Abraham Merritt

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Lobolover

You didn't say anything about Dwellers in the Mirage, I forgot what you thought of that one.

That's an odd one, in that it is prone to all the flaws I mentioned above, perhaps in even more noticeable form given its deliberately Lovecraftian tone; yet it also has some marvelous things to it. It has been a very, very long time since I last read it, so I need to revisit it to give my current impressions, but I recall liking it; just finding those flaws annoying because they detracted from what was otherwise a thoroughly entertaining piece of work....

[Elflock]

This quote from Wikipedia explains a lot...

'His financial success allowed him to pursue world travel—he invested in real estate in Jamaica and Ecuador—and exotic hobbies, like cultivating orchids and plants linked to witchcraft, magic (monkshood, wolfbane, blue datura—and peyote, marihuana)'.[1]

[j. d. worthington]

I rather doubt he used those, though. As colorful as his writing is, it tends to be too precise and down-to-earth in its basic sensibility to match the visions of those I've read who have been users of such substances, from Phillip K. Dick to Thomas De Quincey....

[Elflock]

Yeah,who knows. I can't imagine why anyone would actually GROW any variety of Datura,even if you did want to experiment with it or whatever. It would have to be the world's most evil-looking and stinky plant...it's nature's way of warning animals that it will make you blind or kill you of course.
(But if you prepare it properly and take JUST the right amount...)

[Cal]

I have been a Merritt fan since reading his novels, as a boy, in the original serial format. Nevertheless he had a habit I hated of using exclamation points excessively, diluting their effect. I found it interesting that no one commented on this. Currently I am editing an on-line copy of The Moon Pool to see if this actually improves things as much as I hope. Cheeky of me, of course, but we old goats don't much care about what the young think of us.

[j. d. worthington]

That was something which was fairly common in the pulps (or proto-pulps) of the period... and Asimov, many years later, had a rather bad tendency for this practice as well....

[Connavar]

I was hungry for some SF, weird story so i started reading The Moon Pool.

From the first page it was the easiest time i have had getting into a book this old. I can see why he was popular pulp writer. His prose has aged so well that despite its old school supernatural, weird story the way he writes about the unknown, the weird has drawn me into the world of the story from page 1.

I cant wait to read more in my next reading session, i only stopped after 30 pages because it was late.

[j. d. worthington]

Conn: Glad you're enjoying it. For all its faults, there are some wonderful things about this odd little book... and, as far as novels go, you're beginning at the beginning, so it gives you a good idea of Merritt early in his career....

[D_Davis]

The Moon Pool is pretty good. I do think it's a tad long, and runs out of steam about 1/2 through. But for the most part I really liked it. Lots of neat stuff to discover.