Customer Reviews

Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce

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Bierce ranks with Poe and Lovecraft as one of the greatest American writers of horror stories. This collection presents a selection of his supernatural tales, leaving out the Civil War stories for which he is perhaps better known. The first story, "The Death of Halpin Frayser", is a genuine nightmare, and well worth the price of the volume on its own. But the book also includes Bierce's genre-bending experiments with science fiction, "Moxon's Master" and "The Damned Thing"; the cynical Rashomon precursor "The Moonlit Road"; the apocalyptic "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" and "The Eyes of the Panther", a lycanthrope story (maybe) which grows more unsettling the more you think about it, as well as a number of minor works which may be hard to find elsewhere. The only real flaw is E F Bleiler's sanctimonious introduction, which seems to attempt to escape the satiric snap of Bierce's work by repeating unpleasant (and largely unreliable) opinions of the writer. Watch out for this book - even the cover is scary.

Ambrose Bierce is an American original. His tales of ghosts and horror are like no other, and one story in particular, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," is considered to be, in some circles, a classic.

Bierce's writings are also an acquired taste -- one gets the impression that he knew a bit about what he wrote: inner torment and a feeling of unsettlement. The preface to the book is very illuminating, giving us some insight into his personal life, which was then translated into these tales. Personally, I find them fascinating, but others may not. It's up to you to decide.

Anyone that enjoys a good ghost story will certainly like these tales. In contrast, the author himself, Ambrose Bierce, was apparently unlikable. He was described as vindictive, rancorous, and even malevolent. Nonetheless, his stories remain popular a century later, perhaps proving something profound.

Bierce's literary style is occasionally too concise, too factual, possibly reflecting his long years as a journalist in San Francisco in the late 1800s. However, this factual approach sometimes works to Bierce's advantage by lending authenticity to his stories.

These twenty-four tales, titled Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce, offer a wide range of supernatural topics. Bierce's prophetic theme in Moxon's Master, that of man versus machine, remains a staple of modern science fiction today. His handling of The Man and the Snake is surprisingly mature for an early psychological thriller. His classic, The Moonlit Road, tells a ghost story from three perspectives, including that of the dead victim. Unless my memory fails me, Bierce's startling story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was vividly portrayed years ago on the Twilight Zone. Other favorites include The Death of Halpin Frayser, The Eyes of the Panther, and The Middle Toe of the Right Foot.

Three stories - The Ways of Ghosts, Some Haunted Houses, and Mysterious Disappearances - are in themselves collections of short tales, reported from a journalistic perspective. The cumulative effect of these short accounts adds credence to them. One's skepticism begins to fade.

Despite Bierce's rather unpleasant disposition, a sense of humor surfaces in some stories. A Jug of Syrup, The Haunted Valley, A Watcher by the Dead, and the section titles in The Damned Thing are examples of Bierce's sometimes misplaced humor.

Other accounts like The Secret of Macarger's Gulch, The Night Doing's at Deadman's, and Beyond the Wall are more conventional ghost stories, albeit with a little flavoring from Bierce. The final entry, Visions of the Night, recounts particularly vivid nightmares remembered by Ambrose Bierce himself.

The solid introduction by E. F. Bleiler provides a fascinating biographical sketch of the irascible Ambrose Bierce and examines the characteristics of Bierce's unique style. This Dover collection was first published in 1964 and remains in print.

Don't confuse this larger collection with a shorter Dover edition titled The Moonlit Road and Other Ghost and Horror Stories by Ambrose Bierce. The short Thrift Edition contains only twelve stories. All twelve are quite good; however, nine of the stories are found in the larger Dover edition reviewed above.

I really like Ambrose Bierce as a writer. His humor and his creepy way of dealing with tragedy makes for a wonderfully sinister reading experience. If you haven't read The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary then you haven't read dictionary-related humor. I was actually eager to read this particular collection but instead of a collection of creepy and evil horror stories, I ended up reading one of the lamest "greatest hits" collections since Eurythmics - Greatest Hits and unlike that awful thing, this doesn't have the excuse of purposefully being created to prop up a thoroughly mediocre album like Revenge.

The only excuse you can make for this collection is the fact that it was collected in 1964 and readers in the early 60s were more optimistic, less eager to question authority, not entirely prone to breaking away from society only to discover that their new friends are full of sociopaths like Charles Manson. Still, I really can't excuse ANY Ambrose Bierce collection that fails to include "An Imperfect Conflagration" or his creepy understated tales of terror in which the protagonists talk about murder, patricide, killing guests, etc. in a matter of fact tone that makes every horrible event seem like an annoying business meeting or crying baby.

Instead, this collection is full of boring ghost stories that telegraph the ending to the reader in the first paragraph and "real life" stories that wouldn't past muster at a campfire. If you want to know the ending to most of these stories, just say "And then he realized that he was talking to a dead man" and listen to an organ going crazy in your head. For every classic like "Incident at Owl Creek Bridge" and "The Moonlit Road" there are 5-6 terrible stories that never should have stayed in print and probably went out of print a long time ago.

Ambrose Bierce was a great writer - hilarious, morbid and cynical. You wouldn't know it from most of the dreck in this collection.

While looking for ghost story collections, I was pleasantly surprised to find this book. I knew Ambrose Bierce penned _The Devil's Dictionary_ but hadn't seen or heard of an anthology of his supernatural tales. The editor, E. F. Bleiler, collects 24 of his best in this book, and also provides an excellent overview of Bierce's history and writing in the introduction. He includes well-known, often collected stories like "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", "The Damned Thing", and "An Inhabitant of Carcosa."; this last story is quoted by Robert W. Chambers at the beginning of his short story "The King in Yellow." Bierce's supernatural themes also influenced the writings of H. P. Lovecraft.

Drawing on his own experiences as a Civil War veteran and a San Franciscan journalist, Bierce uses the backdrop of the Civil War, the South and California as the setting in many of his tales. His highly intelligent, highly critical and biting personality comes through in the bizarre menagerie of characters populating his narratives, in the descriptions of their actions and in the world they inhabit. The story "A Watcher by the Dead" contains shady physicians who bet their associate that he can't spend a night locked in a room with a corpse. The main character in "The Death of Halpin Fraser" has an unnervingly intimate relationship with his mother which haunts his dreams. The craggy tavern keeper of "The Haunted Valley" condemns his Chinese laborer for his method of chopping down trees, while Mr. Beeson in "The Night-Doings at `Deadman's'" keeps the pigtail from his dead Chinese hand firmly nailed to his log cabin wall to prevent him from taking it back to the grave. The general store-keeper in "A Jug of Sirup" stays behind his counter throughout his life and after his death.

Bierce creates many unusual situations that make for very unsettling stories: two men duel with knives in the pitch dark of a haunted house with a most unexpected result in "The Middle Toe of the Right Foot"; a man witnesses a confrontation between an inventor and his metal machine in "Moxon's Master"; a mysterious stranger reveals the fate of four cowboys surrounded by murderous Indians in "The Stranger". In one of the best stories in the collection "The Moonlit Road", reminiscent of Kurosawa's Rashomon, we hear a ghost story from three separate participant's perspectives, including that of the ghost. Bierce's writings reflect his remarkably striking and acerbic talent with words.

In fact, it's Bierce's unique writing style which, for me, lessened the appeal of his stories. As demonstrated so skillfully in _The Devil's Dictionary_, Bierce employs highly original, ironic perspectives in his descriptions of people, places and events, which at his best make his stories exceptionally witty and memorable. It often, unfortunately, comes across as an intrusive, garrulous display of intellect, taking the reader out of the story.
I found myself wading through tedious sections, too often at the stories' beginning, in hopes of finally reaching the spark of dreadfulness. "The Ways of Ghosts", "Some Haunted Houses" and "'Mysterious Disappearances'", each comprised of several frightful shorts, made my list of favorites because the ultra-quick length only allowed for Bierce's unique disturbing ideas without his cocky wordiness.

_The Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce_ is a great anthology of supernatural tales from a noteworthy author/journalist. I'm glad I've read it; I'm also glad I've finished reading it. Make sure you have a comfy couch to relax in during the long hours you'll spend reading this book.

This book should be considered a classic for all that it offers (and for such an unbelievably low price!) Better than today's masters of macabre, Bierce goes deep into the mind of macabre. His stories make you contemplate the truth of the existence of what he writes about. If you want truly "deep" horror, I would highly suggest the works of Bierce and this book is a great place to start.

This was an excellent book. I ordered it because we had to do readings for an English class, but I got so engrossed in the stories required that I ended up reading the entire book cover to cover. Highly recommended!!

Hello, Bierce ranks with Poe and Lovecraft as one of the greatest American writers of horror stories, I love his writing and find his style to be creative but he leaves a lot to th imagination, I love this collection because it tells you a lot about the author and he is a very interesting man and inspiring horror writers can learn a lot just from the introduction to this book if you like horror storys you should read ambrose bierce,I am a lot like him i wonder if I am him reincarnated :) take care all enjoy the book

To be as fair as possible, my bias in ghost or horror stories runs toward New England and old England. I just don't find the West ... scary. In addition, Bierce's style is very no-nonsense, straight-forward, factual reporting (which he can hardly be faulted for, since that was his job). Finally, the foreword was surprisingly negative, both about the author and his work. It colored my reading of the rest of this book, and I am amazed that the editor chose to allow it. My recommendation is to read the book, and then the foreword last, so that it doesn't color your impression of the rest of the stories.

"An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge" is the canard that almost everyone has read in school at some time or another.
"Beyond the Wall," about a man who breaks an unusual relationship for spite and is haunted by the outcome, is somewhat famous, as is "The Damned Thing," possibly for its ironic chapter titles.
"The Man and the Snake" also has appeared in anthologies before, being somewhat of a psychological study.

My favorites were
"The Ways of Ghosts," "Mysterious Disappearances," and "Some Haunted Houses" are short, factual tellings of supernatural incidents, which showcase Bierce's writing style and produce an air of authenticity.
"The Suitable Surroundings" was another interesting tale dealing with newspapers, another area where I expected Bierce to shine.

In short, Bierce has a particular style that seems to me to not carry over well to terror/horror writing. Sometimes a particular story will resonate with his abilities, and then you are glad to be reading the book.

I bought the kindle version linked from this page and it was a different book!