“Dagon” is a cosmic horror short story by H.P. Lovecraft that was published in 1919 and takes place after the First World War.

The narrator, a former prisoner of war, recounts a strange and disturbing experience after being rescued at sea.

After his ship is captured and he escapes on a lifeboat, the narrator finds himself stranded on an unknown island.

As he explores the island, he discovers strange, monstrous fossilized creatures and ancient ruins, coming to the realization that the island is situated on top of a sunken civilization, which had been below the ocean’s surface for eons.

The narrator encounters a massive, horrific creature that he identifies as the sea deity Dagon from ancient Philistine mythology.

The creature is part human and amphibious and appears to be the remnant of the island’s previous civilization. The narrator is filled with a sense of dread and madness as he realizes the full implications of his discovery.

“Dagon” is one of Lovecraft’s early classic stories that helped establish his unique brand of cosmic horror in the Cthulhu Mythos, a shared fictional universe that originated in the author’s works.

Lovecraft is a pioneer of the cosmic horror genre, a style of horror and dark fantasy that he helped develop and popularize in the early 20th century.

He taps into humanity’s fear of the unknown, the irrational and our ultimate insignificance in the face of the uncaring, unfathomable forces of the universe.

Lovecraft’s style has had a lasting influence on modern horror, science fiction and fantasy.

Author: Carol Gracie

“Florapedia” is an eclectic A–Z compendium of botanical lore.

With more than 100 enticing entries—on topics ranging from achlorophyllous plants that use a fungus as an intermediary to obtain nutrients from other plants to zygomorphic flowers that admit only the most select pollinators—this collection is a captivating journey into the realm of botany.