Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island. Despite turbulent formative years (his father died at an early age) Lovecraft showed a great aptitude for literature, reading prolifically and supposedly writing his first story around the age of six. Following the death of his grandfather in 1904 (who had effectively taken over the role of father figure for the young boy), Lovecraft was forced into a period of financial hardship and subsequently fell into mental decline, suffering a nervous breakdown at the age of 18 in 1908. He then spent a number of years as a recluse, still writing poetry and pursuing his interest in astronomy. He became increasingly interested in 'pulp' magazines, eventually taking to writing his own short stories, culminating in a number of them being published in Weird Tales, one of the most popular pulp fiction magazines of the time. A recurring theme in his tales was that of a supremely powerful force of evil, Great Cthulhu, who lay dormant underground and awaited the time when he would return to power and lay waste to the Earth. This background story, along with the tales of the Great Old Ones and the mythical and cursed book The Necronomicon, subsequently developed into what is now commonly known as the Cthulhu Mythos. Lovecraft died relatively young in 1937, having never had a proper book published (his stories appearing in magazines and other compendiums). Since then, countless horror authors have found his work a major inspiration, rightly making Lovecraft one of the most influential authors of the 20th century.