Abraham Merritt (1884-1943) was born on this date, January 20.
Writing under the byline of just his first initial and surname, A. Merritt was at one time one of the most respected and influential fantasy authors in the country, if not the world. Sadly he has lapsed into obscurity.
Part of the reason for that, I think, is that his output was small, something that makes his reputation even more impressive. Merritt was an editor at The American Weekly, first as an assistant (1912-1937) and then editor until his death.
I’ve read some of his short stories and one novel, Dwellers in the Mirage, which I need to reread and do a post about it. I really liked it and am looking forward to fitting more of his work into my reading.
If you’ve not read Merritt, give him a shot.
A Merrit’s problem, at least in his early works, was that he did not know when to stop. The Metal Monster has a really interesting life form, made of metal. It also has the longest description I have ever come across of a journey into a lost city. I read it on an e reader, so can’t give the number of pages but would estimate at least 60. It just went on and on and on…. However, The Ship of Ishtar is a fascinating read. Shame he didn’t do more like that.
I’ve only read The Ship of Ishtar and a few of his short stories, but I liked them (particularly Ishtar.) It’s strange and unfortunate he was so famous, but now is mostly forgotten.
Thanks for the shout-out to ol’ Abe, Keith!
His full name was Abraham Grace Merritt, BTW. Though, professionally, he always went by “A. Merritt”, as you note.
His influence on SFF by way of THE ATLANTIC WEEKLY has been sadly neglected. His role in advancing the careers of Finlay, Bok, Pogany and others in the pages of TAW has been noted, but the often wild and sensationalistic articles in TAW reached MILLIONS every week. How many future SFF authors were thrilled and inspired by such articles? There has never been a serious study of THE ATLANTIC WEEKLY and that is not just a shame, it’s a crime (IMO).
I’m not familiar with those articles. I’m going to have to do some research when I get a chance.