When I wrote my most recent post (about The APPENDIX N PROJECT), I've mentioned that I didn't include Abraham Merritt in my top 10 authors because I've tried his books and didn't like them as much as others in my list - despite the fact he made "top six/seven" for Gygax influences.
I read half of The Metal Monster before giving up, as I found it too slow for my taste at the time. A similar thing happened when I tried The Moon Pool.
Anyway, after writing that, a couple of people, here (thanks Tamás) and elsewhere - suggested I gave Merritt another chance. So, I did.
And they might have been right.
I decided to start with something shorter: so I've got The People of the Pit, which has not only one but two adaptations as OSR modules, and BOTH look interesting (I haven't read them).
I read half of The Metal Monster before giving up, as I found it too slow for my taste at the time. A similar thing happened when I tried The Moon Pool.
Anyway, after writing that, a couple of people, here (thanks Tamás) and elsewhere - suggested I gave Merritt another chance. So, I did.
And they might have been right.
I decided to start with something shorter: so I've got The People of the Pit, which has not only one but two adaptations as OSR modules, and BOTH look interesting (I haven't read them).
Anyway, I've read it and I was pleasantly surprised.
The story is about two prospectors in Alaska looking for a peculiar group of mountains. When they get closer, they see a strange blue light in the sky, and eventually fight a wounded, nearly insane man crawling out of an abyss and telling stories about the creatures he found there.
If you've read lots of Lovecraft like me, the tone will be instantly recognizable; it contains hints of cosmic horror and wouldn't be out of place in a collection of Lovecraft stories.
However, this books was published in 1918 - it is not only one of Merritt's earliest works, but also predates most Lovecraft stories. In fact, Lovecraft mentions being an admirer at his work since 1919 (source).
In fact, this story compares favorably to some of Lovecraft's stories in at least a few ways.
First, it reaches a good balance between showing monsters and leaving something to the imagination. Some mysteries are left unsolved, but the monsters are described and not simply "unnamable". The story literally more "colorful", in a literal manner - blue, red, yellow and white, not dark, gray, prismatic or unknown shades.
Second, it has plenty of places, beings, and situations ready to be used in your D&D games, which is not always the case with HPL. And the physical nature of some challenges are closer to D&D than the risk of going insane that is more common in Lovecraft's stories (but also happens here).
TBH, this really feels like a D&D adventure waiting for a few maps and stats.
Of course, I'm comparing Merritt's to Lovecraft's only because more people read the latter, and it might be a reference that is easy to grasp; I'm not saying which one is better or worse, which would be silly (even if I had read as much of Merritt as I have of HPL, which is not the case).
The reason I'm writing this post is both to share a cool short story that you can get for free and will inspire you D&D games, and to say that Merritt does indeed deserve a chance if you have any interest in Lovecraft or the Appendix N. There might be more Merritt reviews soon...
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