A. Merritt - Complete Works of A. Merritt

The Complete Works of

A. MERRITT

(1884-1943)

Contents

Delphi Classics 2020

Version 1

Browse our Main Series

Browse our Ancient Classics

Browse our Poets

Browse our Art eBooks

Browse our Classical Music series

The Complete Works of

A. MERRITT

By Delphi Classics, 2020

Complete Works of A. Merritt

First published in the United Kingdom in 2020 by Delphi Classics.

Delphi Classics, 2020.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 91348 727 0

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

Contact: sales@delphiclassics.com

www.delphiclassics.com

Parts Edition Now Available!

Love reading A. Merritt ?

Did you know you can now purchase the Delphi Classics Parts Edition of this author and enjoy all the novels, plays, non-fiction books and other works as individual eBooks? Now, you can select and read individual novels etc. and know precisely where you are in an eBook. You will also be able to manage space better on your eReading devices.

The Parts Edition is only available direct from the Delphi Classics website.

For more information about this exciting new format and to try free Parts Edition downloads , please visit this link .

Rediscover the magic of these pioneering fantasy authors on your eReader!

Explore Classic Fantasy at Delphi Classics

Beverly, Burlington County, New Jersey Merritts birthplace

Abraham Grace Merritt better known under the by-line A. Merritt was born in Beverly, New Jersey, in 1884 and his family relocated to Philadelphia ten years later. He was in fact originally trained in law, but he soon turned to journalism, first as a correspondent and later as an editor. While finishing work on his first novel, Merritt was employed as assistant editor of The American Weekly , where he remained until 1937, working under Morrill Goddard. Unlike many authors, his fiction, numbering eight complete novels and several short stories, was only a sideline to his journalism career. Merritt was one of the best-paid journalists of his era, earning an astonishing $25,000 per year by 1919, and at the end of his life he was recouping $100,000 yearly an exceptional amount for the period. His financial success allowed him to pursue world travel, investing in real estate in Jamaica and Ecuador and exotic hobbies, such as cultivating orchids and plants linked to witchcraft and magic, as well as cannabis.

The Moon Pool originally appeared as two short stories in the popular periodical All-Story Weekly : The Moon Pool (1918) and its sequel, Conquest of the Moon Pool (1919). These tales were then reworked into a novel and released in 1919. The protagonist, Dr. Goodwin, would later appear in Merritts second novel The Metal Monster (1920).

Today, the novel is recognised for its important contribution to the development of the lost world genre of English literature, following in the footsteps of Bulwer-Lytton, Burroughs and Conan Doyle. The Moon Pool is narrated by the eminent scientist Walter Goodwin, as authorised by the "Executive Council of the International Association of Science," giving the tale a semblance of truth. Dr. Goodwin is conducting research near the island of Ponape in the South Pacific, when he meets the eminent anthropologist Dr. Throckmartin. This scientist has witnessed his entire staff and new wife drawn into a mysterious entity, comprising a compound of ultimate evil and ultimate good, which emerges from ancient ruins on a remote rocky island whenever the moon is full. When Goodwin sees Throckmartin bodily drawn by a mysterious moonbeam, he feels he must investigate. Through a series of incredible events, he meets a despondent Norseman, Olaf Huldricksson, who has lost his wife and child to the entity, as well as a downed Irish fighter pilot, Larry O'Keefe and a villainous Russian scientist named Marakinoff. In time, there develops a battle between the forces of good and evil with not only the entire world, but perhaps even the existence of good itself at stake.

Merritts debut novel has been cited as an influence on H. P. Lovecrafts seminal weird tale The Call of Cthulhu , which may in turn have influenced Merritts later novel Dwellers in the Mirage , especially in the portrayal of the monster Khalkru. The Moon Pool was as a major influence on Richard Shaver (1907-1975), an American writer and artist, whose science fiction stories achieved notoriety in the years following World War II. Indeed, Shavers foremost literary model was Merritt.