I am not familiar with Vance, Merrit, or Fanu (not really Hodgson).
In regards to poets, I think Byron's the best. Keats is good though. I prefer to read George Sterling and CAS (or their style), though I wouldn't consider them to be as
skilled
As for the writers in that list, here is my order of preference:
Clark Aston Smith
Lord Dunsany
H.P Lovecraft
E.A Poe
Algernon Blackwood
Arthur Machen
M.R. James
Shakespeare was probably skilled, but I find him (for the greater part) uninteresting.
I find Clark Ashton Smith most colourful, engaging and enchanting, whilst Dunsany is lyrical. Lovecraft's characters are stilted and uninteresting (except for Pickman), so he might be next to or below Poe. I have to read more of Machen (started "The Hill of Dreams").
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 28 Mar 12 | 03:20AM by MesMorial.