A lighthouse struck by a huge wave – H.P. Lovecraft Books in Order

H.P. Lovecraft Books in Order: The Complete Reading Guide

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Updated September 2026

H.P. Lovecraft Books in Order: The Short Answer

H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) never wrote a conventional novel, and only one of his stories came out as a book while he was alive: The Shadow over Innsmouth (1936). Everything else appeared in pulp magazines like Weird Tales or was published after his death. So "H.P. Lovecraft books in order" really means his stories in order. These are the essential ones, by first publication:

  1. "Dagon" (1919)
  2. "The Music of Erich Zann" (1922)
  3. "The Rats in the Walls" (1924)
  4. "The Outsider" (1926)
  5. "The Colour Out of Space" (1927)
  6. "The Call of Cthulhu" (1928)
  7. "The Dunwich Horror" (1929)
  8. "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1931)
  9. At the Mountains of Madness (1936)
  10. The Shadow over Innsmouth (1936)
  11. "The Shadow Out of Time" (1936)
  12. "The Haunter of the Dark" (1936)

His two longest works, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, weren't published until the 1940s. The easiest way to read Lovecraft is a single collection that includes most of the list above.

In this guide:

The Major Stories: Written vs. Published

Lovecraft's stories often sat in a drawer for years, or were rejected and resubmitted, so the date he wrote a story and the date it appeared can be far apart. This matters if you want to follow how his ideas developed. Here are the key works with both dates:

Story Written First published
Dagon 1917 1919
The Statement of Randolph Carter 1919 1920
The Cats of Ulthar 1920 1920
Celephaïs 1920 1922
The Nameless City 1921 1921
The Outsider 1921 1926
The Music of Erich Zann 1921 1922
Herbert West–Reanimator 1921–22 1922
The Hound 1922 1924
The Rats in the Walls 1923 1924
The Festival 1923 1925
The Horror at Red Hook 1925 1927
Cool Air 1926 1928
The Call of Cthulhu 1926 1928
Pickman's Model 1926 1927
The Silver Key 1926 1929
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath 1926–27 1943
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward 1927 1941
The Colour Out of Space 1927 1927
The Dunwich Horror 1928 1929
The Whisperer in Darkness 1930 1931
At the Mountains of Madness 1931 1936
The Shadow over Innsmouth 1931 1936
The Dreams in the Witch House 1932 1933
Through the Gates of the Silver Key 1932–33 1934
The Thing on the Doorstep 1933 1937
The Shadow Out of Time 1934–35 1936
The Haunter of the Dark 1935 1936

In total Lovecraft wrote around 65 stories on his own, plus many collaborations and "revisions" ghostwritten for other authors, a large body of poetry and essays, and tens of thousands of letters. "The Haunter of the Dark" was the last story he wrote alone; he died in Providence, Rhode Island, in March 1937, aged 46.

Three Kinds of Lovecraft Story

Readers and critics usually sort his fiction into three loose groups. Knowing which is which helps you pick what to read next.

Early Poe-style horror

Short, atmospheric tales written under the influence of Edgar Allan Poe: "The Outsider," "The Hound," "The Music of Erich Zann," "The Rats in the Walls," "Pickman's Model." These are the best place to start if you already like Poe, and if you haven't read him yet, our Edgar Allan Poe books in order guide shows which of his tales to try first.

The Dream Cycle

Fantasy stories set in a dreamland reached through sleep, heavily influenced by the Irish writer Lord Dunsany. "The Cats of Ulthar," "Celephaïs," "The Silver Key" and the short novel The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, which follows Randolph Carter across that dreamland, belong here. They're strange and beautiful rather than frightening, and the least known of his work.

Cosmic horror and the "Cthulhu Mythos"

His most famous work, starting in earnest with "The Call of Cthulhu" (written 1926). The horror isn't a monster so much as the discovery that humanity is tiny and irrelevant in a vast, indifferent universe. These stories share invented places (Arkham, Dunwich, Innsmouth, Miskatonic University), beings (Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep) and a forbidden book, the Necronomicon. The name "Cthulhu Mythos" was given to them after his death by his friend and publisher August Derleth; Lovecraft never used it.

The stories don't form a series with a plot, so you can read them in any order. They do reward publication order, though, because the shared details build on each other. That cosmic scale puts these stories closer to science fiction than to ghost stories, and readers who enjoy that side of him often like the early alien-invasion and time-travel classics in our H.G. Wells books in order guide.

Where to Start with Lovecraft

Here's the route we'd recommend for a new reader:

  1. "The Colour Out of Space" — Lovecraft's own favorite of his stories, and the purest example of what he does. A meteorite falls on a farm, and nothing is right afterward.
  2. "The Music of Erich Zann" — very short and eerie.
  3. "The Call of Cthulhu" — the foundation of the Mythos, told as a pieced-together investigation.
  4. The Shadow over Innsmouth — a young man visits a decaying fishing town. His most suspenseful story, with an actual chase.
  5. "The Dunwich Horror" — the closest he came to a conventional monster story.
  6. At the Mountains of Madness — an Antarctic expedition finds a vast ancient city. Slow, but his most ambitious work.

After that, try "The Shadow Out of Time" and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Leave The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath until you know you like his prose; it's long and dense.

Be warned that his style is an acquired taste: long sentences, archaic vocabulary, and a fondness for words like "eldritch," "cyclopean" and "unnamable." Some readers find it hypnotic. Others find it hard going. Try "The Colour Out of Space" first and you'll know quickly which camp you're in.

Content Notes: Horror, and Lovecraft's Racism

Lovecraft's stories contain almost no sex or profanity, and most of the horror is suggested rather than shown. "Herbert West–Reanimator" and "The Dunwich Horror" are the most graphic. For a mature 14- or 15-year-old who likes Poe, the best stories are fine.

The larger issue for parents and teachers is that Lovecraft held openly racist and antisemitic views, and they come through in his fiction. "The Horror at Red Hook" and "He" are the worst examples. "The Rats in the Walls" features a cat with a racial slur for a name. The Shadow over Innsmouth is widely read as a story about fear of "mixed blood." It's worth discussing this directly with a teenager rather than avoiding it. Many anthologies now include introductions that address it, and after years of objections from writers over his racism, the World Fantasy Award retired the Lovecraft bust it had used as its trophy in 2015.

We'd call Lovecraft a high school and adult author. For younger horror readers, Poe is the better starting point, and for elementary and middle schoolers our list of scary books for kids like Goosebumps offers gentler chills. Adults who want horror from a later era can turn to our Stephen King books in order guide.

Collections and Editions to Look For

Because he never published books, how you read Lovecraft depends on which collection you pick up. Some reliable options:

  • Arkham House editions. After his death, August Derleth and Donald Wandrei founded Arkham House specifically to publish him, starting with The Outsider and Others (1939). Their later three-volume set, The Dunwich Horror and Others, At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels and Dagon and Other Macabre Tales, covers nearly all his solo fiction. Look for printings with S.T. Joshi's corrected texts from the 1980s.
  • Penguin Classics. Three paperbacks edited by S.T. Joshi, starting with The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, with helpful notes.
  • Library of America. H.P. Lovecraft: Tales, edited by Peter Straub, a sturdy one-volume selection of the major stories.

Any "complete fiction" omnibus will also do. Check the contents before buying a slim "best of," since some leave out At the Mountains of Madness.

Lovecraft on Screen and at the Game Table

Lovecraft is notoriously hard to film, because his horrors are meant to be beyond description. Adaptations worth knowing about:

  • Re-Animator (1985), a very loose and very gory take on "Herbert West–Reanimator." Adults only.
  • Color Out of Space (2019), starring Nicolas Cage. Faithful in spirit, violent in execution. Adults only.
  • Lovecraft Country (HBO, 2020), based on Matt Ruff's novel. It isn't a Lovecraft adaptation but borrows his monsters to confront his racism head-on. Adults only.

His biggest influence today may be on games, from the Call of Cthulhu tabletop role-playing game to countless board games using his creatures. Many teenagers meet Cthulhu there before they meet the stories.

Find Lovecraft in Our Used Stock

Collections come and go quickly, so run a search for Lovecraft or Cthulhu to see what's on the shelf today. For more in the same vein, browse science fiction and classic literature, or pick up a Poe collection, the writer Lovecraft learned from. Free shipping applies to orders over $15.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did H.P. Lovecraft write any novels?

Not in the usual sense. His longest works, At the Mountains of Madness, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, are short novels or novellas. The Shadow over Innsmouth (1936) was the only one of his works published as a book in his lifetime.

What order should I read Lovecraft in?

There's no required order because the stories are standalones. Start with "The Colour Out of Space," "The Call of Cthulhu" and The Shadow over Innsmouth, then move on to At the Mountains of Madness.

How many stories did Lovecraft write?

Around 65 stories written on his own, plus dozens of collaborations and ghostwritten revisions for other authors, along with poetry, essays and thousands of letters.

When was The Call of Cthulhu published?

It was written in 1926 and first published in Weird Tales in February 1928.

What was Lovecraft's last story?

"The Haunter of the Dark," written in November 1935 and published in Weird Tales in December 1936, was the last story he wrote on his own. He died in March 1937.

Is Lovecraft appropriate for teenagers?

For older teens, generally yes. There's little sex or profanity, but the horror can be disturbing, and some stories reflect his racist views, which are worth discussing openly.

What is the Cthulhu Mythos?

The shared world of invented gods, places and books running through many of Lovecraft's stories. The name was coined after his death by August Derleth, not by Lovecraft himself.

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