The Temple of Dagon

Hey so I'm new t othe forums and to the Cthulhu mythos of H.P. Lovecraft, I've always had an interestin mythologies, stories, epic tails, things like lord of the rings, with a huge backstory behind them, that is so strange to what we normally think of today, and the Cthulhu mythos really caught my attention lately, I've always heard of it, known its out there, but never took the time to figure it out. I recently got a borders gift card and am thinking of spending it on some H.P. Lovecraft Cthulhu mythos literature, but I have no idea where to start, where to first get into the mythos, what book is the first introduction to this massive collection of work. It seems like the fanbase has contributed alot too, how do I tell what is "canon" and what isn't, is there such thing in the mythos! Thanks for all the help!

I'm new here too..
And just like anybody else here, I'm excited with mythologies and magical stuff as well..
Hope to speak with like-minded people here..

I am a god of the mythos! Fear me and my post count!

Get a nice fat anthology with plenty of stories, make sure theyre H.P. lovecraft and not Brian Lumley or August Derleth or anything like that, dont bother too much on which book to start with, just find one that catches your interest

so could I just go to borders, say, where is your H.P. Lovecraft section of books and buy w/e one is full of his stories, and not worry about what book to start with, are they all related inthe sense that beyond the main story there is a cult worshipping these deitys? But the characters of one story dont carry over into the next? Thanks!

Most of the stories are related as far as dark gods and cults go, but they are pretty much standalone.