Abraham Merritt (1884-1943), who as A. Merritt, was born on this day, January 20.
Merritt’s influence on the field was vastly disproportionate to his output. He worked as a full-time editor, so time for writing was not exactly plentiful. He only completed eight novels and about as many short stories.
In spite of this small output, his work was highly regarded and for a number of years there was a fantasy magazine named after him. Merritt influenced a number of writers in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.
In honor of his birthday, I’m going to look at “The Pool of the Stone God”. SPOILERS TO FOLLOW
“The Pool of the Stone God”
available in The Seven Best Short Stories of Abraham Merritt
ebook $0.99
paperback $6.99
It’s a brief little story about a scientist who is traveling by ship to a dig in the South Pacific. The ship goes down in a storm, and he and four crew members wash ashore on a small island. While they’re scouting the island, they come upon a clearing. In the center of the clearing are stone huts surrounding a pool beside which is a stone statue.
The statue has the form of a man with large bat-like wings. The men don’t linger, but as they are trying to return to the beach and their lifeboat, darkness falls and they end up going in a circle, returning to the clearing with the stone god. The men are on the point of exhaustion. The scientist is poking around in one of the huts when he hears a noise. Upon looking out, he sees the wings unfurl and detach themselves from the statue. They cover the crewmen. The scientist hides in the hut until dawn in a near state of terror.
When day comes, the scientist sees the bodies of his former companions. They desiccated and dried, drained of every drop of blood. The wings are back on the statue and have a red sheen to them.
The next thing the scientist remembers is being picked up from the lifeboat from the middle of the ocean where he has nearly died of exposure.
Although brief, Merritt’s descriptions of the statue and the horror the scientist feels produce a strong sense of dread and menace. I had not read “The Pool of the Stone God” before. I liked it very much and wish Merritt had written more short fiction.
This was the first story of Merritt’s that I read. I read it years ago in one of those giant collections of horror stories. I still remember it. Since then I’ve read “People of the Pit” and The Ship of Ishtar which I would recommend.
Sorry for the late response. Work/family stuff has been overwhelming lately.
This is actually a “discovered” Merritt story. It was originally published under a paeudonym in THE ATLANTIC WEEKLY where Merritt was assistant editor at the time. He was already a huge author in the pulp market, charging rates equal with ERB.
I agree that there’s a well-done sense of dread in this peice and I’m glad it was found and indentified.
What people think of as classic “Pulp/Lovecraftian Horror” was pioneered by Merritt in tales like “The People of the Pit”, “The Moon Pool” (novelette) and THE METAL MONSTER.
Hey, man, better late than never. I always find your remarks interesting.
I didn’t know this one had been published under a pen name. I was thinking about this yesterday. I knew Merritt had had some things published under other names and was wondering if there were any more out there that hadn’t been identified as his. I certainly hope so.