Lovecraft. If we are talking about the people who expanded the genre, who opened us to new ideas, Lovecraft is right in the middle. Wells opened up scifi to t

Lovecraft. If we are talking about the people who expanded the genre, who opened us to new ideas, Lovecraft is right in the middle. Wells opened up scifi to the idea of interplanetary conflict, Lovecraft opened scifi to the concept of deep time. Dune would not have been Dune without Lovecraft opening the door to interstellar conflict across deep time.