The Moon Pool A fantasy novel by American writer Abraham Merritt The Moon Pool is a fantasy novel by American writer Abraham Merritt. It originally appeared as two short stories in All-Story Weekly: ‘The Moon Pool’ (1918) and its sequel, ‘Conquest of the Moon Pool’ (1919). These were then reworked into a novel released in 1919. The protagonist, Dr. Goodwin, would later appear in Merritt’s second novel The Metal Monster (1920). Although Merritt did not invent the ‘lost world’ novel—he followed in the footsteps of Bulwer-Lytton, Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and others—this work extended the tradition.