Show notes
My guest and I discuss The Moon Pool by Abraham
Merritt. An international group of scientists and explorers investigate a
mysterious alien being that snatches innocent travelers in the South Pacific
and ends up discovering a lost underground civilization.
www.nobleknight.com
Vault of the Drow by Gary Gygax — $22
Merrit, A.: CREEP, SHADOW, CREEP; MOON POOL; DWELLERS IN THE
MIRAGE; et al
“The most immediate influences upon AD&D were probably de Camp
& Pratt, R. E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H. P. Lovecraft, and A.
Merrit”
Abraham Merritt
born 1884, died 1943
Wikipedia names H. Rider Haggard, Robert W. Chambers, Helena
Blavatsky and Gertrude Barrows Bennett (writing as Francis Stevens) as “heavy
influences.”
He was a major influence on Appendix N authors H. P. Lovecraft and
Michael Moorcock. He was referenced in the Lensman series by
E. E. Smith.
Born in Beverly, New Jersey. Primarily a journalist. Assistant
editor of The American Weekly from 1912 to 1937 and then
editor until his death in 1943.
Merritt’s first fantasy story was “Through the Dragon Glass”
(1917)
The Moon Pool originally
appeared in All-Story Weekly as two short stories “The Moon
Pool” (1918) and “Conquest of the Moon Pool” (1919). Later reworked into a
novel, apparently something of the original story was lost. Writes Lovecraft in
1934: Merritt is certainly great stuff — he has a subtle command of an
unique type of strangeness which no one else has been able to parallel.
You are absolutely right in considering his original Moon Pool novelette — as
published in the All-Story for June 22, 1918 — his best work. The sequel
— The Conquest of the Moon Pool — was relatively commonplace and tainted with
the atmosphere of cheap popular fiction. It is a major crime that many of
the best touches were taken out of the novelette when it was fused with its
sequel to form the ultimate book version.
Nan Madol - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Madol
Next we will be reading:
The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany -http://www.fadedpage.com/books/20120938/20120938.html
The Doom That Came to Sarnath, From Beyond, The Temple, The Music
of Erich Zann, Herbert West - Reanimator, The Lurking Fear, The Rats in the
Walls and The
Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft -http://cthulhu.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Fiction
Dwellers in the Mirage by Abraham Merritt - http://www.gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100151.txt
Geoffrey Winn
gdwinn@comcast.net
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