"If you look at the way critics describe Lovecraft... they often say he's purple, overwritten, overblown, verbose, but it's un-put-downable. There's something about that kind of hallucinatorily intense purple prose which completely breaches all rules of'good writing', but is somehow utterly compulsive and affecting." - China Mieville, Science Fiction Studies. Since his stories began to appear in magazines such as Weird Tales in the 1920s and 30s, H. P. Lovecraft and his vivid imagination have been entertaining generations of readers with tales that both drew upon and pushed the boundaries of the genres of horror and science fiction. Lovecraft's influence has been immense: countless writers - from Stephen King to Neil Gaiman - and filmmakers such as Guillermo del Того have acknowledged the way in which Lovecraft has inspired them. Filled with suspense, amazing creatures and sensationally scary scenarios, this chronologically ordered collection of his short stories and novellas demonstrates the power of Lovecraft's ability to thrill and entertain.