AMBROSE BIERCE – PART POE, PART TWAIN, BUT 100% ORIGINAL by Michael Rigg

Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914?)

Born on June 24, 1842 in Meigs County Ohio, Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and veteran of the American Civil War, who ultimately became as influential as the better-known American authors Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain.

His book, The Devil's Dictionary, was named one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. His story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" has been described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature," and his book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (also published as In the Midst of Life) was named by the Grolier Club as one of the 100 most influential American books printed before 1900.

A prolific and versatile writer, Bierce was regarded as one of the most influential journalists in the United States and as a pioneering writer of realist fiction. For his horror writing, Bierce has been ranked alongside Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft. His war stories influenced Stephen Crane, Ernest Hemingway, and others.

In 1896 Bierce moved to Washington, D.C., where he continued newspaper and magazine writing. In 1913, tired of American life, he went to Mexico, then in the middle of a revolution led by Pancho Villa. Bierce’s fate is a mystery, but a reasonable conjecture is that he was killed in the siege of Ojinaga in January 1914. Some speculate, however, that Bierce actually traveled to the Grand Canyon, where he committed suicide. 

[Sources, quoted above without precise attribution: Ambrose Bierce | Biography, Books, Short Stories, & Death | Britannica and Ambrose Bierce - Wikipedia]

AUTHOR WEBSITES: IS IT A MUST HAVE FOR ALL WRITERS? by Sheryl Jordan

 

I keep putting off building up my author’s website. Recently, I decided I need to get it fully up and running soon. I have my domain and have had it for several years. I added ‘stuff’ to it years ago but haven’t kept it up to date. I didn’t like it and made some changes, but it still isn’t where I want and need it to be. So, I just let it sit dormant (I know this is terrible for a writer to do). I obviously have no experience in creating a website, so I started researching how to create a fabulous website that is user-friendly and fully functional as well as showing who I am and what I do.