Original Ambrose Bierce Site

“Camels and Christians accept their burdens kneeling. ”

Born June 24, 1842

Don Swaim interviews S. T. Joshi, the world's leading authority
on Ambrose Bierce -- and the weird tale.

Stephen Vincent Benét, Ambrose Bierce, and Me

ABOUT AMBROSE BIERCE, June 24, 1842 to – ?
by Leon Day

Once upon a time, there was a brave soldier. His specialty was going in front of the Union armies with small units and making maps and sketches of the tricky spots on the proposed route, under fire. But he is not famous for this.

Then he went West, exploring, and made the first maps of the Black Hills that were useful. He taught himself to write by reading the classics at a boring job at the San Francisco Mint, and broke into newspaper work. He became the top columnist in San Francisco in a time when the writer stood behind his work with a gun, not a lawyer. He married rich, went to England, learned a lot from the writers there, and taught some tricks himself. But this is just a footnote.

He wrote the first Civil War fiction that included the terror and put the glory in its place. It was so good that a whole generation of professional officers became abject fans. And every time the press fomented a war fever, he wrote on military subjects with a stark clarity that never forgot that the final result would be flowing blood and shattered bone. But this is poorly remembered.

He wrote fine poetry, often to a deadline, and trained a generation of poets -- became a sort of literary cult leader. But this is a matter for English professors.

And he was funny politically, too, always opposed to demagogy and privilege alike, showing no faith that the common man could command politics, or the rich man transcend his greed. Split the difference between George Orwell and Herbert Spencer and you might approach the ideas of this writer who reached millions through the Hearst press. But this interests very few.

Thus, Ambrose Bierce is best remembered today because nobody knows what happened to him. He went into the whirlpool of the Mexican Revolution in December 1913, and never popped up. He was good at writing spooky stories, and four or five have been hitched to his star.

San Francisco Bulletin, March 24, 1920

Leon Day

About Leon Day

This amateur historian sought to locate Bierce's remains in the Mexican desert -- and published his findings on The Ambrose Bierce Site. Unfortunately, he came up short. The colorful, eccentric Day -- whose coffee cup was often filled with more than coffee -- died in 2011 without proving his theory.

His obituary in the Austin, Texas, Statesman HERE

Read Day's well thought-out, six-part exposition on Bierce's disappearance HERE

Original rendering of Bierce by Jason Eckhardt, 2013--click to enlarge

This painting and twenty-four black and white sketches by Eckhardt are included in a limited edition of some of Bierce's best work: Masters of the Weird Tale, published by Centipede Press. The book is signed by Eckhardt and S.T. Joshi, who wrote the introduction. Limited to 200 copies in slipcase.

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ARCHIVE OF BIERCE LETTERS FETCHES $37,000 AT AUCTION

The thirteen letters, dated July 6, 1898, through September 29, 1913, were penned to Bierce's friend Silas Orrin Howes, editor of Bierce's 1909 essay collection, The Shadow on the Dial.

The winning bid on April 22, 2013, was more than double the estimate of between $10,000 to $15,000 made by the Doyle auction house in New York. The winning bidder has not been identified. After the premium charged by the auction house, the owner of the letters netted some $30,000. The Bierce letters were the largest such trove to come to auction in the last twenty-five years.

click to enlarge and read

Of particular interest is the last letter in which Bierce writes of his plans to go to Mexico via Texas: "...thence down to the Mexican border (perhaps at Laredo) seeking a chance to cross and be shot or hanged. For I hold to my project of going through Mexico on horseback -- an 'innocent by-stander' in the war. Adios -- God prosper you."

The lot included a letter from Bierce's daughter Helen in 1915 in which she writes to Howes, "He wrote me just after he arrived in Laredo ... and how I hope he did get out of Mexico alive."

According to Robin Reid, the letters were owned by Davis Howes III, Reid's uncle and Silas Howes' great nephew. In a eulogy to Silas Howes in 1918, the bibliophile Christopher Morley wrote that Howes had intimate, friendly contact with Bierce, "...and used to tell many entertaining anecdotes about that erratic venturer in letters."

FOLLOW THE CHECKLIST FOR WHAT YOU
NEED TO KNOW ABOUT AMBROSE BIERCE

✔ Latest Bierce News click here
✔ Bierce Biography click here
✔ Bierce Disappearance click here

✔ Civil War Bierce click here

✔ Literary Bierce click here

✔ Bierce in the Arts click here

✔ Bierce in Film click here

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Just Out! COMPLETE WORKS OF AMBROSE BIERCE
Monumental ebook newly published by Delphi Classics

Delphi Classics, which produces digital versions of books in the public domain, has released an illustrated compendium of both major and obscure work by Ambrose Bierce, along with letters, criticism, and Carey McWilliams' classic 1929 biography, which has never been improved upon. This massive digital book, at 4,228 pages, is available in Kindle and ePub formats directly from the Delphi Store or from Amazon.com. Delphi is offering it at $1.49, Amazon at $1.99. The Delphi site is HERE

The Delphi book is searchable, but you still won't find references to epigrams mistakenly attributed to Bierce such as, "The covers of this book are too far apart." or "War is God's way of teaching Americans geography."

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AMBROSE BIERCE IN THE 21st CENTURY
Yes, he'd be a REPUBLICAN!

The following Bierce doggerel may not be what it seems:
Here lies the body of the Republican Party;
Corrupt, and generally speaking, hearty.
—Ambrose Bierce
In Bierce's day, the Republican Party was the "good" party. It ended slavery, preserved the union, created national parks, and manifested reforms against vested interests that favored the rich over the poor. To his credit, Bierce fought in the Civil War on the winning side, that of the Republicans. Indeed, it was the "good" party, the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, after all. By the late twentieth century, Republicans and Democrats reversed their values by 360 degrees, and the concept of today's Republicans as being the "good" party is remote.

In current parlance, Bierce might be considered a libertarian, although if his cynicism is taken seriously, he was skeptical of newness and change, including the telephone, the camera, the phonograph, modern novels, and most music — although he embraced the typewriter. He was convinced man would never fly (and might have even swallowed the tenuous notion that climate change is a hoax). He opposed Prohibition and women's suffrage. However, unlike most of today's Republicans (and a smaller majority of Democrats), he would never accept the dubious notion of an Almighty.

Would he have supported George W. Bush's ruinous invasion of Iraq, as many otherwise intelligent people did? Hard to say, but Bierce would have loved the damned fight. Unlike his jingoistic employer, William Randolph Hearst, Bierce's support of the Spanish-American War was muted, and he did not help to light, as he put it, "patriotism's altar fires." And, a century later, would he have embraced a disastrous presidency that would wreck the U.S. economy for generations?

Bierce was facile and superficial regarding politics. He preferred to outrage rather than inform. He reported on enough corruption by the early railroad interests — "the railrogues" — that he actually suggested nationalizing the rails. No one will ever know what he truly believed. Perhaps he never knew himself.

Unfortunately, his libertarian instincts would make Bierce more likely to be a Republican than a Democrat today, even though the current Republican Party is not one sympathetic to intellectuals, academics, or the artistic and literary community. Still, despite his pig-headed notions, he was an equal-opportunity cynic and his moral compass was usually in the right direction — even if his politics were anomalous. —DS

EDITOR MEETS "THE MASTER"
Composite illustration by K.A. Silva pictures Don Swaim, who edits The Ambrose Bierce Site, and Ambrose Bierce in the library of William Randolph Hearst's Castle, San Simeon, California. Note the incongruity of the ornate cross behind Bierce. click to enlarge

Drawing of Ambrose Bierce © Matthew & Eve Levine 2012.
Limited edition prints and licensing opportunities available through D. Levine Ink.

OLD GRINGO AUTHOR

The great Mexican author -- and diplomat -- Carlos Fuentes (right), who died in Mexico City on May 15, 2012, at the age of eighty-three, published some twenty books. But for Ambrose Bierce fans he'll always be known for Old Gringo, in which the fictional Bierce is caught up in a love triangle in revolutionary Mexico. In the film version, Bierce was portrayed by Gregory Peck, Jimmy Smits as one of Pancho Villa's generals, and Jane Fonda as the love interest. Ambrose Bierce Site founder Don Swaim interviewed Fuentes in 1992: LISTEN. For the unedited interview from Wired for Books listen HERE

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Don Swaim's definitive article, "Ambrose & Henry," is in the spring 2011 edition of the online scholarly publication Menckeniana, all about H.L. Mencken, published by the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore. To read the actual issue go to: Menckeniana. Courtesy Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore.

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HE NEVER SAID IT!
“War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.”

This quote attributed to Ambrose Bierce has been knocking around the Internet for years. [Google shows 860,000 entries for it.] I’ve never found the origin for “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography,” nor has David E. Schultz, who along with S.T. Joshi, has created a voluminous database of Bierce’s works. In 2002, Schultz told The Ambrose Bierce Site: “I’ve looked high and low through my electronic archive of Bierce’s writings (c. 4.5 million words) and have never come across this. I’ve found numerous attributions to Bierce on the Web, but believe that Paul Rodriguez [Mexican-born stand-up comedian] is probably the originator.” It’s one of those quotes that sounds like Bierce but isn’t. — D.S.

PS. Also, I don't believe Bierce ever said, "The covers of this book are too far apart." If he did, I've never found the source, nor the name of the book to which he allegedly referred. The line is often repeated as it's a given that Bierce concocted that devastating put-down, but even if he didn't it's too good a line not to award it to Bierce. —DS

Ambrose Bierce Site Founder Wins
Pearl S. Buck International Short Story Award

Don Swaim, founder of the Ambrose Bierce Site, won first prize for his short story, "Dearest Friend, Annie," which focuses on the relationship between Walt Whitman and Anne Gilchrist. Three others placed in the youth division. Swaim [above] is shown accepting the award under a portrait of Pearl S. Buck at the historic Buck house on April 10, 2011. Buck, author of The Good Earth, won the Nobel Prize for literature, and her Pennsylvania, home is a National Historic Landmark. Pearl S. Buck International

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AVOID ANSWERS.COM AS AN ACCURATE SOURCE FOR BIERCE

STUDENTS BEWARE
1. Bierce is NOT best known as the author of A Fiend's Delight.

2. Bierce did NOT "establish his reputation" with A Fiend's Delight and Cobwebs from an Empty Skull.

3. A Fiend's Delight and Cobwebs from an Empty Skull are NOT novels.

4. Bierce did NOT work "off and on" for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. He was employed steadily by Hearst from 1887 through 1908.

5. Bierce was NOT known for his "legendary carousing" with Mark Twain and H.L. Mencken. He is thought to have had, at the most, two personal meetings with Twain, one known (perhaps a few others) with Mencken.

Who supplies the wrong answers at Answers.com? —DS

BACK IN PRINT!
Don Swaim's H.L. Mencken Murder Case, originally published by St. Martin's Press, returns to print as a trade paperback through the Authors Guild Backinprint program. Available at amazon.com. $12.95. Swaim is founder of the Ambrose Bierce Site. "...there's a dusty-attic charm to Mr. Swaim's fond evocation of bookshops past, and he couldn't have enticed a livelier ghost than Mencken to haunt them." --The New York Times Sunday Book Review
IN THE BIERCE TRADITION
Satirical and literary, Bright Sun Extinguished: Ode to Norman Mailer by Don Swaim is an original pastiche of dark fantasy and horror inspired by the work of Ambrose Bierce. The free software to read it can easily be downloaded to Macs, PCs, iPads, Kindles, or any digital device from amazon.com. $5.99. Swaim is founder of the Ambrose Bierce Site. A literary gem filled with subtleties re pop culture and events leading up to and beyond a literary apocalypse. -- C.G. Bauer

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Five Questions About: Ambrose Bierce
DaRK PaRTY ReVIEW, a Boston-based online literary magazine, queries Bierce Site webmaster Don Swaim about the life and disappearance of the legendary curmudgeon.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE AMBROSE BIERCE APPRECIATION SOCIETY?
The Ambrose Bierce Appreciation Society was, presumably, the first Bierce site on the Internet: 1994. It is now moribund, yet, incredibly, still scores high in Google's Bierce rankings -- although it has not been updated for many years, and is in most respects obsolete. Apparently, its last update was in 2005 or early 2006.

In May, 2010, I sought out the once enthusiastic founder of the Ambrose Bierce Appreciation Society, "Damone," the pseudonym of Michael N. Rusignuolo, a fellow New Yorker. Michael apparently attended Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania, and his last known address was on West 20th Street, New York City. He once hosted a website dedicated to Conan O'Brien [a TV talk show host]. After many attempts, I finally reached Mr. Rusignuolo (Damone) by email and, while he was not particularly forthcoming, here is his reply:
Don, I apologise for not writing back sooner. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I suppose the short version is that "life got in the way." Things changed, priorities shifted, tragedies occurred, etc. etc. I certainly still have all my Bierce materials and still add the odd bits and pieces here and there, but a few years ago, certain events occurred that prevented me from devoting too much time to the hobby, and the longer I spent away, the more time it would take to catch up, and it all began to snowball.

It all still sits as an item "to do," but at this point, the Web technologies I used are so obsolete as to require a complete rebuild of the site to make it more database driven so as to make updates easier and the like. And the time is more precious now than then. I still hope to find a stretch of time to devote to the project, but things continue to come up. It seems the way of things.

I certainly apologise if I was unresponsive on an invitation at some point in the past. It was surely not my intension to do so, and I beg ignorance in the subsequent passage of time.

I hope this finds you well, and I hope that you have been more successful in finding the time to update your own Web effort better than I have.

Michael
A pity that "life got into the way." Mr. Rusignuolo's Bierce site was, in fact, a prototype for The Ambrose Bierce Site (1996), although the AB Site went into a far different direction by focusing on original material. —DS

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The Ambrose Bierce Site invites original articles, fiction, poetry, art
related to the mind and myth of Ambrose Bierce.

EXCLUSIVES
by Bierce Site contributors

ORIGINAL STUFF
by Don Swaim

EXCLUSIVESby Bierce Site contributors

ORIGINAL STUFFby Don Swaim

EXCLUSIVES
by Bierce Site contributors

ORIGINAL STUFF
by Don Swaim