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A. Merritt

Abraham Grace Merritt, known to the world as A. Merritt, was born on the 20th of January 1884 in Beverly, New Jersey, a quiet town just outside Philadelphia. While history remembers him as a master of fantastic fiction, his true identity was that of a high-powered newspaper editor who made a fortune writing about worlds that did not exist. He earned $100,000 a year by the time of his death, an astronomical sum for the 1940s, which funded a life of eccentricity and world travel. Merritt was not merely a writer; he was a curator of the bizarre, accumulating thousands of volumes of occult literature and collecting weapons and primitive masks from his journeys to Jamaica and Ecuador. His personal life was as strange as his stories, marked by a hypochondria that led him to test every food, tobacco, and medicine he found on his coworkers' desks. He was a man who wore kilts to work and played serenades on a massive collection of instruments kept in a locked closet, all while maintaining a reputation for fairness that made him unable to fire a single employee.
Before Merritt became the king of pulp fantasy, he was a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he survived a harrowing experience that he never spoke about, a secret trauma that Peter Haining claims marked a turning point in his life. This experience propelled him from journalism into editing, where he served as assistant editor of The American Weekly from 1912 to 1937 under Morrill Goddard, eventually taking over as editor until his death. His fiction was originally a sideline to his lucrative career, yet it became his legacy. His first fantasy story, Through the Dragon Glass, appeared in 1917, followed by a deluge of serial novels and short stories that defined the genre. He wrote The People of the Pit in 1918, The Moon Pool in 1918, and The Metal Monster in 1920, which inaugurated Argosy All-Story Weekly. His prose was lush and florid, an exhaustive, adjective-laden style that complemented the pointillistic illustrations of Hannes Bok. He created a world of lost civilizations, hideous monsters, and gallant Irish or Scandinavian heroes fighting treacherous Germans and Russians, all wrapped in a narrative style that was as exhausting as it was beautiful.
Merritt's personal habits were as colorful as his fiction, blending hypochondria with a childlike curiosity that baffled his colleagues. He was known to dress in a kilt and play music for his coworkers using a huge collection of instruments stored in a locked closet at his office. His eccentricity extended to his hobbies, which included cultivating orchids and plants linked to witchcraft and magic, such as monkshood, wolfbane, blue datura, peyote, and cannabis. He lived in the Hollis Park Gardens neighborhood of Queens, New York City, where he accumulated collections of weapons, carvings, and primitive masks from his travels. His library of occult literature reportedly exceeded 5,000 volumes, a testament to his obsession with the supernatural. Despite his strange behavior, he was well liked for his fairness and his inability to fire any employees, a trait that made him a beloved figure in the publishing world. He married twice, first to Eleanore Ratcliffe in the 1910s, with whom he raised an adopted daughter, and later to Eleanor H. Johnson in the 1930s. His life ended suddenly on the 21st of August 1943, when he suffered a heart attack at his winter home in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida.

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1884 births1943 deaths20th-century American male journalists20th-century American male writers20th-century American novelistsAmerican fantasy writersAmerican magazine editorsAmerican male novelistsAmerican male short story writersAmerican science fiction writersAmerican short story writersCthulhu Mythos writersNovelists from New JerseyPeople from Beverly, New JerseyPulp fiction writersScience Fiction Hall of Fame inducteesWriters from Burlington County, New JerseyWriters of mythic fiction

Common questions

When was A. Merritt born and where did he grow up?

Abraham Grace Merritt was born on the 20th of January 1884 in Beverly, New Jersey. He grew up in a quiet town just outside Philadelphia before establishing his career as a newspaper editor and novelist.

What specific dates did A. Merritt work as editor of The American Weekly?

A. Merritt served as assistant editor of The American Weekly from 1912 to 1937 under Morrill Goddard. He eventually took over as editor and held the position until his death on the 21st of August 1943.

How much money did A. Merritt earn by the time of his death?

A. Merritt earned $100,000 a year by the time of his death, which was an astronomical sum for the 1940s. This income funded a life of eccentricity and world travel that included collecting weapons and primitive masks from Jamaica and Ecuador.

Which famous authors did A. Merritt influence or collaborate with during his life?

A. Merritt was a major influence on H. P. Lovecraft and participated in round robin stories alongside Robert E. Howard and C. L. Moore. He also collaborated closely with Hannes Bok, who illustrated many of his works and completed unfinished novels like The Fox Woman and the Blue Pagoda after Merritt died.

When was A. Merritt inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame?

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted A. Merritt in 1999 as part of its fourth class of two deceased and two living writers. This recognition solidified his status as a foundational figure in the genre alongside Karl Edward Wagner and Gary Gygax.

What unfinished works did Hannes Bok complete after A. Merritt died?

Hannes Bok completed The Fox Woman and the Blue Pagoda published in 1946 and The Black Wheel published in 1948 using previously unpublished material from A. Merritt. These books were illustrated by Bok and published by The New Collectors Group in hardcover to preserve Merritt's creative legacy.

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Merritt's influence extended far beyond his own pages, weaving him into the fabric of the science fiction and fantasy community. He was a major influence on H. P. Lovecraft, who wrote in a letter to R. H. Barlow on the 13th of January 1934 that he was extremely glad to meet Merritt in person, having admired his work for 15 years. Lovecraft praised Merritt's peculiar power of working up an atmosphere and investing a region with an aura of unholy dread. Merritt participated in the round robin story The Challenge from Beyond alongside Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, C. L. Moore, and Frank Belknap Long. He also contributed to the round robin novel Cosmos, writing chapter 11 between 1932 and 1934. His friendship with Hannes Bok was particularly significant, as Bok illustrated many of his works and even completed unfinished novels like The Fox Woman and the Blue Pagoda and The Black Wheel after Merritt's death. Bok's illustrations were so integral to Merritt's style that the two are often discussed together, with Bok's pointillistic style perfectly complementing Merritt's lush prose. This collaboration ensured that Merritt's vision of the fantastic was preserved and enhanced for future generations.
Merritt's reputation grew steadily after his death, with his work being recognized by major figures in the genre. Karl Edward Wagner included Burn Witch Burn on his list of The Thirteen Best Supernatural Horror Novels in the May 1983 issue of The Twilight Zone Magazine. Michael Moorcock and James Cawthorn listed The Ship of Ishtar and Dwellers in the Mirage as two of the novels in their book Fantasy: the 100 Best Books, describing the former book as Merritt at the peak of his powers. Gary Gygax, co-creator of the game Dungeons & Dragons, listed Merritt in Appendix N of the Dungeon Masters Guide, noting him as one of his favorite fantasy authors. Even E. E. Smith's Lensman series referenced Dwellers in the Mirage, with the protagonist Kimball Kinnison quoting a line from the book. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 1999, as part of its fourth class of two deceased and two living writers. His work has been adapted rarely for films, including Seven Footprints to Satan in 1929 and The Devil-Doll in 1936, though some adaptations like the Mexican film Muñecos infernales in 1961 were uncredited but directly adapted from his novels. Despite the scarcity of film adaptations, his literary influence remains profound, with his stories continuing to inspire writers and gamers alike.
Merritt's death left behind a trove of unfinished works that were later completed by his friends and collaborators. The Fox Woman and the Blue Pagoda, published in 1946, combined an unfinished story with a conclusion written by Hannes Bok. The Black Wheel, published in 1948, was written by Bok using previously unpublished material from Merritt, with the first seven chapters written by Merritt himself. Both books were illustrated by Bok and published by the small press The New Collectors Group in hardcover. Sam Moskowitz discovered a number of poems among Merritt's papers after his death, some of which may have been written by other authors but were credited to Merritt when published. These posthumous publications included The Fox Woman and Other Stories in 1949 and The Black Wheel in 1948. The poems, such as The Birth of Art from 1904 and Song for Wood Horns from 1910, added another layer to Merritt's legacy, showing his versatility beyond prose. The fragments and outlines, like The White Road and When Old Gods Wake, were published in 1949 and 1948 respectively, ensuring that Merritt's creative spirit continued to live on even after his sudden death.
Abraham Grace Merritt, known to the world as A. Merritt, was born on the 20th of January 1884 in Beverly, New Jersey, a quiet town just outside Philadelphia. While history remembers him as a master of fantastic fiction, his true identity was that of a high-powered newspaper editor who made a fortune writing about worlds that did not exist. He earned $100,000 a year by the time of his death, an astronomical sum for the 1940s, which funded a life of eccentricity and world travel. Merritt was not merely a writer; he was a curator of the bizarre, accumulating thousands of volumes of occult literature and collecting weapons and primitive masks from his journeys to Jamaica and Ecuador. His personal life was as strange as his stories, marked by a hypochondria that led him to test every food, tobacco, and medicine he found on his coworkers' desks. He was a man who wore kilts to work and played serenades on a massive collection of instruments kept in a locked closet, all while maintaining a reputation for fairness that made him unable to fire a single employee.
Before Merritt became the king of pulp fantasy, he was a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he survived a harrowing experience that he never spoke about, a secret trauma that Peter Haining claims marked a turning point in his life. This experience propelled him from journalism into editing, where he served as assistant editor of The American Weekly from 1912 to 1937 under Morrill Goddard, eventually taking over as editor until his death. His fiction was originally a sideline to his lucrative career, yet it became his legacy. His first fantasy story, Through the Dragon Glass, appeared in 1917, followed by a deluge of serial novels and short stories that defined the genre. He wrote The People of the Pit in 1918, The Moon Pool in 1918, and The Metal Monster in 1920, which inaugurated Argosy All-Story Weekly. His prose was lush and florid, an exhaustive, adjective-laden style that complemented the pointillistic illustrations of Hannes Bok. He created a world of lost civilizations, hideous monsters, and gallant Irish or Scandinavian heroes fighting treacherous Germans and Russians, all wrapped in a narrative style that was as exhausting as it was beautiful.
Merritt's personal habits were as colorful as his fiction, blending hypochondria with a childlike curiosity that baffled his colleagues. He was known to dress in a kilt and play music for his coworkers using a huge collection of instruments stored in a locked closet at his office. His eccentricity extended to his hobbies, which included cultivating orchids and plants linked to witchcraft and magic, such as monkshood, wolfbane, blue datura, peyote, and cannabis. He lived in the Hollis Park Gardens neighborhood of Queens, New York City, where he accumulated collections of weapons, carvings, and primitive masks from his travels. His library of occult literature reportedly exceeded 5,000 volumes, a testament to his obsession with the supernatural. Despite his strange behavior, he was well liked for his fairness and his inability to fire any employees, a trait that made him a beloved figure in the publishing world. He married twice, first to Eleanore Ratcliffe in the 1910s, with whom he raised an adopted daughter, and later to Eleanor H. Johnson in the 1930s. His life ended suddenly on the 21st of August 1943, when he suffered a heart attack at his winter home in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida.
Merritt's influence extended far beyond his own pages, weaving him into the fabric of the science fiction and fantasy community. He was a major influence on H. P. Lovecraft, who wrote in a letter to R. H. Barlow on the 13th of January 1934 that he was extremely glad to meet Merritt in person, having admired his work for 15 years. Lovecraft praised Merritt's peculiar power of working up an atmosphere and investing a region with an aura of unholy dread. Merritt participated in the round robin story The Challenge from Beyond alongside Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, C. L. Moore, and Frank Belknap Long. He also contributed to the round robin novel Cosmos, writing chapter 11 between 1932 and 1934. His friendship with Hannes Bok was particularly significant, as Bok illustrated many of his works and even completed unfinished novels like The Fox Woman and the Blue Pagoda and The Black Wheel after Merritt's death. Bok's illustrations were so integral to Merritt's style that the two are often discussed together, with Bok's pointillistic style perfectly complementing Merritt's lush prose. This collaboration ensured that Merritt's vision of the fantastic was preserved and enhanced for future generations.
Merritt's reputation grew steadily after his death, with his work being recognized by major figures in the genre. Karl Edward Wagner included Burn Witch Burn on his list of The Thirteen Best Supernatural Horror Novels in the May 1983 issue of The Twilight Zone Magazine. Michael Moorcock and James Cawthorn listed The Ship of Ishtar and Dwellers in the Mirage as two of the novels in their book Fantasy: the 100 Best Books, describing the former book as Merritt at the peak of his powers. Gary Gygax, co-creator of the game Dungeons & Dragons, listed Merritt in Appendix N of the Dungeon Masters Guide, noting him as one of his favorite fantasy authors. Even E. E. Smith's Lensman series referenced Dwellers in the Mirage, with the protagonist Kimball Kinnison quoting a line from the book. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 1999, as part of its fourth class of two deceased and two living writers. His work has been adapted rarely for films, including Seven Footprints to Satan in 1929 and The Devil-Doll in 1936, though some adaptations like the Mexican film Muñecos infernales in 1961 were uncredited but directly adapted from his novels. Despite the scarcity of film adaptations, his literary influence remains profound, with his stories continuing to inspire writers and gamers alike.
Merritt's death left behind a trove of unfinished works that were later completed by his friends and collaborators. The Fox Woman and the Blue Pagoda, published in 1946, combined an unfinished story with a conclusion written by Hannes Bok. The Black Wheel, published in 1948, was written by Bok using previously unpublished material from Merritt, with the first seven chapters written by Merritt himself. Both books were illustrated by Bok and published by the small press The New Collectors Group in hardcover. Sam Moskowitz discovered a number of poems among Merritt's papers after his death, some of which may have been written by other authors but were credited to Merritt when published. These posthumous publications included The Fox Woman and Other Stories in 1949 and The Black Wheel in 1948. The poems, such as The Birth of Art from 1904 and Song for Wood Horns from 1910, added another layer to Merritt's legacy, showing his versatility beyond prose. The fragments and outlines, like The White Road and When Old Gods Wake, were published in 1949 and 1948 respectively, ensuring that Merritt's creative spirit continued to live on even after his sudden death.