Where the Silent One Sleeps ~ A Review of "The Moon Pool" by Abraham Merritt

There are certain works that are difficult to review. A. Merritt's work is, to me, the toughest to write my thoughts down about. I have read several of his works but have avoided writing a review just because of how hard it was to sum up what I had experienced. Burn Witch Burn! was one of the best thrillers I had ever read with some fantastic horror, science fiction, and fantasy, blending in to the proceedings with mobsters and witches to spare. Then there was Creep, Shadow!, a story of romance and myths come together over a murderous monster that kills from said shadows and one of my favorite ancient legends on top of it. But the most inexplicable of all might be Merritt's first long work, and arguably the most influential, The Moon Pool.

Running in All-Story Weekly in 1918, a full 100 years ago, The Moon Pool quickly became so intensely popular that a sequel was immediately written (Conquest of the Moon Pool, which is now bundled with the original as one long work) due to demand. There are aspects of this story that Lovecraft would take influence from as well as legendarily off-kilter writer and thinker Richard Shaver. But it was also the story that started Merritt's trajectory as a master of action adventure fiction without any regards to any genre boundaries that were constructed later, influencing everyone from Robert Bloch to Michael Moorcock, to Gary Gygax. And there is a reason his influence spread so far. Simply put: anything can happen in an Abraham Merritt story, and frequently does. This is why he was thought of as the master of fantasy.

But what about the story itself? Surely a 100 year old story must have some curve-balls to have lasted so long as an influence and such highly regarded figures.

It starts with a mystery. Dr. Walter Goodwin, a man of science, joins his friend, Dr. David Throckmartin on a trip after the latter's family disappeared by mysterious circumstances. What Throckmartin had yet to reveal to Goodwin is the horrifying truth of what had happened: and what this mysterious object called the Moon Pool has to do with it. It turns out that there are both wondrous and horrifying things hiding just below the surface of this world. Goodwin begins to question his materialistic view of the universe, as everything unravels around him.

What follows is a story of lost worlds, hidden societies, Lovecraft -style beings, incredible monsters, battles and sieges, myths and legends, and both false and true romance. In just 300 pages, The Moon Pool runs through several satisfying character arcs, breathtaking and unbelievable sights, and plenty of action and adventure to go around. Dr. Goodwin's journey is one fraught with peril and terror, but an unmistakable sense of wonder pervades despite this and drags both him, and the reader, ever onward to discover the truth. I can easily say that this reader was hooked until the last page.

Of course, Merritt's work was immensely popular all the way through the 1940s, and his legacy was well deserved. Reading The Moon Pool one can see all that would come from those like Lovecraft, Howard, Anderson, Kline, Moore, Vance, Brackett, Kuttner, Williamson, or Norton, seeded here in these pages. But Merritt is a bit different in that his influence is more obviously those like Burroughs, Haggard, or Doyle, and the older romance tradition which filters everything he does to make it shine brighter than it would in the hands of a more modern or nihilistic writer. There is a clear sense of morality and sense of good in these pages. If there was one author that epitomizes the spirit of the pulp age that has been lost over the century since the publication of this story, it would be Abraham Merritt.

Of course one could complain about the cliches like the lost world, super science, tough and moral men, living myths, and a good and evil dichotomy theme, but then they would be confusing the creation of such tropes with aping them. Those that tend to create such repeatable aspects of fiction are usually a cut above the imitators, and Merritt is no different. And while one could complain about the cliches, these are cliches no one has used seriously in at least half a century. Simply by being the best and surpassing the subversive writers that lived to tarnish his creations, Merritt remains a fresh and invigorating read while the "important" works have all been binned, including by the subversives themselves.

There is nothing currently being published that is anything like Abraham Merritt, and there hasn't been in a very long time.

This might be an aspect lost on older readers who have grown up in an age where the classic pulp works were easily available, and allowed them to easily read through them as children or teenagers. Newer generations have not been exposed to much of any of what Merritt helped pioneer and usher in, never mind his own work. Reading something like The Moon Pool is like a refreshing drink of spring water in the desert of modern literature. There's nothing being made like it now, and there hasn't been in a long time. In fact, the cliches and tropes that replaced Merritt's have been hammered in for most younger readers' lives to the point where they've never even seen true romance in a book before. They live in a much different world than those who let someone like Merritt fall into obscurity instead of keeping him in print. To them, this is new and alien.

This is new and exciting.

And on the 100th anniversary of a story, I think that is the best endorsement I can give. For those in the mood for a true pulp revolution, The Moon Pool is essential.

It's available in the public domain, so you can read it online for free.

Highest recommendation.