Fear is one of the most ancient and widespread human feelings. Naturally, world literature has paid a lot of attention to fear. One of the writers whose contribution to the “horror” genre is especially significant is the American Howard Phillips Lovecraft, who is considered one of the founders of modern horror literature. Another famous American science fiction writer, Lion Sprague de Camp, who “revived” Conan the Barbarian, published a detailed biography of Lovecraft in 1975. Lovecraft is a rather complex and contradictory personality, but writing an intelligent book about him is not easy. There are authors who are a pleasure to write about—many bright events happened in their lives. Lovecraft spent most of his life sitting in one place and writing, writing, writing... Moreover, not only books, but also letters - his epistolary heritage is colossal. If there had been an Internet in Lovecraft’s time, he probably wouldn’t have left blogs and forums! However, Sprague de Camp, like a true creator, was able to successfully penetrate the soul of his famous “subject.” Moreover, without belittling the importance of Lovecraft for world literature, but also without placing him on an incredible pedestal: “His Cthulhu Myth is a fiction, standing on a par with Lewis Carroll's Wonderland, Burroughs' Barsoom, Addison's Zymiamwia, Baum's Land of Oz, Howard's Hyborean Age and Tolkien’s Middle-earth.” One of the main problems of the biographical genre is the conflict between external entertainment and scientific authenticity. De Camp's book is truly interesting and artistic in a good way, at the same time - the readers are presented with a completely competent literary study, albeit not controversial.