H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937) was the author of many short stories and the father of cosmicism. He wrote about a universe that is utterly meaningless and the cosmic horrors that live therein. He is considered the greatest writer of horror to live in the age after Poe and before Stephen King.
Tentacles? Forbidden knowledge? Esoteric cults? You must be reading an H. P. Lovecraft story.
H. P. Lovecraft
Perfectly dreadful writer, considered the father of gothic horror stories. Has good ideas, but also has a fascination with long, pointless adjecties and hyperbole. Best known for the short story Call of Cthulhu among other things.
H. P. Lovecraft's writing is so predictable that even the worst translator can translate it from English to Russian to French to English and have it come out exactly like the original!