It took Ambrose Bierce some time to process his Civil War experiences and transmute them into fiction, but when he did so, beginning in the 1880s, he produced some of the most memorable stories to emerge out of that conflict. Many of these tales border on the weird, as in the celebrated "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," a masterful tale of psychological terror; the grisly "Chickamauga"; "One of the Missing," a grim account of the fear of death; and "A Horseman in the Sky," which mingles realism and fantasy.

Another side of Bierce is revealed in his tales of the grotesque, where outrageous scenarios and broad humor are the keynotes. Many of these tales are set in the Wild West, where encounters with bears, Native Americans, and others can lead to horror and death. Particularly memorable are a quartet of stories that Bierce labelled "The Parenticide Club."

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) was the leading American writer of weird fiction between Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft. Having served in some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, Bierce settled in San Francisco, where he became a fearless journalist and satirist, attacking corrupt politicians, long-winded clerics, wretched poetasters, and others who incurred his wrath. The stories in this volume are presented in definitive texts based on a consultation of manuscripts and early publications. They are edited by S. T. Joshi, a leading authority on Bierce and weird fiction.