If I had to pick a favorite Lovecraft tale, it would be this short story. This is a sequel to "The Shambler from the Stars" written by Robert Bloch in which Bloch kills off a character modeled after Lovecraft. In turn, Lovecraft kills off his lead character Robert Blake in “Haunter of the Dark." (This isn’t a spoiler, since Lovecraft kills off most of his protagonists). Blake, a writer, explores an abandoned church in the Federal Hill section of Providence, R.I. He finds it was once used by a cult, the Church of the Starry Wisdom. He finds in the church the Shining Trapezohedron, a mystic artifact. Blake unwittingly uses the stone to summon a creature from another place, a creature that can only live in total darkness. This story has an exciting end as a summer thunderstorm knocks out the power in town and the townsfolk, armed with flashlights and candles, try to contain the monster within the church walls.
