While I am not the biggest reader whatsoever (and this is relevant), I would be remiss if I did not speak on behalf of the late, great Howard Philips Lovecraft. Though during his time his works were grossly overlooked, in the subsequent years since his passing, a large and growing fanbase of his "Cthulhu" works has appeared.
Most avid readers are familiar enough with the name but his fanbase extends well beyond lovers of the printed press. Musicians, filmmakers, artists and all manner of people have paid homage to his works. Often labeled as "Cosmic Horror", his tales of unimaginable terrors have been cited as both reference and inspiration by countless individuals, including many of todays top rated horror novelists.
As a disenfranchised rebel of the 90s, I found his works (like so many others) through various friends from school. I was a big fan of fantasy during these years, marked by my obsessive affair with TTRPGs. I tried my hardest to fall in and read through the volumes of fantasy novels suggested to me but, for some reason, I simply cannot sit and read one in its entirety. To this day, in fact, the only books I can read effortlessly are what my peers loving refer to as tedious books; I read textbooks and other such material.
With that said, however, there was something magical about the works of H.P.L. that my mind simply would not let go of. His style of writing was unlike any other I'd encountered, often sending me midstory to search up an obscure word or two before rereading a passage. His horror was gripping but on a deeper, more primal level. In me, it invoked feelings of such dread and fear unlike I had ever felt, before or since. The images he painted with words still haunt my mind to this day, often losing myself in a daydream of fantastic lands and nightmarish realities. His books, which I own multiple copies of for some unknown reason, are the most dogged eared in my entire collection.
If you are a fan of horror and have not found this man before, you are missing out on some fantastic stuff!
