Alyse Wax, and Rebekah McKendry offer a fun and irreverent look at our vast history of aquatic horror. From Greek mythology to kaijus to Lovecraft to Shark Week, this book is a wild and light-hearted trip to our deepest, darkest nightmares. Each chapter is divided into subsections presenting all aspects of aquatic horror ranging from real-life oddities, ghost stories, legend based on facts, to our more contemporary media portrayals like comic books, fiction, movies, and television.
Something in the Water offers all horror fans a deep dive into our cultural obsession with aquatic horror, chronicling the nightmarish mysteries of the deep.
“The film book you never know you needed—the most meticulously thorough deep dive into all things aquatic in the movies. A labor of love that draws you in and will find you coming back to over and over.”
—Johannes Roberts, director, 47 Meters Down and Primate
“This rabidly readable book plumbs the world’s waters for our deepest fears and shows them to us—with insight, intelligence, and verve.”
—Daniel Kraus, author of Whalefall and The Shape of Water
“Even Michael Phelps will be avoiding the beach after reading Something in the Water, an exhaustive compendium of all things wet and spooky. A must-read for lovers of sea monsters and mermaids, it’s also an invaluable resource for anyone thinking of penning a bit of sea horror. Don’t miss it!”
—Alma Katsu, author of Incarnate
“As a card-carrying landlubber who has lived near the ocean his whole life, I reveled in the fun survey of all things horror aquatic. From fiction and film and folklore to real-life tentacles, slimers, and razor-sharp teeth, there’s something for every horror fan in the fun, thorough, and thoughtful Something in the Water. Bring a floaty!”
—Paul Tremblay, New York Times best-selling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts
“Made me even more terrified of the ocean than I already am.”
—Grady Hendrix, New York Times best-selling author of Witchcraft for Wayward Girls