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I've been a big fan of Lovecraft's works of literature and used them as inspiration for a lot of my own writing, but I've been unable to find a proper consensus on how his stories all fit together or if there even is a true canon.

Part of my confusion comes from how collections of his work are referred to, like the Cthulhu Mythos, which I understand consists of works from various authors but I believe it lacks a canonical timeline of sorts.

Is there a canonical order to HP Lovecraft's work, and if there is, how would it be formatted?

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    Not an expert so I'm only gonna leave a comment: I've read a good chunk of his work, and I don't think there's a single canon. There are some names that show up in various works (but even those don't always refer to the same "incarnation" of a character) and there are clearly concepts and ideas of cosmic horror that are somewhat consistent throughout many stories, but I don't think there's really any kind of continuity. That said, there are still more or less suitable reading orders because many of his later stories are loose (but clear) reworkings of early ideas. – Martin Ender Oct 8 '19 at 23:03
  • I've really enjoyed how the stories are grouped in the Penguin Modern Classics series. There are three volumes, each spanning his entire career but the stories are grouped and annotated in a way that draws attention to where these reworkings happened. – Martin Ender Oct 8 '19 at 23:05

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