Abraham Merritt

Author Abraham Merritt filled his fantasy adventure novels with fantastic worlds and strange creatures. His work was hugely influential on the early pulp science fiction and fantasy genres.

Abraham Merritt 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 of Ishtar.

Induction Year: 1999

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Moon Pool (1919)
The Metal Monster (1920)
The Ship of Ishtar (1924)
Seven Footprints to Satan (1927)
The Dwellers in the Mirage (1932)