There was an author before lovecraft, I believe he was an ambulance driver in ww 1, or something. I know he was on ww 1 and one of the stories talked about how much that shit sucked. I think he’s died young, like 20s. Had a few published stories.
Ring any bells for anyone?
Edit: title…
That sounds like William Hope Hodgson. He was in an artillery company rather than an ambulance driver. He wrote The Night Land and The House on the Borderland, two of my favourite novels.
William Hope Hodgson was a prolific British author. H.P. Lovecraft lists Hodgson works to be among his greatest influences. His works are also known to have inspired Clark Ashton Smith and Henry S. Whitehead. Among all his most influential works you can find:
The House on the Borderland (1908)
Another author worth mentioning is Algernon Blackwood and his short story The Willows was praised by H.P. Lovecraft as the finest supernatural tale in English literature