How & when did you first discover Lovecraft?

[mcglothlin.13]

My first exposure to Lovecraft (around 1982 or so) was the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons book, Deities and Demigods, first edition.  Erol Otus' artistic renditions of the Cthulhu Mythos were so alluring.  I always wanted to know more about this Lovecraft guy who came up with this stuff.

So, playing Villains and Vigilantes over at another gamers' house one evening (around 1984) I saw that he had this book, by Lovecraft, with a freaky cover called At the Mountains of Madness.  It was a Ballantine collection that of course included the self-same story as well as "The Last Statement of Randolph Carter" and some others.  He loaned it to me and I was hooked from then out.

[Paul Baack]

When I was a kid (in the 1960s) we had at home that huge Modern Library edition of Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural.  I was around 10 years old, and was poking around for something to read.  My dad -- knowing my taste for the spooky stuff -- pulled the book out and directed me to "The Dunwich Horror" as something I might enjoy.

The description of Wilbur Whatley's corpse in the Miskatonic library blew my mind!

Sadly, there was no Lovecraft in either our town's public library or my school's library.  One of my English teachers suggested Dracula, Edgar Allan Poe, and "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne as a way to scratch that itch.  Later on that year, the Scholastic Book Service catalog came through the school, and lo! The Shadow Out Of Innsmouth and Other Stories was available for the princely sum of sixty cents!  Over the next several years I was able to pick up some used paperback anthologies at yard sales and such, and eventually Lovecraft came back into general release and availability in regular bookstores.

Over the years, my dad became irritated with my enthusiasm for HPL, but I was always able to take pleasure in reminding him that he was the one who introduced me.  I actually was able to repay him, slightly in-kind, by turning him on to Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy" movies, which, at the age of 83, he really loves.  One good turn deserves another...

[futureMACH]

My boyfriend has a few Lovecraft things (stuffed Cthulhu, a few shirts) and he was a little surprised that I'd never read any Lovecraft.

About 5 days ago I was headed off on a camping trip, so I downloaded all the podcasts to listen to while away, but since I was in a hurry I didn't at first glance see that it was a discussion podcast and not readings, so I went to a bookstore and grabbed something there.

After reading a few of the stories, all I could think was, "Why, in over 30 years of reading fantasy and horror, has NO ONE ever told me about this???"

[Yojimbo]

At a bookfair at school, I picked up a book that was all about monsters from science fiction movies, stories, and novels. In the "Invisible Monsters" section, along with Wells' Griffin and the Horla, there was a short section about "The Colour Out of Space" by some guy named Lovecraft.

Years and years later, someone gave me a copy of "Blood-Curdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre," with almost all the best stories in it. I read it in high school one summer, while working as a lifeguard. Some evenings when the pool was empty, usually because of inclement weather or just a chilly wind, I'd have a chance to read outside. And in the gathering gloom, I became a lifelong fan.

[jjb1011jjb]

it all started  one evening just before christmas 2006  my friend Scott came by  and gave me a book called the best of h p lovecraft blood curdleing tales of horror and the macabre    i had heard of lovecraft and i knew he was a horror writer  but i never read any of his stories 

at first his wording was hard for me to understand   then i sat down on night  and read the rats in the walls  and i didnt sleep at all that night    a few days later i found a site with info on weird tales and learned about the greats  lovecraft howard smith quinn eddy and many other great horror writers