Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
'Nothing is so improbable as what is true' Of all the writers of ghost and horror stories, Ambrose Bierce is perhaps the most colourful. He was a dark, cynical and pessimistic soul who had a grim vision of fate and the unfairness of life, which he channelled into his fiction. And in his death, or rather his disappearance, he created a mystery as strange and unresolved as any that he penned himself. But more of that later. Ambrose Gwinett Bierce was born in a log cabin on 21st June 1842, in Horse Creek, Meigs County, Ohio, USA. He was the tenth of thirteen children, ten of whom survived infancy. His father, an unsuccessful farmer with an unseemly love of literature, had given all the Bierce children names beginning with 'A'. There was Abigail, the eldest; then Amelia, Ann, Addison, Aurelius etc. So oddness was a part of Bierce's life from the beginning. Poverty and religion of the extreme variety were the two chief influences on young Ambrose's childhood. He not only hated this period of his life, he also developed a deep hatred for his family and this is reflected in some of his stories which depict families preying on and murdering one another. For example the unforgettable opening sentence of An Imperfect Conflagration seems to sum up his bitter attitude: 'Early in 1872 I murdered my father - an act that made a deep impression on me at the time'.
About the Author
Part of Wordsworth's Mystery & Supernatural series, featuring classic spine chilling tales, some previously unavailable for many years.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Of all the writers of ghost and horror stories, Ambrose Bierce is perhaps the most colourful. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Of all the writers of ghost and horror stories, Ambrose Bierce is perhaps the most colourful. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Witty, articulate and grim,
By
This review is from: Terror by Night: Classic Ghost and Horror Stories (Wordsworth Mystery & Supernatural) (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural) (Paperback)
There are more than 50 short stories in this excellent collection. Some are no more than a couple of pages long and few are longer than ten pages. They are full of death, misery and pessimism but somehow manage to be fascinating and enjoyable. The quality of the writing is exceptional and, for the most part, a delight to read. In such a collection there are bound to be a few that won't appeal to everyone and I must admit that there were a couple where the style was a little bit too flowery and convoluted to suit my taste. I prefer a good balance of subtlety, eloquence and simplicity and I estimate that about 95% of these short stories suited this preference exactly. The humour, albeit remorselessly bitter, is irresistible. Bierce seems not to have been a very loveable man, but anyone who loves to read (even those who don't care for the horror genre) could love his writing. You can open the book at any page and reading any passage at random, find a fine collection of beautifully crafted sentences that will practically paint a picture in your mind of a person, scene or situation. It's poetry cobbled into horror.
Highly recommended.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very curious collection,
By BevRen "always black" (suffolk, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Terror by Night: Classic Ghost and Horror Stories (Wordsworth Mystery & Supernatural) (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural) (Paperback)
A chance read in an anthology of supernatural tales inspired me to read more by this most unusual 19th Century American writer. Many of the tales, some no longer than 2 pages, are mostly a variation on a theme - abandoned houses with gory histories; Civil War-stricken families; unexplained events and most predominantly, disappearances - all of which in some way reflect the writers's own life experience.
Well worth a look, and unusually not at all tame for this period. Interesting.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A truely talentent horror writer!,
By Louise Roberts "Lou" (Norwich, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Terror by Night: Classic Ghost and Horror Stories (Wordsworth Mystery & Supernatural) (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural) (Paperback)
Some of the stories were a bit "samey" and I would suggest reading a handful at a time and perhaps coming back to the book to appreciate them. One story in particular which I found particularly frightening as the description was so vivid was "Chickamauga" - amazing!! Even some of the page-long stories were very well written even though they were only a page!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Fiction > Classics
- Books > Fiction > Short Stories
- Books > Horror > Classic Horror
- Books > Horror > Short Stories
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
