Today is January 20, which means it’s the birthday of Abraham Merritt (1884-1943).

Merrit isn’t as well known as he once was, and certainly not as well as he should be. He was a pioneer in the fantasy genre. He once had a fantasy pulp named after him. He was an influence on a number of writers, including Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore, and Edmond Hamilton.

Most of his work was at novel length with only enough short fiction to fill a small collection. Part of the reason he didn’t write more was because he was a magazine editor.

I’ve been slammed today, so I haven’t had a chance to read anything he wrote. But I didn’t want this day to past without a post in his honor.