Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937) was an American writer known for his contributions to the genre of horror and science fiction. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, to a family of modest means. His father had mental health conditions and was committed to a psychiatric hospital when Lovecraft was just three years old. He was raised by his mother and two aunts, and as a child, he was extremely precocious and imaginative.

Lovecraft was a self-taught writer and from an early age was fascinated by tales of horror and the supernatural. He began writing his own stories when he was just seven years old, and by the time he was a teenager, he had become an avid reader of Gothic and supernatural literature. Lovecraft’s early literary influences included Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Dunsany, and Algernon Blackwood. Lovecraft’s writing was not widely recognized during his lifetime, and he was largely unknown outside of a small circle of literary enthusiasts.

Lovecraft’s writing is characterized by a distinctive style that combines a high degree of technical precision, scrupulous attention to detail, and a sense of creeping dread and foreboding. His stories often feature ancient, malevolent beings that threaten the very fabric of reality.