Book Series Guide

Author guide

Ambrose Bierce Books in Order

Ambrose Bierce was an American journalist, satirist, poet, editor, and author of influential short fiction. His work ranges from Civil War narratives and supernatural tales to fables, epigrams, essays, poetry, political satire, and lexicographic parody. He published extensively in California newspapers and later in national periodicals, often using mordant humor and sharply skeptical social criticism. His major books include Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, Can Such Things Be?, Fantastic Fables, Black Beetles in Amber, and The Cynic's Word Book, later widely known as The Devil's Dictionary. He disappeared in Mexico in 1913 and was never conclusively traced.

short fictionweird fictionhorrorsatirepoetryfablesessaysjournalismwar literaturememoirlexicography

Catalog record updated .

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Start with one of these

Tales of Soldiers and Civilians

A strong introduction to Bierce's celebrated Civil War fiction and short-story technique.

Can Such Things Be?

A representative entry point to his supernatural and weird fiction.

The Cynic's Word Book

The foundational first-edition form of the work later widely known as The Devil's Dictionary.

Outside the series

Bibliography by category

Novels (2)
  1. The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter

    novella · 1892

  2. Write It Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults

    nonfiction · 1909

Nonfiction (1)
  1. Battle Sketches

    memoir · 1930

Short fiction (6)
  1. Cobwebs from an Empty Skull

    fable and story collection · 1874

  2. Tales of Soldiers and Civilians

    short-story collection · 1891

  3. Can Such Things Be?

    short-story collection · 1893

  4. A Son of the Gods and A Horseman in the Sky

    short-story collection · 1907

  5. My Favorite Murder

    short-story collection · 1916

  6. A Horseman in the Sky: A Watcher by the Dead: The Man and the Snake

    short-story collection · 1920

Essays and speeches (5)
  1. The Dance of Death

    satirical pamphlet · 1877

  2. How Blind Is He

    poetry pamphlet · 1896

  3. The Shadow on the Dial and Other Essays

    essay collection · 1909

  4. An Invocation

    poetry pamphlet · 1928

  5. The Lion and the Lamb

    poetry pamphlet · 1939

Poetry (2)
  1. Black Beetles in Amber

    poetry collection · 1892

  2. Shapes of Clay

    poetry collection · 1903

Other (11)
  1. Nuggets and Dust: Panned Out in California

    mixed collection · 1872

  2. The Fiend's Delight

    mixed collection · 1872

  3. Map of the Black Hills Region, Showing the Gold Mining District and the Seat of the Indian War

    map · 1877

  4. Fantastic Fables

    fable collection · 1899

  5. The Cynic's Word Book

    satirical dictionary · 1906

  6. The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce

    collected works · 1909

  7. Containing Four Ambrose Bierce Letters

    letters · 1921

  8. The Letters of Ambrose Bierce

    letters · 1922

  9. Twenty-one Letters of Ambrose Bierce

    letters · 1922

  10. A Letter and a Likeness

    ephemera · 1930

  11. Battlefields and Ghosts

    letters · 1931