Ambrose Bierce

The Devil's Dictionary was begun in a weekly paper in 1881, and was continued in a desultory way at long intervals until 1906. In that year a large part of it was published in covers with the title The Cynic's Word Book, a name which the author had not the power to reject or happiness to approve. To quote the publishers of the present work: "This more reverent title had previously been forced upon him by the religious scruples of the last newspaper in which a part of the work had appeared, with the natural consequence that when it came out in covers the country already had been flooded by its imitators with a score of 'cynic' books - The Cynic's This, The Cynic's That, and The Cynic's t'Other. Most of these books were merely stupid, though some of them added the distinction of silliness. Among them, they brought the word "cynic" into disfavor so deep that any book bearing it was discredited in advance of publication."Meantime, too, some of the enterprising humorists of the country had helped themselves to such parts of the work as served their needs, and many of its definitions, anecdotes, phrases and so forth, had become more or less current in popular speech. This explanation is made, not with any pride of priority in trifles, but in simple denial of possible charges of plagiarism, which is no trifle. In merely resuming his own the author hopes to be held guiltless by those to whom the work is addressed - enlightened souls who prefer dry wines to sweet, sense to sentiment, wit to humor and clean English to slang.

Collection contains: What I saw of Shiloh -- George Thurston -- Four days in Dixie -- Son of the gods -- Tough tussle -- Affair at Coulter's Notch -- Chickamauga -- Coup de grâce -- Horseman in the sky -- [Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge]( Killed at Resaca -- One of the missing -- Parker Adderson, philosopher -- Jupiter Doke, brigadier-general -- Major's tale -- Mockingbird -- One kind of officer -- One officer, one man -- Story of a conscience -- Affair of outposts -- Bivouac of the dead -- Resumed identity -- Two military executions -- Other lodgers -- Baffled ambuscade -- Three and one are one.

An American satirist, critic, poet, short story writer, editor, and journalist, Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) was admired and feared by his peers in his role as literary despot of the West Coast. Known best for the pithy and acerbic Devil's Dictionary, excerpted in this anthology, Bierce is also regarded as one of the finest storytellers of the nineteenth century. His war and horror stories are especially compelling, while his essays and journalism round out this selection from one of California' s most noteworthy authors.

- [Volume I]( - [Volume II]( - [Volume III](

The Willows / Algernon Blackwood The Shadows on the Wall / Mary E. Wilkins Freeman The Messenger / Robert W. Chambers Lazarus / Leonid Andreyev The Beast with Five Fingers / W.f. Harvey The Mass of Shadows / Anatole France What Was It? / Fitz James O'brien The Middle Toe of the Right Foot / Ambrose Bierce The Shell of Sense / Olivia Howard Dunbar The Woman At Seven Brothers / Wilbur Daniel Steele At the Gate / Myla Jo Closser Ligeia / Edgar Allan Poe The Haunted Orchard / Richard le Gallienne The Bowmen / Arthur Machen A Ghost / Guy de Maupassant

The binding thread throughout this collection of Ambrose Bierce's letters is the argument that Bierce has been too often vilified as a cynical misanthrope. The authors believe that Bierce's human side has been ignored by scholars, and they work here to rectify this oversight. The importance of this collection is underscored by the fact that no collection of Bierce's letters has been published since 1922. This selection represents a sampling of nearly one-half million words of Bierce's correspondence, which the authors are the first to gather and transcribe.

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890) is a short story by the American writer and Civil War veteran Ambrose Bierce. Described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature", it was originally published by The San Francisco Examiner on July 13, 1890, and was first collected in Bierce's book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891). The story, which is set during the American Civil War, is known for its irregular time sequence and twist ending. Bierce's abandonment of strict linear narration in favor of the internal mind of the protagonist is an early example of the stream of consciousness narrative mode.

Collection contains: Chickamauga A Horseman in the Sky Parker Adderson, Philosopher [Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge]( Two Military Executions The Mocking-Bird A Tough Tussle The Major's Tale A Son of the Gods A Man with Two Lives One of the Missing The Coup de Grace Killed at Resaca The Affair at Coulter's Notch An Affair of Outposts The Story of a Conscience One Kind of Officer One Officer, One Man George Thurston Three and One Are One A Baffled Ambuscade A Resumed Identity A Jug of Sirup Jupiter Doke, Brigadier-General The Other Lodgers The Spook House On a Mountain What I Saw of Shiloh A Little of Chickamauga The Crime at Pickett's Mill Four Days in Dixie What Occurred at Franklin 'Way Down in Alabam' A Sole Survivor A Bivouac of the Dead

Presents a collection of fiction and nonfiction writings by Ambrose Bierce based on his experiences as a member of the Union Army, composed during and in the years following the conflict, from 1864 to 1913.

Part 1 Beginnings: "Sir Bertrand - A Fragment" (1773), Anna Laetitia Aiken "The Poisoner of Montremos" (1791), Richard Cumberland "The Friar's Tale" (1792), Anonymous "Raymond - A Fragment (1799), "Juvenis" "The Parricide Punished" (1799), Anonymous "The Ruins of the Abbey of Fitz-Martin" (1801), Anonymous "The Vindictive Monk, or The Fatal Ring" (1802), Isaac Crookenden. Part 2 The 19th century: "The Astrologer's Prediction or the Maniac's Fate" (1826), Anonymous "Andreas Vesalius the Anatomist" (1833), Petrus Borel "Lady Eltringham or The Castle of Ratcliffe Cross" (1836), J. Wadham "[The Fall of the House of Usher]( (1839), Edgar Allan Poe "A Chapter in the History of the Tyrone Family" (1839), Sheridan Le Fanu "[Rappacini's Daughter]( (1844), Nathaniel Hawthorne "Selina Sedilia" (1865), Bret Harte "Jean-Ah Poquelin" (1875), George Washington Cable "Olalla" (1885), Robert Louis Stevenson "Barbara of the House of Grebe" (1891), Thomas Hardy "Bloody Blanche" (1892), Marcel Schwob "The Yellow Wall-Paper" (1892), Charlotte Perkins Stetson "[The Adventure of the Speckled Band]( (1892), Arthur Conan Doyle "Hurst of Hurstcote" (1893), E. Nesbit. Part 3 The 20th century: "A Vine on the House" (1905), Ambrose Bierce "Jordan's End" (1923), Ellen Glasgow "The Outsider" (1926), H.P. Lovecraft "[A Rose for Emily]( (1930), William Faulkner "A Rendezvous in Averoigne" (1931), Clark Ashton Smith "The Monkey" (1934), Isak Dinesen "Miss De Mannering of Asham" (1935), F.M. Mayor "The Vampire of Kaldenstein" (1938), Frederick Cowles "Clytie" (1941), Eudora Welty "Sardonicus" (1961), Ray Russell "The Bloody Countess" (1968), Alejandra Pizarnik "The Gospel According to Mark" (1970), Jorge Luis Borges "The Lady of the House of Love" (1979), Angela Carter "Secret Observations of the Goat-Girl" (1988), Joyce Carol Oates "Blood Disease" (1988), Patrick McGrath "If You Touched My Heart" (1991), Isabel Allende.

Collection contains: From In the Midst of Life Soldiers: A Horseman in the Sky [Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge]( Chickamauga A Son of the Gods One of the Missing Killed at Resaca The Affair at Coulter’s Notch The Coup de Grâce Parker Adderson, Philosopher An Affair of Outposts The Story of a Conscience One Kind of Officer The Mocking-Bird Civilians: The Man Out of the Nose The Man and the Snake The Boarded Window From Can Such Things Be? Can Such Things Be?: Moxon’s Master A Tough Tussle A Resumed Identity The Night-Doings at “Deadman’s” The Realm of the Unreal [Damned Thing]( Haïta the Shepherd The Ways of Ghosts: Present at a Hanging A Wireless Message Soldier Folk Three and One Are One from NEGLIGIBLE TALES Negligible Tales A Bottomless Grave Jupiter Doke, Brigadier-General The City of the Gone Away The Major's Tale Curried Cow A Revolt of the Gods The Parenticide Club My Favorite Murder Oil of Dog from ANTEPENULTIMATA A Bivouac of the Dead from THE OPINIONATOR The Controversialist The Short Story

A collection of satirical political writings by American author Ambrose Bierce, originally printed in newspapers and magazines from 1868 to 1910, including both fiction and essays.

Collection contains: Bret Harte: Muck-a-muck -- Right eye of the commander -- Luck of roaring camp -- Outcasts of Poker Flat -- Tennessee's partner -- Brown of Calaveras -- Mark Twain: Notorious frog of Calaveras County -- Jim Blaine and his grandfather's ram -- Scotty Briggs and the parson -- What stumped the bluejays (Jim Baker's bluejay yarn) -- Californian's tale -- Ambrose Bierce: Holy terror -- Secret of Macarger's Gulch -- Night-doings at "Deadman's" -- Stranger -- Owen Wister: Specimen Jones -- Serenade at Siskiyou -- Second Missouri compromise -- Sharon's choice -- Frederick Remington: Sergeant of the orphan troop -- Sun-down Leflare's warm spot -- Sun-down's higher self -- When a document is official -- Billy's tearless woe -- Stephen Crane: A man and some others -- Bride comes to Yellow Sky -- Twelve O'clock -- Moonlight on the snow -- Jack London: All gold canyon -- Frank Norris: Passing of Cock-eye Blacklock -- Two hearts that beat as one -- Stewart Edward White: Girl who got rattled -- Prospector -- Ole Virginia -- Corner in horses -- Two-man gun -- O. Henry: Ransom of Mack -- Call loan -- Princess and the puma -- Passing of Black Eagle -- Departmental case -- Last of the troubadours -- Mary Austin: The land -- Case of conscience -- Ploughed lands -- Return of Mr. Wills -- The Fakir -- Readjustment -- House of Offence -- Walking woman.

The Monk of horror, or The Conclave of corpses, by Anonymous The Astrologer's prediction, or The Maniac's fate, by Anonymous The expedition to Hell, by James Hogg Mateo Falcone, by Prosper Merimee [Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar]( by Edgar Allan Poe Le Grande Breteche, by Honore de Balzac The romance of certain old clothes, by Henry James Who knows?, by Guy de Maupassant The body snatcher, by Robert Louis Stevenson The death of Olivier Becaille, by Emile Zola The boarded window, by Ambrose Bierce Lost hearts, by M.R. James The sea-raiders, by H.G. Wells The derelict, by William Hope Hodgson Thurnley Abbey, by Perceval Landon The fourth man, by John Russell In the penal colony, by Franz Kafka The waxwork, by A.M. Burrage Mrs. Amworth, by E.F. Benson The reptile, by Augustus Muir Mr. Meldrum's Mania, by John Metcalfe The beast with five fingers, by William Fryer Harvey Dry September, by William Faulkner Couching at the door, by D.K. Broster The two bottles of relish, by Lord Dunsany The man who liked Dickens, by Evelyn Waugh Taboo, by Geoffrey Household The thought, by L.P. Hartley Comrade death, by Gerald Kersh Leningen versus the ants, by Carl Stephenson The brink of darkness, by Yvor Winters Activity time, by Monica Dickens Earth to Earth, by Robert Graves The dwarf, by Ray Bradbury The Portabello Road, by Muriel Spark No flies on Frank, by John Lennon Sister Coxall's revenge, by Dawn Muscillo Thou shalt not suffer a witch ..., by Dorothy K. Haynes The terrapin, by Patricia Highsmith [Man from the south]( by Roald Dahl Uneasy home-coming, by Will F. Jenkins The Aquarist, by J.N. Allan An interview with M. Chakko, by Vilas Sarang