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Ashes
"Ashes" is a horror short story by author H.P. Lovecraft and C. M. Eddy, Jr. It first appeared in the March 1924 issue of Weird Tales. It is one of the few short stories by Lovecraft that has a happy ending.
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1923
About the author
H.P. Lovecraft
6,551 books19.7k followersHoward Phillips Lovecraft, of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction.
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
— Wikipedia
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
— Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
January 24, 2015
Awesome, although the end was a little bit obvious.
(When I read books like this, I become scared of being a chemist :p)
(When I read books like this, I become scared of being a chemist :p)
November 9, 2021
2.5 Stars
rounded up to 3 Stars.
March 9, 2022
1923: Ashes (with C. M. Eddy, Jr)
“She reeled, and would have fallen had I not caught her in my arms….The feel of her soft, yielding body held close to my own was the last straw. I cast prudence to the winds and crushed her tightly to my breast. Kiss after kiss I pressed upon her full red lips, until her eyes opened and I saw the lovelight reflected in them.”
Image:
“Ashes” is arguably the forty-eighth oldest surviving story worked on by American weird fiction author H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937). It was written sometime in 1923 by author C.M. Eddy and “revised” by HPL. The story was first published in a March 1924 issue of Weird Tales.
Joshi & Schultz (2001) surmise that Lovecraft probably just did some proofreading and minor edits to “Ashes.” The author’s style is almost completely absent from the tale and no one would know that he worked on it if he had not mentioned it in one of his letters. “Ashes” a clumsily written tale with a stupid plot. That quote I included at the beginning of this review shows off just how bad it gets. Skip this story unless you are a Lovecraft completist. Azathoth help me, I am one of those people: I am reading all of HPL’s stories in chronological order. Hopefully, his other three collaborations with Eddy aren’t so bad: “The Loved Dead” (1923), “The Ghost-Eater” (1923), and “Deaf, Dumb, and Blind” (1924?).
Title: “Ashes”
Author: H.P. Lovecraft
Dates: 1923 (written), 1924 (published)
Genre: Fiction - Short story, science fiction, horror
Word count: who cares?
Date(s) read: 3/9/22
Reading journal entry #88 in 2022
Sources:
Link to the story: https://hplovecraft.com/writings/fict...
First publication citation: Weird Tales vol. 3, no. 3 (March 1924): 22–24
Joshi, S. T., & Schultz, D. E. (2001). An H.P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press.
Link to the image: https://www.tor.com/2019/10/16/lovecr...
“She reeled, and would have fallen had I not caught her in my arms….The feel of her soft, yielding body held close to my own was the last straw. I cast prudence to the winds and crushed her tightly to my breast. Kiss after kiss I pressed upon her full red lips, until her eyes opened and I saw the lovelight reflected in them.”
Image:
“Ashes” is arguably the forty-eighth oldest surviving story worked on by American weird fiction author H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937). It was written sometime in 1923 by author C.M. Eddy and “revised” by HPL. The story was first published in a March 1924 issue of Weird Tales.
Joshi & Schultz (2001) surmise that Lovecraft probably just did some proofreading and minor edits to “Ashes.” The author’s style is almost completely absent from the tale and no one would know that he worked on it if he had not mentioned it in one of his letters. “Ashes” a clumsily written tale with a stupid plot. That quote I included at the beginning of this review shows off just how bad it gets. Skip this story unless you are a Lovecraft completist. Azathoth help me, I am one of those people: I am reading all of HPL’s stories in chronological order. Hopefully, his other three collaborations with Eddy aren’t so bad: “The Loved Dead” (1923), “The Ghost-Eater” (1923), and “Deaf, Dumb, and Blind” (1924?).
Title: “Ashes”
Author: H.P. Lovecraft
Dates: 1923 (written), 1924 (published)
Genre: Fiction - Short story, science fiction, horror
Word count: who cares?
Date(s) read: 3/9/22
Reading journal entry #88 in 2022
Sources:
Link to the story: https://hplovecraft.com/writings/fict...
First publication citation: Weird Tales vol. 3, no. 3 (March 1924): 22–24
Joshi, S. T., & Schultz, D. E. (2001). An H.P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press.
Link to the image: https://www.tor.com/2019/10/16/lovecr...
May 24, 2026
There's something eldritch and unnatural about a Lovecraft story with a sex scene.
This is almost hilariously dumb and bad. At first I thought we were going to get some Lovecraftian mad science. Some Cool Air, Herbert West: Reanimator, or From Beyond. And then it seems like we're almost going to do some resurrectionist necromancy à la The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, but then we don't get either? The magic discovery is just a chemical that turns everything to ash. Which, you know... fire already does? There's absolutely no explanation as to why the scientist is so excited about this discovery and its uses for destruction either. The final double bluff twist is fairly entertaining just in how silly it is. But I'm not sure that's the story's intent. I suspect he didn't have much to do with it though really. The "love story" too is just paper thin.
1.5 Glass Coffins out of 5
⚰️.5⬛⬛⬛⬛
This is almost hilariously dumb and bad. At first I thought we were going to get some Lovecraftian mad science. Some Cool Air, Herbert West: Reanimator, or From Beyond. And then it seems like we're almost going to do some resurrectionist necromancy à la The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, but then we don't get either? The magic discovery is just a chemical that turns everything to ash. Which, you know... fire already does? There's absolutely no explanation as to why the scientist is so excited about this discovery and its uses for destruction either. The final double bluff twist is fairly entertaining just in how silly it is. But I'm not sure that's the story's intent. I suspect he didn't have much to do with it though really. The "love story" too is just paper thin.
"I've just been through the most devilish, gruesome experience that ever befell a man."
1.5 Glass Coffins out of 5
⚰️.5⬛⬛⬛⬛
May 26, 2019
Малкольм Брюс приходить в гості до свого друга і розповідає йому дивовижну історію. Він працював асистентом у хіміка Артура ван Аллістера. Крім нього, там ще була прислуга і секретарка Марджорі Парді. Профессор ван Аллістер розробляв рідину, яка здатна розчинити будь-що. Одного разу він запросив Малкольма до себе. Той побачив в кабінеті одяг Марджорі і вирішив, що професор провів експеримент на ній. Між чоловіками зчинилася сутичка, Малкольм вбив професора і розчинив його в рідині. Згодом, на щастя, виявилося, що Марджорі була замкнена, але жива.
October 18, 2019
Interesting effort. It's fairly clear that Lovecraft wasn't responsible for the competent, genuinely interesting, female character. She did get damseled, but you can't have everything.
I am nearly always puzzled by the POV choice in Lovecraft and his cohort's work. Either of the "assistants" would have been better choices.
I am nearly always puzzled by the POV choice in Lovecraft and his cohort's work. Either of the "assistants" would have been better choices.
October 10, 2021
Okay, so this is not Lovecraft's usual tone by a mile and it's rather corny, but I love it. I can't articulate it properly, but it delights me that Lovecraft had a hand in this silly romance story with a happy ending.
December 18, 2021
An interesting read. Just started diving in the H. P. Lovecraft works and this was one of the first two I picked. Felt like a softer read than what I was expecting.
Nevertheless, it remained compelling till the end.
Nevertheless, it remained compelling till the end.
September 12, 2021
"Ashes" er okay, men meget overfladisk og tynd som historie. Den vil ikke rigtig noget og har modsat den sci fi og gyser litteratur den kopiere, som Frankenstein, intet budskab.
November 15, 2022
Влияние Говарда минимально. Я надеюсь.
September 10, 2023
Makes you think about the fight between Logic and Instinct in all of us when put under pressure.
April 7, 2024
Really ended feeling like "ok but where's the story"
February 19, 2025
6/10 - Short Story.
August 5, 2025
I was shocked by how entertaining this is
September 25, 2025
Such an immaculate naming sense. Who thought of such a beautiful name for our narrator.
Lest I merely jest, this short story probably did not see much involvement of Lovecraft.
Lest I merely jest, this short story probably did not see much involvement of Lovecraft.
July 14, 2026
Pretty poor stuff.
August 25, 2020
https://archive.org/details/WeirdTale...
https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/...
>> S.T. Joshi described Ashes as "perhaps the single worst tale among H.P. Lovecraft's 'revisions'". <<
At least it's short.
https://www.tor.com/2019/10/16/lovecr...
https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/...
>> S.T. Joshi described Ashes as "perhaps the single worst tale among H.P. Lovecraft's 'revisions'". <<
At least it's short.
https://www.tor.com/2019/10/16/lovecr...
June 4, 2015
Científicos locos. Nada más que eso. :D
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews