Lovecraft is highly overrated, IMO; most of his work is just long, drawn out set-ups, with at best marginal payoffs, and even at the age of ten or eleven, it didn't scare me in the slightest.
Plus, he was an unrepentant racist to boot.
Now, Henry Slesar, Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, heck, even some of Harlan Ellison's shorter works - those guys know how to scare the crap out of an impressionable reader.
Plus, he was an unrepentant racist to boot.
Now, Henry Slesar, Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, heck, even some of Harlan Ellison's shorter works - those guys know how to scare the crap out of an impressionable reader.