Yet another short story collection found on my shelves. Bierce is a brilliant storyteller when the topic is war. As a union soldier, his depiction of the civil war has an authentic feel that brings the stories to life. Often, the stories have an ironic twist ending. The brutalities of this particular war are described in gory detail in several stories, but they are very effective.

Bierce also wrote horror and tall tales.

People who are interested in war fiction that depicts the bloody reality rather than honor and glory will like this collection.

To be honest, I am not a huge fan of Bierce's horror stories or tall tales. They are fine, but they do not capture my interest the way his war stories do. That said, the war stories contain a fair bit of horror themselves, and there are numerous tall-tales or horror stories with war settings.

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Created Oct 30, 2014 at 8:15pm • Submit your own review...