Book excerpt: This early work by C. D. Willard was originally published in 1930 and we are now republishing it as part of our Cryptofiction Classics series. 'Out of the Dreadful Depths' is a short story about a man called Robert Thorpe who goes to investigate a nameless horror that is sucking all the life out of ships in the South Pacific. The Cryptofiction Classics series contains a collection of wonderful stories from some of the greatest authors in the genre, including Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jack London. From its roots in cryptozoology, this genre features bizarre, fantastical, and often terrifying tales of mythical and legendary creatures. Whether it be giant spiders, werewolves, lake monsters, or dinosaurs, the Cryptofiction Classics series offers a fantastic introduction to the world of weird creatures in fiction.