I'm really picky when it comes to stories I like, and I was expecting Poe version 2.0 when I picked up Lovecraft, but his shit is bananas. He might be my favorite author.
Just read this and you'll get a pretty good understanding of what his writing is like:
http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/bookid.2723/sec./
Looks like a lot of his stories can be read online for free.