The Phantasmagoria Metallique: 100 Years of A. Merritt's "The Metal Monster"

Sphere and block and pyramid ran together, seemed to seethe. I had again that sense of a quicksilver melting. Up from them thrust a thick rectangular column. Eight feet in width and twenty feet high, it shaped itself. Out from its left side, from right side, sprang arms—fearful arms that grew and grew as globe and cube and angle raced up the column's side and clicked into place each upon, each after, the other. With magical quickness the arms lengthened.

Before us stood a monstrous shape; a geometric prodigy. A shining angled pillar that, though rigid, immobile, seemed to crouch, be instinct with living force striving to be unleashed.

Two great globes surmounted it—like the heads of some two-faced Janus of an alien world.

At the left and right the knobbed arms, now fully fifty feet in length, writhed, twisted, straightened; flexing themselves in grotesque imitation of a boxer. And at the end of each of the six arms the spheres were clustered thick, studded with the pyramids—again in gigantic, awful, parody of the spiked gloves of those ancient gladiators who fought for imperial Nero.

For an instant it stood here, preening, testing itself like an athlete—a chimera, amorphous yet weirdly symmetric—under the darkening sky, in the green of the hollow, the armored hosts frozen before it—

And then—it struck! 

 - "The Metal Monster," A. Merritt 

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of A. Merritt's "The Metal Monster," one of my very favourite weird tales and a truly remarkable work of science fiction.

Pal of the Blog Deuce Richardson very kindly hosts my exploration of just how rich and expansive the story's links to modern science fiction are.

For such a visual feast, there's remarkably little illustration out there for "The Metal Monster." Stephen Fabian's cover art for the 1976 Avon Books publication (pictured at the top of the post) is a bit closer to the modular, weird nature of the Monster, but there are some other interesting ones out there.

Cinniúint na Déithe: Clontarf 2014

Mr. Bates,
New York City.

Dear Mr. Bates:

You may, or you may not have noticed my work in Weird Tales, Oriental Stories, Ghost Stories, Fight Stories, Action Stories, and Argosy; but that doesnt matter so much. The point is, I’m deeply interested in the intention of your company to bring out a new magazine devoted entirely to historical tales. I want very much to do business with this magazine, and would appreciate any pointers you might give me as to how to make the market [in case this story is not acceptable]._ I realize that editors do not have time to give detailed criticisms; but just a line or a few words scrawled on a rejection slip would help me wonderfully.

I’m hoping you can use this tale – “Spears of Clontarf” which I am enclosing. It deals with a phase in history too much neglected by writers – that of the Dano-Irish wars which culminated in the final shattering of the Viking power at the battle of Clontarf. Those days of war and rapine represent an age crammed with vital drama, enough to supply a hundred thrilling volumes.

Abraham Merritt, Metal Master

She stood before us, shielding us. One golden call she sent.

I looked back into the darkness. Something like an enormous, dimly shimmering rod was raising itself. Higher it rose and higher. Now it stood, upright, a slender towering pillar, a gigantic slim figure whose tip pointed a full hundred feet in the air.

Then slowly it inclined itself toward us; drew closer, closer to the ground; touched and lay there for an instant inert. Abruptly it vanished.

But well I knew what I had seen. The span over which we had passed had raised itself even as had the baby bridge of the fortress; had lifted itself across the chasm and dropping itself upon the hither verge had disintegrated into its units; was following us.

A bridge of metal that could build itself - and break itself. A thinking, conscious metal bridge! A metal bridge with volition - with mind - that was following us.

There sighed from behind a soft, sustained wailing; rapidly it neared us. A wanly glimmering shape drew by; halted. It was like a rigid serpent cut from a gigantic square bar of cold blue steel.

Its head was a pyramid, a tetrahedron; its length vanished in the further darkness. The head raised itself, the blocks that formed its neck separating into open wedges like a Brobdignagian replica of those jointed, fantastic, little painted reptiles the Japanese toy-makers cut from wood.

It seemed to regard us - mockingly. The pointed head dropped - past us streamed the body. Upon it other pyramids clustered - like the spikes that guarded the back of the nightmare Brontosaurus. Its end came swiftly into sight - its tail another pyramid twin to its head. 

 - A. Merritt, "The Metal Monster" (Illustration by the incomparable Jim Cawthorn)

Today is Abraham Merritt's 128th birthday. Every time someone's anniversary comes along, I feel rather inadequate for rarely coming up with a good tribute. Usually the heavyweights, the Lovecrafts, Tolkiens, Poes, Conan Doyles et al are well represented on the blogosphere: even the criminally neglected Smith had some great tributes. But the vastly under-represented A. Merritt could do with more love, beyond some glib quips about how "The Metal Monster" would make for the most Metal concept album ever. So, I've made a roundup of some of my favourite Merritt tributes and discussions around the web, and have a short look at one of the greats of 20th Century speculative fiction.

Manilla Road: Metal Ambassadors to Weird Tales

I still need to finish that retrospective on Manilla Road's sonic tributes to Robert E. Howard, but then I found this recent interview, and I'm so thrilled I can barely type.

WC: It's like there's something in the collective mind of people that brings them all to a certain topic at the same time.

MS: That brings to mind that I saw an ad for a new Conan movie that's gonna come out in 2009. I have no idea who's in it but just the thought of another Conan movie is like "Well, I hope they do it right this time".

Watkiss has a rival for my man-crush affections: Mark "the Shark" Shelton, you are my Metal Hero.

MS: I do,too! My favorite movie of all time is "Jason and the Argonauts". I'm stuck on it just like I'm stuck on my old Judas Priest albums like "Stained Class" and "Sin After Sin".

WC: This computer generated stuff of today just doesn't have the personality of what Harryhausen did.

MS: I agree. I still like the original "King Kong". (chuckles)

WC: We better get back on track or we'll spend all night talking about this stuff.

MS: Yeah, I have a feeling we could!

Scratch that: Metal Icon.

WC. I know you've had whole albums where the lyrics are inspired by Poe and Lovecraft. What are some of your favorite stories by those authors?

MS: My favorite Edgar Allan Poe story is "Mystification". It's one you don't often find in the "Best Of" collections. There's a collection out there right now...I can't remember the name of the publisher...that's called "The Complete Poe" and it's a good one to get because it's got everything he's ever wrote. "Mystification" is not one that shows up as much as "Masque of the Red Death"...which would be my next favorite Poe story, by the way...but there's a lot of Poe's own personality in that story. I think he envisioned himself as one of those characters. It's a really good story and I thought he made statements through his storyline that were really statements about himself. That's why we did a song "Mystification", because that story hit me so hard.

As far as Lovecraft goes, my two favorite stories are not the usual Lovecraftian stories. One is a short story called "The Tomb" that I love completely. It's written in almost an Edgar Allan Poe style and I think Lovecraft was after that and he did it just splendidly in that story. That was one of those stories where you could really see where H.P.'s roots in the horror genre were. He proved it in that story. The other one,strangely enough, is his more Mary Shelley strain of work: "Herbert West, Reanimator". (laughs)

WC: If I remember right, Lovecraft didn't think too much of that story himself.

MS: He hated it. I don't think too many people knew about it until the movie started coming out. Jeffrey Combs I thought was really good in the Lovecraft movies. "From Beyond", he was great in that. You know, I actually acquired the original Necromomicon Press versions of "Reanimator". They were just little short stories that originally appeared in "Weird Tales". I've got a little booklet that was put out by Necronomicon Press that was all the little short stories put together. I just thought the whole thing was great!

WC: "The Color Out Of Space" was my favorite Lovecraft story.

MS: All of his work's really incredible. His real ethereal stories are so far out there that nobody could ever write like that, I think.

WC: The one guy who equalled if not surpassed him when it came to weird visions was Clark Ashton Smith.

MS: Clark Ashton Smith's pretty good. My favorite of all time, just because of the way he mixes reality with the supernatural, is Robert E. Howard.

WC: Yeah, he dabbled in just about every genre you could think of.

MS: Just about everything. Sports stories, Westerns...he was all over the board. His unedited works that are coming out now are just incredible. The Conan stuff is great, the King Kull stuff is pretty good stuff. Not as good as Conan, I believe. I love the Bran Mak Morn stuff, Solomon Kane...

Scratch that: Metal Heroicon.

And man, Wormwood Chronicles isn't that bad himself, giving Clark Ashton Smith props!

Just in case you think I'm being overly negative... Part the Second

It's rare that I come across a review of something Howard-related that I have no problems with, but Stacy Dooks of Wild Gunmen has done just that.  What an eloquent, accurate, all-round-great overview.  In particular, this is quite possibly one of the best analogies regarding Howard's impact on the fantasy canon that I've ever read:

If you’re a fantasy fan and you’ve never read Howard, you’re the equivalent of a rock fan who’s never listened to Jimmy Hendrix.

That's it.  That is the analogy I've been looking for.  Howard is the Jimi Hendrix of fantasy.

The comparisons are there. Both artists' work was very popular while they were alive, but only became widely recognized as geniuses until after their deaths.  Both artists' work spanned beyond any one genre, producing pieces of frenzied mayhem, melodic power and technical brilliance, as well as amazing gentility.  Both artists' work have origins in what contemporaneous artists were doing but their sheer talent forged those disparate elements into something new, unique, and never recaptured. Howard took the historical milieu of Lamb & Mundy, the horror of Poe & Lovecraft, the adventure of Burroughs & Haggard and his own inimical talent and themes to create Sword-and-Sorcery; Hendrix took the extended solos of Eric Clapton, the amplified feedback of The Who, the blues stylistics of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, and his own sense of style to create one of the formative sounds that would become Heavy Metal.

The pair's life is also corroborative.  Both have had episodes of their lives exaggerated and warped, usually by their critics, to give the impression of insanity or recklessness.  Heck, both even had iconic headgear (Howard with his cap, Hendrix with his headband).  I could even see the UK comparisons: Howard's only really popular in the UK for Conan and, recently, Solomon Kane, while Hendrix's only Top 40 tracks were "Voodoo Chile" and "All Along The Watchtower."

Two artists in different fields, who are yet comparable because of their impact, influence and power.  Thanks, Stacy: just what I was looking for.

Ronnie James Dio, 1942 - 2010

Damn it.

Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45am 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away. Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all. We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us. Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss. Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever.

- Wendy Dio

Every year has their list of people who you hate to see go, but less than a week after we lose Frank Frazetta, Dio's gone too? This is rotten, guys.

The cancer has won the battle... but it could never win the war. The cancer in his stomach will lose its sustenance when Ronnie's earthly form turns to dust, and it'll disintegrate into nothingness. Dio's spirit, be it his soul in heaven, his essence in the peaceful oblivion beyond death, or simply his legacy in the world of Metal and Rock, will persist as long as there's someone else alive to remember him. I salute him.

The Holy Diver dives no more. He ascends on a Rainbow in the Dark, & he's Hungry for Heaven.

Adaptations of REH's Work on Wikipedia

About bloody time.

It isn't half bad: neutral, accurate enough. Good job.

So far, the only actual REH adaptations I see on the page are the HPLHS's "Casonetto's Last Song," and Thriller's "Pigeons from Hell." Obviously I'm not counting the theatrical films, because I walk the line between angry young man and ornery old coot. I would happily include "The Return of Sir Richard Grenville" and "Cimmeria" on that list, even if they aren't quite on the same production scale as "The Hunt for Gollum" or "Born of Hope." Better adaptations, though.

Comics is fine, though it clearly needs further expansion. There is one glaring omission: Richard Corben's Bloodstar, an adaptation of "The Valley of the Worm" in all but name. I think a mention of the first graphic novel to refer to itself as such is worth a mention. There should also be mention of Kull, and the the various non-Conan/Kane Savage Sword adaptations.

Music seems to be the most comprehensive, with plenty of Manilla Road's discography, as well as Domine, Bal-Sagoth, Cauldron Born, Mad Minstrel and Rosae Crucis. The Sword's "Black River" should get a mention, as it's had quite a lot of popularity since appearing in Guitar Hero: Metallica. Man, what I wouldn't give for Manilla Road to do a whole Howard concept album...

Omega Crom: Dey Be Silly Doodz

“The origin of Omega Crom’s name springs from Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian,” says front man Johnny Ketlo who is admittedly a long time fan of Robert E. Howard novels and Marvel Comics.

“Crom is the Cimmerian God of Steel and Slayer of Giants. Omega means the Final and Eternal, the end. (The Final and Eternal Slayer of Giants) Omega Crom is the Ultimate Extremity of Crom and a Signal to termination,” states Johnny Ketlo.

Asking front man Johnny Ketlo to describe the musical experience of Omega Crom he says “It’s like Judas Priest on Steroids!!!”

You wish. Rob Halford is a bona-fide gay man dressing in leather and latex, and he's still more overwhelmingly heterosexual and manly than 99% of all metal bands.