An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia

In “The Cats of Ulthar,” the little boy whose kitten disappears following the arrival of “dark wanderers” in Ulthar. He elicits supernatural intervention in exacting vengeance for the loss of his kitten.

Merritt, A[braham] (1884–1943).

American author and longtime editor of American Weekly(the magazine supplement to the Hearst papers). HPL considered the novelette “The Moon Pool” ( Argosy,June 22, 1918) one of the ten best weird tales in literature; he disliked the later novel version ( The Moon Pool,1919), and came to believe that Merritt sold himself out to the pulps when he could have been the equal of Machen and Blackwood as a weird writer. Some images in “The Moon Pool,” as well as the setting on Ponape, may have influenced “The Call of Cthulhu” (1926). The Dwellers in the Mirage(1932) may be a homage to HPL in its use of extra-dimensional octopus demon Khalk’ru (an analogue to Cthulhu?). Other novels: The Metal Monster(serialized 1920; book form 1946), The Ship of Ishtar(serialized 1924; book form 1926), Seven Footprints to Satan(serialized 1927; book form 1928), The Face in the Abyss(1931), Burn, Witch, Burn!(serialized 1932; book form 1933), Creep, Shadow!(1934). The Fox Woman(1949) is a short story collection. HPL met Merritt in New York on January 8, 1934, when Merritt took HPL to dinner at the Players Club in Gramercy Park. At that time HPL noted: “He knows all about my work, & praises it encouragingly” (HPL to Annie E.P.Gamwell, [January 8, 1934]; ms., JHL). They collaborated (with C.L. Moore, Robert E.Howard, and Frank Belknap Long) on “The Challenge from Beyond” ( Fantasy Magazine,September 1935).

See T.G.L.Cockcroft, “Random Notes on Merritt and Lovecraft,” Telepath1, No. 2 (October 1954): 2– 4; Sam Moskowitz, A. Merritt: Reflections in the Moon Pool: A Biography(Philadelphia: Oswald Train, 1985).

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Page 168

“Messenger, The.”

Poem (sonnet); written at 3:07 A.M., November 30, 1929. First published in the Providence Journal (December 3, 1929), in B.K.Hart’s column “The Sideshow”; rpt. WT(July 1938).

Hart had read “The Call of Cthulhu” and expressed mock outrage at the fact that HPL had set the tale in part in a boarding-house at 7 Thomas Street in Providence, where Hart himself had once lived. He threatened (in a “Sideshow” column of November 30, 1929) to send a “large and abiding ghost” to HPL’s residence at 3 A.M. HPL accordingly wrote the poem shortly after the designated time of the ghost’s arrival. Winfield Townley Scott (“A Parenthesis on Lovecraft as Poet” [1945]; rpt. FDOC) believed the poem to be “perhaps as wholly satisfactory as any poem [HPL] ever wrote.” See Donald R.Burleson, “On Lovecraft’s ‘The Messenger,’” CryptNo. 57 (St. John’s Eve 1988): 15–18. Mevana.

In “Winged Death,” an African from Uganda who, when he develops an unusual illness after being bitten by an insect, is brought to Dr. Thomas Slauenwite to be healed. Slauenwite cures him with antitoxin, whereupon Mevana leads Slauenwite to the lake where he was bitten so that the latter can capture the insects that caused the strange malady.

Miller, Wesley P.

In “In the Walls of Eryx,” the superintendent of Group A of the Venus Crystal Company. He writes the report about the discovery of the body of Kenton J.Stanfield in the invisible maze. Miniter, Edith [May Dowe] (1869–1934).