The Cthulhu Mythos is the ongoing setting of several of H. P. Lovecraft's novels and short stories. It is not a series per se, but it encompasses the shared elements, characters, settings, and themes found in Lovecraft's works and associated horror fiction writers. Together, they form the mythos that authors writing in the Lovecraftian milieu have used — and continue to use — to craft their stories. The term itself was coined by the writer August Derleth. Although this legend is also sometimes called the Lovecraft Mythos, most notably by the Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi, it has long since moved beyond Lovecraft's original conception.
Robert M. Price, in his essay "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", sees two stages in the development of the Cthulhu Mythos. The first stage, or "Cthulhu Mythos proper" as Price calls it, took shape during Lovecraft's lifetime and was subject to his guidance. The second stage occurred under August Derleth who attempted to categorize and expand the...
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