I'm no literary or intellectual property expert, but I have attributed Lovecraft's rise with the fact[0] that the Cthulhu mythos is a) entertaining and well-wri

I'm no literary or intellectual property expert, but I have attributed Lovecraft's rise with the fact[0] that the Cthulhu mythos is a) entertaining and well-written, and b) effectively exists in the public domain, and c) is one of the last unique narratives that legally exist in the public domain, allowing anyone to legally help grow the corpus. In other words, writers don't have to pay licenses or royalties for use of the universe, and their stories can enjoy the benefit of being framed by the previously-written canon without being pigeonholed. I would think this can help grease the wordsmith's skids. [0] I don't know if any of this is true or factual, I'm very open to corrections and other interpretations!