Cephalopods have captured the imagination of many writers over the years. Classic novels with cephalopods in them include Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, which has a chapter on giant squid; Victor Hugo’s Toilers of the Sea, in which an octopus kills the villain; and Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, in which a giant squid attacks Captain Nemo’s submarine.
Beyond these examples from classic novels, cephalopods appear in other fictional stories. Ray Nayler’s Mountains in the Sea includes a three-person team researching a population of octopuses living in a sunken ship. Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures centers on an octopus in an aquarium who narrates the story and leaves clues for a woman about her missing son. In Ian Flemming’s Dr. No, James Bond must escape a prison cell while avoiding a squid. Peter Benchley’s Beast includes a monstrous representation of a cephalopod, a giant squid in Bermuda that is apparently responsible for the disappearance of several people. John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday includes a scientist who gives a presentation on apoplexy in octopuses at a conference. Though it doesn’t focus on this scientist, the story returns to this character and his octopuses on a few occasions. In the opening short story in his collection The Sea Raiders, H. G. Wells writes about a shoal of Haploteuthis ferox, which appears off the English coast and begins attacking humans. Whether they are doing this because they are now attracted to human flesh or just by accident is left undetermined.
Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues under the Sea by 
