The Ship of Ishtar by A. Merritt
John Kenton returned from the Great War a changed man. The world he knew had lost its zest; the one in which he could be happy he did not know where to find. But when he uncovered an artifact from ancient Babylon, he was transported to a new world beyond time and space: one which offered pain and the near certainty of a bloody death, but also brotherhood, vengeance, and the most entrancing woman he ever laid eyes on—Sharane, flame-haired priestess of Ishtar!
Upon the Ship of Ishtar, Sharane and the priest of Nergal, Klaneth, wage a millennia-old struggle as proxies for their respective deities. Kenton ends up at cross-purposes with the Nergalite faction, killing several priests before being chained to an oar-bench. Though the gods themselves place obstacles in his way, Kenton will let nothing daunt him in his quest to break free, win Sharane’s heart, and become master—of the Ship of Ishtar!
When The Ship of Ishtar hit the stands in 1924 between the covers of Argosy All-Story magazine, nothing like it had ever seen print in American popular culture. Drenched in blood, sex and the supernatural, the American public loved the novel so much it would eventually go through twenty-plus printings and sell millions before the end of the twentieth century. The Ship of Ishtar’s influence on fantasy literature is immense, having captured the imaginations of hundreds of significant authors, including Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian), Gary Gygax (co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons), and Michael Moorcock (author of Elric of Melniboné). This special Centennial Edition of The Ship of Ishtar includes the author’s preferred text, as well as nearly two dozen vintage illustrations and previously unpublished ephemera from the Merritt estate.
Release date: November 8, 2024
Trade Paperback: 9” x 6”, 298 pages, $19.99
Digital: $7.99
Reviews:
”The Ship of Ishtar was The Lord of the Rings for pre-WW2 audiences. People today don’t realize how popular The Ship of Ishtar really was. The novel was an influence on Leigh Brackett’s “Sea Kings of Mars”/Sword of Rhiannon and Hannes Bok’s The Sorcerer’s Ship. A case can be made that it is the first modern sword & sorcery story even though Merritt used a modern man instead of a character from that world.” (Morgan Holmes, Castalia House)
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