In the more than seventy years since his mysterious disappearance in Mexico, Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce has been known almost as much for his colorful life as for his experimental fiction. Well over six feet tall, a muscular and handsome man who, in later years, had a thick crop of pure white hair, Bierce was an imposing figure, quick witted and equally quick tempered. He left a mark as one of the most effective and vituperative journalists of his day, but his most important contribution to American literary history is in the area of the short story. "Chickamauga" (San Francisco Examiner , 20 January 1889) and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (San Francisco Examiner, 13 July 1890), both collected in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891), are standard entries in contemporary anthologies. Powerful evocations of war, these stories, like all his fiction, expanded the boundaries of American fiction and remain notable today for their...