Pre-Tolkien Fantasy discussion

Currently reading "the Face in the Abyss", have already read "the Ship of Ishtar"(which was more concise). I'm really digging the ideas in tFitA, but man does he go on some unnecessary tangents. Good read overall, but I'm thinking it could have been an incredible read if it were pared down to somewhere around 200 pages instead of the 287 it numbered.

Anyone else??

I haven't read Merritt yet, but I have The Ship of Ishtar on my tbr list. I've heard similar things about him though...mirrors my feelings on Hodgson too.

What I usually hear about Merritt is more about the overwrought prose, which I don't mind. When he pulls it off it's actually pretty cool, although when he doesn't it reads a little awkwardly. What's bugging me is more of the over-explanation and over-description stuff which is more evident in the Face in the Abyss for me than the Ship of Ishtar.

The guy is definitely a must-read in general for fans of pre-tolkien fantasy stuff I'd think. Very imaginative stuff.

i remember loving Ship of Ishtar. and i'm not a person who has a problem with overwrought prose either. i usually really enjoy it.

I've read Dwellers In The Mirage and have The Face in the Abyss on my shelf lined up to read at some point and I've heard a lot of good things said about The Ship of Ishtar.

"Dwellers" was good but it didn't blow me away or anything. I'll read a couple more and see if my opinion improves...