How to Read H.P. Lovecraft’s 63 Free Ebooks in Chronological Order

H.P. Lovecraft’s stories are among the foundations of modern horror. He has an entire sub-genre named after him (Lovecraftian horror, also called cosmic horror). His stories can still wring shivers from the modern reader; his gods and monsters are cloned, adapted and mutated by new authors every year. Much of Lovecraft’s writing is concerned with the post-Enlightenment horrors of cosmic irrelevance and the idea that civilization is fragile and fleeting. Many misunderstand the common theme of people going mad upon seeing the alien beings in his work.

HP Lovecraft began experiencing the parasomnia ‘night terrors’ from the age of six. Night terrors cause the sufferer to physically move or scream to escape waking dreams. HP dreamed of what he called “nightgaunts” which later appeared in his books as thin, black, and faceless humanoids that tickle their victims into submission. Lovecraft regularly wrote to friends, family and enthusiastic amateur writers, many of whom adopted themes, style and even characters from his work. His most regular correspondents were fellow writers Robert Bloch (author of Psycho), Henry Kuttner (The Dark World), Robert E Howard (Conan the Barbarian) and the poet Samuel Loveman. Most people are able to appreciate Lovecraft’s influence on horror and dark fantasy while also acknowledging the negative aspects of his life and work.

In this post, not only we’re sharing a site which has diligently compiled all of H.P. Lovecraft’s work into a single ebook file, but how you can read all of his works chronologically. You may start from his earliest works till his later works before his passing. It is basically broken down into 4 parts, which are his Early Work (1917-1920), First Mythos (1920-1923), The Middle Years (1926-1928) and ultimately the Later Mythos (1930-1934). If you wish to cover Lovecraft’s work in its entirety, hopefully this post will help and guide you in your wonderful and lengthy adventure. Happy reading!

There are a few different “eras” of HP Lovecraft’s writing, and I’d recommend reading some stories from each of them. Here’s how I would look at dividing it up, with some of the more prominent stories from each period:

Early Work (1917-1920)

There are a bunch of stories from before HPL really worked out his style, many obviously heavily influenced by the works of Lord Dunsany. But most of them still put their own HPL spin on things, and some of them show traces of the Mythos to come. Notable stories include, in chronological order:

• The Tomb (1917)
• Dagon (1917)
• Polaris (1918)
• Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1919)
• Memory (1919)
• Old Bugs (1919)
• The Transition of Juan Romero (1919)
• The White Ship (1919)
• The Doom That Came to Sarnath (1919)
• The Statement of Randolph Carter (1919)
• The Terrible Old Man (1920)
• The Tree (1920)
• The Cats of Ulthar (1920)
• The Temple (1920)
• Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family (1920)
• The Street (1920)
• Celephaïs (1920)
• From Beyond (1920)