The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce

Some truly classic war and ghost stories. Unfortunately in the case of the latter, the sequence becomes monotonous, with the same trick ending to every tale. The sheer repetition is almost absurd and certainly infuriating. There’s a single gem of weird fiction that stands out, not least of all because it gave birth to Chamber’s The King in Yellow and the dread city of Carcossa. I wish Bierce had written more fantasy. Humorous surreal specimens occupy the latter portion of the book—interesting but grating. Overall, worth it for the few absolute classics, which are worthy of being read over and over again.

I'm a forty-percent disabled Vietnam combat-veteran.My great-grandfather was a disabled combat veteran;my grandfather (1865-1960) a 100%-disabled veteran;Dad (1913-1999) was a 20%-disabled WWII veteran...a SEVERE injury c-a-n effect the rest of your life.Ambrose Bierce---during the American Civil War---was shot in the face.The bullet travelled around the outside of his skull, and came out the back of his head.Bullets in THOSE days were more round than today, but, his survival---none-the-less---was miraculous. His stories reflect war, horror, and death... in a fraction of the words thatanyone else would stretch out into a long [boring] novel.My wind wonders, and easily. I LOVE short story anthologies. THIS Bierce's collection is re-markable for someone that was in combat about the time MY grandfather was born.In certain ways I can relate to this satirist. He saw things differently, and seemingly, had astory about a wide range of subjects.He was well educated with a compact delivery. Not everyone can write... novels, OR, shortstories. Many of these [short] stories, are written in both first- and third-person. He, often,comes to a fork-in-the-road, and does what many of us would do... he takes it.The slightly different paths he takes in his stories are, OFTEN, pulled to finality in the finalhalf-dozen words.The Civil War stories are the best ones, but, the horror stories are ahead of their time, andnothing like what you'd see on The SyFy Channel. Bierce---because of his injury, and seeingDEATH so often early in his life---has a macabre fascination with death, but, leaves gore tothe imagination.The "tall tales" are cleverly ridiculous.Bierce was agnostic, but, puts Christianity into a fair number of his stories... The Bible, before theturn of the 20th century was often the o-n-l-y book in your house... inscribed with the members ofthe family tree.IF YOU ONLY remember ONE thing about my review, remember this:Ask YOUR grandfather about HIS father... before it's too late.Sincerely Yours,SFC Michael John McCluskeyU.S.Navy & U.S.Army, RetiredLove ya 'Gran'pa John... see ya soon!

This author has the ability to format and present a completely compelling short story that is rich and emotional and leaves you with thoughts of it many days after. When I think literary hierarchy, he is there with the likes of Sasson, Owens, Hemingway, Vonnegut, Haara etc. This book separates into horror, war horror and tall tales. The latter being the shortest part and shortest tales and shortest in remembrance for myself. His war stories haunted me more Tran the horror. It is easily noticed the man knew the woods. The feel. The isolation. The darkness. The imagination at work in solitude and fear. He observed many minute details and replays them vividly. Out of all my anthologies this is the first and only one I picked up most often and have read the ENTIRE thing. If you are the type who like a list of some stand outs that aren’t commonly mentioned here ya go:Haita the ShepherdA diagnosis of deathSuitable surroundingsA baby trampBoarded windowChickamaugaAffair at Coulter’s NotchCoup de GraceStory of a Conscience and the below:An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge affected me in so many emotional ways I almost felt violated but satisfied as it is the best short story I have personally ever read.

All of Bierce’s stories are quirky. Any student of Wells or Lovecraft would benefit from reading these tales of war, hauntings, malice, and mayhem.

I came across this author by accident, and am very glad that I did. His civil war stories are revealing of the human conflicts of that time. His other stories can be strange and even shocking, but he has a wicked sense of humor that makes them entertaining.

I love some of Ambrose Bierce's stories, and others leave me a bit meh. On Kindle it is difficult to skip around, which I needed to do, to have a change of pace from the civil war stories. ALl in all, I still love his dark sense of humor, and am glad I have read his work.

In certain ways I actually found myself relating to this nonconformist/satirist. He comes off as well educated. His style is deliberate and compact, delivering a full length novel, on average, with the use of only a half dozen pages. One would naturally judge this to be the case with short stories. But that is not always the case. I think Bierce is exceptional in this way. Many of these stories, written in both 1st and 3rd person, are similar in nature and in their ending. He just travels a slightly different path each time to get there. In many of the stories it’s not until the final sentence that he pulls the whole tale together.The civil war stories are by far superior. The horror stories are not the rubbish of today; although Bierce obviously has a morbid fascination with death he does leave more to the imagination. The tall tales are clever yet totally ridiculous.Most likely Bierce was not a believer, but I found it interesting how he interjects and evokes God and Christianity into a good number of his stories. It may be briefly or subtly, with only one sentence. I think this may be because of the prominence the Bible held in those days, in some cases the only book in the house.3 and a half stars

This collection of short stories runs from haunting to laughable. I admit to being confused by a few. :) It is definitely worth reading though.

wow I was amazed by his civil war stories they are powerful and not dated at all.His ghost offerings are more typical of the times but are good anyway.This guy could write!

I heard mention of this book on a TV programme; the author received a head wound in the US war between the States and wrote these short stories thereafter. my junior school teacher read us a story (during the civil war centenary) about a little boy who got lost, went to sleep, woke up and found men crawling past him: thought it was a game but the one he tried to ride shook him off and couldn't speak because his jaw was shot away. He was attracted to a fire, which he tried to keep going by throwing stuff on including his wooden sword before he realised it was his house and found his mum lying dead. So I thought it must be from this collection - and so it is: called Chickamauga. Never forgot it from hearing it as an eight-year-old and now I'm reading the complete book. Challenging and fascinating, written by an eye witness, albeit with some poetic licence.

I was 'introduced' toi this book when i was about 14 by my grandfather, a literary geniu and teacher of English. I never had a copy of the book but the stories stayed in my head for years-indeed until today....I have sought out a copy before only to see it was out of print but today i find it has been reprinted! I shall make a purchase after writing this. I managed to find a library copy about 10 years back and refamiliarised myself with the stories. It suprised me that at 14 I had managed to read them. I wasn't much of a reader and the language is rich and requires a bit of processing.The stories are set in very different settings and are so imaginative and the great thing about short stories is often the ending..its what you are reading for. The journey is compelling and the final lines that hold the twist never let one down.This is a literary masterpiece in my opinion unlike some of the rubbish that is currently regarded as such. I bought a William Boyd collection of short stories as he was heralded as a literey genius by Fi Glover on Saturday Live recently (BBC 4 radio) but it is really weak compared to Ambrose Bierce. Buy it!

Bought for my partner who loves stories by Ambrose Bierce. He is quite pleased because this book really does contain all AB’s short stories. Buyers should be aware the book is large in A4 size but extremely well presented and bound.

Some excellent stories, some not so good. Interesting