Ambrose Bierce Books In Order

Novels

  1. The Fiend’s Delight (1872)
  2. Cobwebs from an Empty Skull (1874)
  3. The Dance of Death (1877)
  4. The Dance of Life (1877)
  5. Black Beetles In Amber (1892)
  6. The Monk and the Hangman’s Daughter (1892)
  7. A Vision of Doom (1980)

Collections

  1. Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891)
  2. Can Such Things Be? (1893)
  3. Fantastic Fables (1899)
  4. The Shadow on the Dial (1909)
  5. The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce (1912)
  6. Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories (1913)
  7. The Best of Ambrose Bierce (1946)
  8. The Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce (1946)
  9. Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce (1964)
  10. The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce (1970)
  11. Ambrose Bierce’s Civil War (1988)
  12. The Moonlit Road (2000)
  13. The Fall of the Republic and Other Political Satires (2000)
  14. Shadows of Blue and Grey (2002)

Novellas

  1. The Man Out of the Nose (1887)
  2. One of the Missing (1888)
  3. The Affair at Coulter’s Notch (1889)
  4. The Coup de Grace (1889)
  5. One Officer, One Man (1889)
  6. The Story of a Conscience (1890)
  7. The Boarded Window (1891)
  8. Chickamauga (1891)
  9. The Eyes of the Panther (1891)
  10. A Holy Terror (1891)
  11. The Man and the Snake (1891)
  12. The Middle Toe of the Right Foot (1891)
  13. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1891)
  14. Parker Adderson, Philosopher (1891)
  15. The Suitable Surroundings (1891)
  16. A Watcher by the Dead (1891)
  17. The Applicant (1892)
  18. A Lady from Redhorse (1892)
  19. An Adventure at Brownville (1893)
  20. The Famous Gilson Bequest (1893)
  21. One Kind of Officer (1893)
  22. One Summer Night (1893)
  23. The Damned Thing (1894)
  24. A Vine on a House (1905)
  25. Beyond the Wall (1909)

Non fiction

  1. The Devil’s Dictionary (1906)
  2. Write It Right (1909)
  3. Twenty-one Letters of Ambrose Bierce (1922)
  4. A Sole Survivor (1998)
  5. The Devils Dictionaries (2004)
  6. The Letters of Ambrose Bierce (2010)

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Ambrose Bierce Books Overview

The Fiend’s Delight

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce 1842 1914 was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer and satirist, today best known for his The Devil’s Dictionary 1911. Bierce’s lucid, unsentimental style has kept him popular when many of his contemporaries have been consigned to oblivion. His dark, sardonic views and vehemence as a critic earned him the nickname, ‘Bitter Bierce.’ Such was his reputation that it was said his judgment on any piece of prose or poetry could make or break a writer’s career. His short stories are considered among the best of the 19th century, providing a popular following based on his roots. He wrote realistically of the terrible things he had seen in the war in such stories as An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,Killed at Resaca, and Chickamauga. His works include: The Fiend’s Delight 1873, Cobwebs from an Empty Skull 1874, Black Beetles in Amber 1892, Fantastic Fables 1899, Shapes of Clay 1903, Write It Right, and A Son of the Gods and A Horseman in the Sky 1909, and A Cynic Looks at Life 1912.

Cobwebs from an Empty Skull

Cobwebs from an Empty Skull is a collection of short fables and stories written under Bierce’s pseudonym, Dod Grile, and although one of his earliest published books, it still displays the wit and cynicism which colors his writing. The book is divided into three sections: ‘Fables of Zambri, the Parsee,’ an assortment of over 100 fables; ‘Brief Seasons of Intellectual Dissipation,’ discussions between a fool and a philosopher, a doctor and a soldier, respectively; and ‘Divers Tales,’ 28 different stories of an eclectic nature, including The Grateful Bear, Dr. Deadwood, I Presume, Mrs. Dennison’s Head, and Jim Beckwourth’s Pond.

Black Beetles In Amber

Death poet Pickering sat at his desk, Wrapped in appropriate gloom; His posture was pensive and picturesque, Like a raven charming a tomb. ‘The Obituarian’ Best known for his tales of bleak reality and dark imagination, Ambrose Bierce also gave expression to his sardonic, epigrammatic wit in verse form. Black Beetles In Amber collects his finest forays into versification. Some are barbed and venomous, while others are simply entertaining sallies upon the entertaining foibles of his day as in ‘The Oleomargarine Man,’ ‘On the Wedding of an Aeronaut,’ or ‘Judge Rutledge…
Sultan of Stupids!’ This entertaining collection first appeared in 1892, during the time Bierce was writing his famous ‘Prattler’ column for the San Francisco Examiner.

The Monk and the Hangman’s Daughter

On arriving at a rural monastery, the monk Ambrosius meets a young girl, Benedicta. She is shunned by the local community for being the daughter of the local hangman, but Ambrosius is drawn into a dangerous sympathy with her, and in defiance of the community and his superiors, he starts spending time alone with her. But when her virtue is corrupted by an impetuous young man, the stage is set for a battle between heart, mind, body, spirit, the sins of the past, and redemption. Allegedly a rewriting from a lost German original, Ambrose Bierce’s 1892 novel reads as a seamless, almost folktale like masterpiece.

Tales of Soldiers and Civilians

A HORSEMAN IN THE SKY.
ONE sunny afternoon in the autumn of the year 1861, a soldier lay in a clump of laurel by the side of a road in Western Virginia. He lay at full length, upon his stomach, his feet resting upon the toes, his head upon the left forearm. His extended right hand loosely grasped his rifle. But for the somewhat methodical disposition of his limbs and a slight rhythmic movement of the cartridge box at the back of his belt, he might have been thought to be dead. He was asleep at his post of duty. But if detected he would be dead shortly afterward, that being the just and legal penalty of his crime.
The clump of laurel in which the criminal lay was in the angle of a road which, after ascending, southward, a steep acclivity to that point, turned sharply to the west, running along the summit for perhaps one hundred
9

Table of Contents

A HORSEMAN IN THE SKY 9′; AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE 2t; CHICK AM AUG A 41; A SOX OF THE GODS 55; ONE OF THE MISSING 69; KILLED AT RESACA 9S; THE AFFAIR AT COULTER’S NOTCH 105; A TOUGH TUSSLEt 123; THE COUP DE GRACE 139; PARKER ADDKRSON, PHILOSOPHER 151; CIVILIANS ; A WATCHER BY THE DEAD 165; THE MAN AND THE SNAKE 187; A HOLY TERROR 200; THE SUITABLE SURROUNDINGS 227; AN INHABITANT OF CARCOSA 211; THE BOARDED WINDOW249; THE MIDDLE TOE OF THE RIGHT FOOT 259; HATTA THE SHEPHERD 277; AN HEIRESS FROM RED HORSE 289

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Can Such Things Be?

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www. million books. com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: A MAN WITH TWO LIVES HERE is the queer story of David William Duck, related by himself. Duck is an old man living in Aurora, Illinois, where he is universally respected. He is commonly known, however, as ‘ Dead Duck.’ ‘ In the autumn of 1866 I was a private soldier of the Eighteenth Infantry. My company was one of those stationed at Fort Phil Kearney, commanded by Colonel Car rington. The country is more or less familiar with the history of that garrison, particularly with the slaughter by the Sioux of a detachment of eighty one men and officers not one escaping through disobedience of orders by its commander, the brave but reckless Captain Fetterman. When that occurred, I was trying to make my way with important dispatches to Fort C. F. Smith, on the Big Horn. As the country swarmed with hostile Indians, I traveled by night and concealed myself as best I could before daybreak. The better to do so, I went afoot, armed with a Henry rifle and carrying three days’ rations in my haversack. ‘ For my second place of concealment I chose what seemed in the darkness a narrow canon leading through a range of rocky hills. It contained many large bowlders, detached from the slopes of the hills. Behind one of these, in a clump of sage brush, I made my bed for the day, and soon fell asleep.’ It seemed as if I had hardly closed my eyes, though in fact it was near midday, when I was awakened by the report of a rifle, the bullet striking the bowlder just above my body. A band of Indians had trailed me and had me nearly surrounded; the shot had been fired with an execrable aim by a fellow who had caught sight of me from the hillside above. The smoke of his rifle betrayed him, and I was no sooner on my feet than he was off his and rolling down the declivity. Then I ran in a stooping postu…

Fantastic Fables

Ambrose Bierce 1842 – 1914 was a short story writer, an editorialist, a satirist and a journalist. He is best known for his Devil’s Dictionary. His sardonic view of human nature and his tough stance as a critic earned him the nickname ‘Bitter Bierce’. Despite his reputation Bierce always encouraged young writers. Bierce went to Mexico to get a first hand view of the revolution. He disappeared without a trace. This large collection of fables includes The Moral Principle and the Material Interest — The Crimson Candle — The Blotted Escutcheon and the Soiled Ermine — The Ingenious Patriot — Two Kings — An Officer and a Thug — The Conscientious Official — How Leisure Came and much more.

The Shadow on the Dial

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce 1842 1914 was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer and satirist, today best known for his The Devil’s Dictionary 1911. He wrote some of his books under the pseudonyms Dod Grile and J. Milton Sloluck. Bierce’s lucid, unsentimental style has kept him popular when many of his contemporaries have been consigned to oblivion. His dark, sardonic views and vehemence as a critic earned him the nickname, ‘Bitter Bierce. ‘ Such was his reputation that it was said his judgment on any piece of prose or poetry could make or break a writer’s career. His short stories are considered among the best of the 19th century, providing a popular following based on his roots. He wrote realistically of the terrible things he had seen in the war in such stories as An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Killed at Resaca, and Chickamauga. His works include: The Fiend’s Delight 1873, Cobwebs from an Empty Skull 1874, Black Beetles in Amber 1892, Fantastic Fables 1899, Shapes of Clay 1903, A Son of the Gods, and A Horseman in the Sky 1907, Write It Right 1909 and A Cynic Looks at Life 1912.

The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce 1842 1914 was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer and satirist, today best known for his The Devil’s Dictionary 1911. He wrote some of his books under the pseudonyms Dod Grile and J. Milton Sloluck. Bierce’s lucid, unsentimental style has kept him popular when many of his contemporaries have been consigned to oblivion. His dark, sardonic views and vehemence as a critic earned him the nickname, ‘Bitter Bierce. ‘ Such was his reputation that it was said his judgment on any piece of prose or poetry could make or break a writer’s career. His short stories are considered among the best of the 19th century, providing a popular following based on his roots. He wrote realistically of the terrible things he had seen in the war in such stories as An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Killed at Resaca, and Chickamauga. His works include: The Fiend’s Delight 1873, Cobwebs from an Empty Skull 1874, Black Beetles in Amber 1892, Fantastic Fables 1899, Shapes of Clay 1903, A Son of the Gods, and A Horseman in the Sky 1907, Write It Right 1909 and A Cynic Looks at Life 1912.

Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce 1842 1914 was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer and satirist, today best known for his The Devil’s Dictionary 1911. He wrote some of his books under the pseudonyms Dod Grile and J. Milton Sloluck. Bierce’s lucid, unsentimental style has kept him popular when many of his contemporaries have been consigned to oblivion. His dark, sardonic views and vehemence as a critic earned him the nickname, ‘Bitter Bierce. ‘ Such was his reputation that it was said his judgment on any piece of prose or poetry could make or break a writer’s career. His short stories are considered among the best of the 19th century, providing a popular following based on his roots. He wrote realistically of the terrible things he had seen in the war in such stories as An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Killed at Resaca, and Chickamauga. His works include: The Fiend’s Delight 1873, Cobwebs from an Empty Skull 1874, Black Beetles in Amber 1892, Fantastic Fables 1899, Shapes of Clay 1903, A Son of the Gods, and A Horseman in the Sky 1907, Write It Right 1909 and A Cynic Looks at Life 1912.

Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce

modern horror stories by American master. ‘The Eyes of the Panther,’ ‘The Damned Thing,’ 21 more. ‘These pieces are not dated, nor are they lacking any of the narrative elements necessary to attract and hold the attention of anyone interested in the horror genre.’ SF Booklog.

The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce

Before he trailed off into the wilds of Mexico, never to be heard from again, Ambrose Bierce achieved a public persona as ‘bitter Bierce’ and ‘the devil’s lexicographer.’ He left behind a nasty reputation and more than ninety short stories that are perfect expressions of his sardonic genius. Brought together in this volume, these stories represent an unprecedented accomplishment in American literature. In their iconoclasm and needle sharp irony, their formal and thematic ingenuity and element of surprise, they differ markedly from the fiction admired in Bierce’s time. Readers familiar with the classic An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge will want to turn to Bierce’s other Civil War stories. Also included here are his horror stories, among them The Death of Halpin Frayser and The Damned Thing, and such tall tales as Oil of Dog and A Cargo of Cat.

Ambrose Bierce’s Civil War

This powerful collection contains the very best of this world renowned author’s writings. All of the short stories and factual accounts of the Civil War presented here form a searing, unflinching portrait of this terrible war. For fiction and non fiction fans and history buffs alike.

The Moonlit Road

Naxos AudioBooks continues its new series of Great Poets represented by a collection of their most popular poems on one CD with W. B. Yeats, one of the most loved poets of the 20th century. He left a large legacy of outstanding poems, and the finest are collected here: Down by the Salley Gardens, The Lake Isle of Inisfree, The Secret Rose and He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven. They are read by a strong cast led by Olivier award winner Jim Norton.

Shadows of Blue and Grey

Ambrose Bierce didn’t just write about the Civil War, he lived through it on the battlefields and over the graves and in doing so gave birth to a literary chronicle of men at war previously unseen in the American literary canon. The fact that some of these stories verged on the supernatural, others on factual reporting, and others on the fine line between humor and morbidity in no way detracts from their resonance to both the history of the war between the states and the imaginative historical literature in the tradition of Washington Irving. Shadows of Blue & Gray collects all of Bierce’s Civil War stories twenty seven in total with six of his memoir pieces on his own experiences on the front lines. This collection includes such classics as ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,’ ‘A Horseman in the Sky,’ ‘Parker Addison, Philosopher’, and ‘A Bivouac of the Dead’; as well as lesser known stories and sketches such as ‘The Mockingbird’ and ‘Two Military Executions’ and memoirs of his experiences at Shiloh, Chickamauga, and Franklin.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

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The Devil’s Dictionary

Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another. Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary And this is just one of hundreds of pithy quotations taken directly from Ambrose Bierces wildly popular and hilarious dictionary, aptly named The Devils Dictionary. In the preface, Bierce explains how The Devils Dictionary came to be: it is a collection of satirical word definitions that were first published in a newspaper over the course of several years. Bierce wrote the definitions as criticisms of political and social hypocrisy. The droll definitions and sharp wit of Bierce became incredibly popular. Soon, other publications were printing the definitions. Bierce was anthologized in many compilations of cynic writers, works that gained a reputation for being silly. To refute the bad reputation his intelligent and exacting definitions were receiving by being associated with such idiocy, Bierce compiled his work and published it as The Devils Dictionary. To his supporters he writes, 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. Bierce chose the title The Devils Dictionary over the title The Cynics Word Book. The dictionary has become a classic, and its candid observations have remained relevant a century later. Bierces canon of work includes poetry, many short stories, and several novels and essays. The Devils Dictionary is a unique work that perfectly illustrates his amazing capacity for impeccable word choice, his skepticism, and his dry humor and wit. Title: The Devils Dictionary Author: Ambrose Bierce ISBN: 9781775420248 Version: Unabridged Language: English Reader: Various Format: MP3 Audio CD Tracks / Chapters: 17 Chapters Total running time: 08:25:48

Write It Right

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www. million books. com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: AIMS AND THE PLAN The author’s main purpose in this book is to teach precision in writing; and of good writing which, essentially, is clear thinking made visible precision is the point of capital concern. It is attained by choice of the word that accurately and adequately expresses what the writer has in mind, and by exclusion of that which either denotes or connotes something else. As Quintilian puts it, the writer should so write that his reader not only may, but must, understand. Few words have more than one literal and serviceable meaning, however many metaphorical, derivative, related, or even unrelated, meanings lexicographers may think it worth while to gather from all sorts and conditions of men, with which to bloat their absurd and misleading dic tionaries. This actual and serviceable meaning not always determined by derivation, and seldom by popular usage is the one affirmed, according to his light, by the author of this little manual of solecisms. Narrow etymons of the mere scholar and loose locutions of the ignorant are alike denied a standing. The plan of the book is more illustrative than expository, the aim being to use the terms of etymology and syntax as little as is compatible with clarity, familiar example being more easily apprehended than technical precept. When both are employed the precept is commonly given after the example has prepared the student to apply it, not only to the matter in mind, but to similar matters not mentioned. Everything in quotation marks is to be understood as disapproved. Not all locutions blacklisted herein are always to be reprobated as universal outlaws. Excepting in the case of capital offenders expressions ancestrally vulgar or irreclaimably degenerate absolute proscription is possible as to serious composition…

Twenty-one Letters of Ambrose Bierce

1922. A fascinating collection of letters written by Ambrose Bierce, poet, satirist, adventurer, journalist and supreme storyteller to Loveman prior to his sailing away to South America. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

The Devils Dictionaries

This compilation of hundreds of biting, witty, cruel, and hilarious definitions combines the best 200 definitions from Ambrose Bierce’s classic The Devil’s Dictionary, with more than 500 definitions from the most humorous and stinging entries in Chaz Bufe’s The American Heretic’s Dictionary. This new edition includes 50 new definitions from Bufe and new biting illustrations by San Francisco artist and filmmaker J. R. Swanson. The Bierce definitions focus on his favorite targets, including religion, jingoism masquerading as patriotism, the ‘lickspittle’ press, the thievery inherent in the American economic system, and the multitude of idiocies and hypocrisies pervading American social and political life. Bufe’s definitions share many of the same targets, but also skewer such contemporary plagues as the ‘right to life’ movement, religious fundamentalism, the IRS, and the puritanically ‘politically correct.’ Bufe also turns a jaundiced eye on both male and female sexual attitudes, something which Bierce, writing in much more conservative times, was not free to do.

The Letters of Ambrose Bierce

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

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