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I like fantasy and sci fi, but not Horror, although I did like "Boy's Life."

Should I try Lovecraft?

I've never read any Lovecraft, although I've long thought I should. His stuff is so classic, and referenced by so much that came later, that it just seems I should read it.

I'd definitely recommend at least trying Lovecraft, if for no other reason than the one Bear mentions, he's a big influence on a lot of other authors. HPL is sort of a mix of fantasy, SF, and horror, some stories emphasizing one over the other. His fantasy works, inspired by Lord Dunsany (another great writer who also influenced Tolkien), are mostly in his earlier stuff, collected in Dagon and Other Macabre Tales. Later in his career he gave his fantasy an SF premise and produced a unique SF-horror hybrid that, however, still maintains a fantasy aura about it, a sense of otherworldliness. IMO his best story is "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" so that's one I'd recommend as an introduction. Most of his other best stories are in the Dunwich Horror and Others collection I linked before. These are mostly short stories; he's also got some longer novellas collected in At the Mountains of Madness. I'd say try a few of the shorter stories in Dunwich Horror first and get a feel for whether you like his style or not. Sam, he's got a few stories that touch on painting in the premise, such as "Pickman's Model" and "The Picture in the House", which you might find interesting from that perspective. Other than that, besides "Shadow Over Innsmouth", I'd also recommend as representative stories "Call of Cthulhu", "The Colour Out of Space", "The Dunwich Horror", "The Whisperer in Darkness", and "Under the Pyramids". For a more fantasy-oriented story you might try "Polaris", "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath", "The Silver Key", or "Through the Gates of the Silver Key".