"The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia", of course; it was published by Chaosium. I have also "What to do when you meet Cthulhu", which is kind of a Survival Guide written in an ironic, very funny way. It contains a lot of marvellous lists of things to do, such as "what to do when you encounter a Shining Trapezohedron", "what to do when you meet a Whateley", and so on. It's edited by Elder Signs Press, and it's really a very good reading.

When I was a boy, my father had a copy of "The Shuttered Room" written by the one and only August Derleth, but in the cover he appeared as co-writer with HPL. Of course, now I know that mr. Derleth just got inspired by some ideas from Lovecraft's "Common Place Book", but right then I enjoyed the stories inmensely. After that, I went to the library searching for more Derleth stories, but, luckily, there were none. Instead, they had some books by the co-writer, that guy called Lovecraft. I bought one, read it and, even at that tender age, I realised the stories were amazingly superior to the ones in "The shuttered room"; that's how I began with Lovecraft; and that's why I never really hated Derleth's stories... just don't like them very much.

"The Colour out of Space" because of the terrifying degradation of Nahum Gardner and his family and the excellent scientific expanations given by Lovecraft. Also, "The music of Erich Zann" because of the surreal quality of the story.

Ok, looking up "The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia", the entry "Pnakotus" lists the tale "Zoth-Ommog" by Lin Carter as the original story in which that name pops up. The tale appears in "The Xothic Cycle", the collection of Mythos stories by Lin Carter published by Chaosium, but, unfortunately, I don't have my copy with me at the moment and I can't tell you anything else.

I think Herbert West is much more of an antagonist than a protagonist.

Bob

Perhaps, but antagonist to whom? Not to the narrator, the ever loyal sidekick. To the zombies that kill him at the end? Well... then, if West can't be chosen as protagonist, I suppose I can't choose my other favourite "protagonist", Mr. Richard Upton Pickman? Well, then... Randolph Carter, I suppose...

Mmmm... I'll have to investigate; perhaps in one of the Chaosium "Cycle" books the mutt appear again.

Herbert West, of course!!!! That's a strong-willed guy, who is not deterred by the insignificant problems which happen during his experiments from time to time. We need more true scientists like him!!

West's sidekick is a complete moron, no doubt about it, but compared with Wilmarth, he is a genius. But all these guys are amateurs compared with the one and only Wilbur Whately, who has the most stupid death ever when a miserable dog kills him without breaking a sweat. Let's see... that guy is nearly three metres tall, is a powerful warlock, and is Yog-Sothot's son, for god's sake!!!! You were supposed to bring Apocalypse to Earth, man. How could you get killed by a dog?

Totally awesome. If you have enjoyed Breccia, try his "Mort Cinder", with the equally gifted writer Oesterheld. You won't regret, trust me.

"Cool air" is excellent, and not mythos-related; "The Colour out of Space", as so many people has recommended in this thread. And, finally, "Herbert West, Reanimator"; I think this story has a strange sense of humour which is something Lovecraft usually lacks. I really enjoy the loyalty of West's sideckick, the narrator, always ready to do something incredibly dangerous or illegal at his master's command, even if West is such a sick son of a bitch...

I highly recommend "The Nightmare Factory", by Thomas Ligotti. Some of the stories are lovecrafitan, some are not, but all of them are superb.

Ghouls, of course. They are nice people, once you know them, and they are the only mythos monsters that have a sense of humour. You have to love them for that.

I really hate "The case of Charles Dexter Ward"; sorry, but it's so repetitive and so obvious that I can't stand it. Of course, I hate "The Street", too.

I've just read "The end of the story", first volume of the collected Clark Ashton Smith fantastic stories, and I recommend it very much, even if sometimes the early Smith is too lyric and his plots are not so strong as they would be later in his career.

I really enjoyed "The Charwoman's Shadow". I read it in Spanish, I don't know if it's easily accesible in English, or if it is in any collection, but it's a very lyric and interesting story about magic and the price of power.