Abraham Merritt

Author Abraham Merritt’s work was hugely influential on the early pulp science fiction and fantasy genres.

Merritt filled his fantasy adventure novels with fantastic worlds and strange creatures. He was a longtime assistant editor of The American Weekly, becoming editor-in-chief in 1937 and remaining so until his death. His fiction was written as a sideline to this busy career.  

Merritt's first novel, The Moon Pool (1918), begins with the Shining One, a deadly monster within a pool in Micronesia, and moves on to become a complicated lost-race melodrama. The Metal Monster (1920) describes a collective alien being, comprised of millions of metal parts. In The Ship of Ishtar (1924), arguably Merritt's best novel, a man travels into a magical world and falls in love with the beautiful female captain of the ship.