<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

H. P. Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937), Howard Phillips Lovecraft, was equally remarkable as a fan and as a writer of fantastic literature. In this regard, it's worth pondering S. T. Joshi's comment that Lovecraft's letters (which comprise five volumes) are as important as anything he wrote. A native of Rhode Island, Lovecraft was from early childhood an Anglophile and a lover of the historical. He was plagued by ill-health and appears to have feared that the insanity that ran in his family might affect him as well, although it never did. During his ill-starred marriage in the 1920's, Lovecraft lived in New York City and found he could not tolerate its modernity. Returning to New England, he lived marginally. He ceased writing fiction during the last years of his life, although he kept up his voluminous correspondence until nearly the day of his death from cancer at the age of 47.

Lovecraft began writing fiction more or less within the areas of horror first explored by Edgar Allan Poe and Lord Dunsany. "The Outsider" (1921) is possibly the foremost of his tales along the lines of Poe; while "The Cats of Ulthar" (1920) may be the best of his stories after the fashion of Lord Dunsany.

It is his creation of the "Cthulhu Mythos" that has secured his reputation, however. This cycle of stories, and the sequels and related works written by others, constitute the main body of horror fiction in English during the middle of the 20th century. The central . . .