I Read Stories: How To Raise A Kraken In Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark

 

How To Raise A Kraken In Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark in Uncanny

Trevor lives in a London where the British Empire has defeated the mermen. But that hasn’t improved his life. He gets a package that will let him grow a kraken in his bathtub, then he will be able to sell it to a zoological garden and make a vast amount of money.

There’s a Captain Nobody who is raiding the sealanes in his submersible, and riling up the mermen. But that’s nothing to Trevor. Rebellion a long way away won’t effect him.

Read This: For a meditation on get quick rich schemes, the logic of empire and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea/The Mysterious Island
Don’t Read This: It’s a vaguely steampunk monster within story