The Moon Pool

A fantasy book by American author Abraham Merritt is titled The Moon Pool. The original versions of "The Moon Pool" and its sequel, "Conquest of the Moon Pool," both published in All-Story Weekly in 1918, were both short stories (1919). These were later revised and published as a novel in 1919. Dr. Goodwin, the main character, will subsequently show again in Merritt's second book, The Metal Monster (1920). Merritt continued the tradition of the "lost world" novel even if he wasn't the first to write one (he followed in the footsteps of Bulwer-Lytton, Burroughs, Conan Doyle, and others). The story revolves around an advanced race that has evolved deep inside the Earth. Their most intellectual individuals eventually have children. It incorporates both immense virtue and great evil, yet it gradually drifts away from its creators and toward evil. The Dweller and the Shining One are two names for the entity. Only three members of the original race-known as the Silent Ones-remain. They have been "purged of dross" and are regarded as being higher, nobler, and more angelic than humans.