Burn, Witch, Burn!

A. Merritt

Originally published in 1932, Burn, Witch, Burn! is a classic fantasy/horror and mystery novel by A. Merritt. In it, we meet Dr. Lowell, an eminent neurologist who becomes curious when a series of mysterious deaths comes to his attention. Men and women in the NYC area have been dying of no apparent cause, but with horrible grimaces on their faces and with very rapid onsets of rigor mortis. The trail of bizarre deaths leads to one Madame Mandilip and her doll shop, and before long the reader is immersed in a world of supernaturalism and escalating tension. Combining folklore with modern science, Merritt weaves a wonderfully haunting tale about what happens when the world around us, grounded in science, ends up failing us. Recommended for lovers of the offbeat.

Collected Short Stories

A. Merritt

The Collected Short Stories is a collection of Abraham Merritts shorter works, and contains eight stories and two fragments. Included are: The People of the Pit, Through the Dragon Glass, The Drone, The Last Poet and the Robots and others. These short stories span the entire career of the man who has been called Americas foremost adventure fantasist of the 1920s and 30s. The collection kicks off with one of its strongest tales, The Fox Woman, a tale of revenge in a remote part of 20th century China. This is a mix of complete short stories and beginnings of novels that Abraham Merritt left unfinished before he died, the title story in the latter camp.

Creep, Shadow!

A. Merritt

Creep, Shadow! is the second novel in the Dr. Lowell series, preceded by Burn, Witch, Burn! . Its short and it moves along very quickly but theres plenty of tension and some genuinely creepy moments. Doctor Alan Carnac returns to the commonplace world of New York from the jungles of Africa, only to meet there a menace more mysterious and appalling than the savage magic of the witch doctors his best friend has inexplicably committed suicide and Carnac begins a frantic investigation which will lead him to come across charming but sinister women and into the horror of obscure sacrificial rites... A masterpiece of horror, mystery and paranormal, A. Merritts novel will make even the hottest blood run cold.

Seven Footprints to Satan

A. Merritt

A jungle explorer back home in New York gets kidnapped by a part-Chinese man claiming to be Satan. Satan has set up a complicated game of chance, which is played by some of the most wealthy and powerful people in the world. Some have come to suspect that the game might be rigged. Seven Footprint to Satan is A. Merritts most famous mystery novel and Merritts Satan remains one of the most memorable super-villains in pulp literature, and the complexity which the author endows his creation raises him, and the book, far above the standards of ordinary escapist literature. A masterpiece of colorful drama, a tour-de-force of crime and cunning, a fantasy of great power, it has received the acclaim of that vast audience who made the of the author of The Moon Pool, The Metal Monster and others, world famous.

The Dwellers in the Mirage

A. Merritt

This science fantasy novel by Abraham Merritt concerns American Leif Langdon who accidentally discovers a hidden valley in Alaska that unexpectedly supports abundant life, including two tribes of people: a pygmy race; and warriors who descend from Mongols. The warriors worship an evil Kraken, whom they summon to offer human sacrifice. The inhabitants believe Langdon to be the reincarnation of their long dead hero, Dwayanu... There are lost civilizations, malignant gods, ancient rituals, wicked priests, strange monsters, raging battles and comely princesses, or in one case, a beautiful witch-woman Lur in a very satisfying grand adventure. Highly recommended for fans of both weird fiction and sword & sorcery.

The Face in the Abyss

A. Merritt

A simply amazingly creative novel by one of the best of the pulp-era authors, originally published 1931. While searching for lost Inca treasure in South America, American mining engineer, Nicholas Graydon stumbles across a lost civilization. A culture both more barbarous than our own and more civilized; more advanced and yet in some ways primitive. Is it a strange and highly advanced technology, or magic, that is responsible for the wonders of this land? Naturally our engineer meets a beautiful young woman Suarra, and they fall in love. But his arrival triggers an epic battle between the Snake Mother and her arch-rival, Nimir. The Face in the Abyss is a brilliant tale filled with weird imagination, marvelous writing, horror, beauty, and it may well be called the most visual book ever written for the world of fantasy.

The Metal Monster

A. Merritt

Abraham Merritt tells a tale of awe and wonder as well as horror and dread to the speculative fiction and fantasy. The Metal Monster features the return of Dr. Walter T. Goodwin who first appeared in The Moon Pool. In the wilds of the Trans-Himalayan region, a quartet of adventurers led by Dr. Goodwin stumbles upon a tribe of human primitives forgotten since the age of Alexander the Great, and an awesome being of living metal commanded by the exiled Norhala. As Norhalas guests, Goodwin and his team witness the mind-boggling marvels that are the Metal Monsters way of life, and the unspeakable horrors it commits when Norhala takes it to war against her persecutors. An awesome battle between man and the metal beings ensues.

The Moon Pool

A. Merritt

One of the most gripping fantasies ever written, The Moon Pool embodies all the romanticism and poetic nostalgia characteristic of A. Merritts writings. The plot concerns an advanced race which has developed within the Earths core. Eventually their most intelligent members create an offspring. This created entity encompasses both great good and great evil, but it slowly turns away from its creators and towards evil. The entity is called either the Dweller or the Shining One. A party of archeologists stumble upon this lost subterranean land and must fight to save their own world on the earths surface. With an exciting narrative full of thrilling action sequences, memorable characters, and a fascinating civilization of bizarre wonders, it is a great adventure novel that will thrill fans of classic science fiction.

The Ship of Ishtar

A. Merritt

The goddess of love and beauty was adrift on an enchanted ocean in a magic world. The myriad forces of satanic evil plagued the vessel of the red-haired, passionate goddess. Only one man, John Kenton, the American adventurer, WWI vet and archaeologist, could save Ishtars priestess from the black magic which divides her world from ours. Written in 1924, The Ship of Ishtar is a universally hailed classic of the fantasy novel by A. Merritt and is, on surface at least, an obvious early product of Pulps Golden Age. Merritt was influential upon the science fiction and fantasy world primarily through the imaginative power he displayed in the creation of desirable alternative worlds and realities.