I wish I wish upon a fish. I'm doing school stuff and I am, at this very moment, gearing up for one of those real work-heavy bursts, y'know? I don't dare join another RP, as such, let alone moderate things! But good grief, would it be awesome to join.

And, yes! He was not PC. In fact, he is a git. I know, for certain, that he would probably hate me because not only do I not have a single droplet of New England blood in me (popping me in the 'potential cultist/cannibal' area,) I have a parent with brown skin (popping me in the 'potential horrific eldritch abomination of gaping inhuman death' area.) I don't, personally, think his stories are necessarily specifically aiming to be racist propaganda - as I see it, he really was genuinely interested in themes of inhumanity and alien-ness, the empty inhuman depths of space and such. It's just that, being racist, he tended to project those themes on other races a lot of the time. His stories, in general, have a far greater focus on those general themes, and he's a good enough writer that it usually doesn't feel, y'know, weird. Except Shadow of Innsmouth. That one is really racist. Phew. But, yeah, I know people who sort of like to avoid that stuff, so if you sort of like to avoid that stuff, here's warning. I still do, personally, feel that the good parts are faaar worthwhile, in general.

But, yes! Research! The best research is, obviously, reading his stuff, which is fairly easy in Lovecraft's case, because the majority of his work is short stories. Here we got a collection of electronic texts of his stories. It's public domain, so it's legal. This means you are not allowed to read them while wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket.

The Colour out of Space is the most solidly Lovecraftian short story you'll get - weird horror, blendings with sci-fi, set in classic Lovecraft country, another reason I don't want to spoil. It's bloody good. Genuinely one of his best.

The Dreams in the Witch House is a jolly good showcasing of the element of witchcraft and sorcery in Lovecraft's works that is usually overshadowed by Oh No Tentacles. It's a brilliant reinventing of the idea of witchcraft from a weird sci-fi perspective, it is. It also explores Lovecraft's fascination and ideas on dreaming. Also it is good. That is important.

And then there's The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. Of all of the parts of Lovecraft that are overshadowed by Oh No Tentacles, it's his Dream Cycle that gets it the worst. Which is a shame, because the Dreamlands is one of the most fascinating fantasy worlds I've seen, being totally separated from all that elves and dwarves, and having Lovecraft's styles of weirdness and horror. Dream-Quest is just like that - an oddly classic fantasy adventure, done in Lovecraftian style and creativity. It's, er. It's a bit long, but it's the Dream Cycle story I love the best and have read the most into. Lovecraft himself was pretty hard on the story, but shut up Lovecraft, you racist, I liked it! And, yes, it is, in fact, still connected to the rest of the mythos.

So those sort of cover a lot of his various facets, are fairly short (except for Kadath, whoops!) and are relatively not-racist (a sign of a great author, when that has to go into account.) A lot of the stuff on the gods and their hierarchy, as I've found, was greatly added in later on by not-Lovecraft, and a lot of those writers were, er, not quite as good at Lovecraft with his ideas for the mythos. I will also recommend Mountains of Madness, The Rats in the Walls, and The Whisperer in Darkness and a bunch of other ones I can't remember. Of course, it's your own continuum, so you don't need to, y'know, stick heavily to it or anything. But learning makes you smart, and everyone loves smart people. And if you're interested in those themes, it's good to actually see them.

Also, you considered making a personal Google account? I got a school one and I got a personal one, where I pop all my stories on. It's got a fake name and everything! I like to wear my sunglasses and leather jacket, while altering things in it.
And, er, pardon for taking a while. But, school and such.