History Creator / AmbroseBierce

%%* AndIMustScream

%%* BuriedAlive: Combined with GraveRobbing in "One Summer Night".

%%* FracturedFairyTale: ''Aesopus Emendatus''.

%%* HumansAreFlawed
%%%%* HumansAreMorons

%%* MercyKill: A particularly horrid (and ultimately futile) version takes place in "The Coup de Grace".

%%* OurGhostsAreDifferent: "The Death of Halpin Frayser" .
%%* RashomonStyle: "The Moonlit Road" is an early example.
%%* RobotRebellion: "Moxon's Master"

%%* ShootTheShaggyDog: "Chickamauga".
%%* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Overwhelmingly on the cynical side.
%%* SpoofAesop: ''Fantastic Fables.''

Lovecraft enthusiasts should be familiar with "An Inhabitant of Carcosa", his contribution to the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.

Lovecraft enthusiasts should be familiar with ''An Inhabitant of Carcosa'', his contribution to the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.

* BreakoutCharacter: ''Haita the Shepherd'' included a reference to a benevolent deity named ''Hastur'', and ''An Inhabitant of Carcosa'' featured the titular city. Later writers [[Literature/TheKingInYellow borrowed]] [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos the names]].
* BuriedAlive: Combined with GraveRobbing in "One Summer Night".

* ExactWords

* {{Fractured Fairy Tale}}s: ''Aesopus Emendatus''.

* {{Humans are Flawed}}
* {{Humans are Morons}}

* InvisibleMonsters: [[spoiler:The eponymous creature in "The Damned Thing".]]
* MercyKill: A particularly horrid (and ultimately futile) version takes place in "The Coup de Grace".

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: "The Death of Halpin Frayser" .
* RashomonStyle: "The Moonlit Road" is an early example.
* RobotRebellion / TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: "Moxon's Master"

* ShootTheShaggyDog: "Chickamauga".
* {{Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism}}: Overwhelmingly on the cynical side.
* SpoofAesop: ''Fantastic Fables.''

Later in his life, when the Mexican Revolution was raging down south, Ambrose Bierce decided to leave the United States and contribute to the war effort in Mexico, hoping to meet up with and fight alongside Pancho Villa. After a couple of months (during which time he did indeed meet up with Pancho Villa), his letters to his friends in the States abruptly ceased. He was never heard from again. He may have had something of a death wish; see the Quotes page. The book (and TheFilmOfTheBook) ''Old Gringo'' speculates on what might have happened to him after his famous disappearance, but no one knows what happened for sure; he openly boasted to one friend that "No one will ever find my bones," and thus far has been proven correct.

* ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn3TheHangmansDaughter''. Oddly, the vampires don't get him in the end.

* Serves as a GeniusBonus for [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP-]][[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1084 1084]]. We are never actually told who is [[spoiler: buried in the damaged mausoleum]], but "the [[spoiler: body]] belongs to the American author [[spoiler: DATA REDACTED]], who disappeared in Mexico in late December 1913."

* ExactWords: In "One Kind of Officer", a captain tells a lieutenant "it is not permitted to you to know anything," having received a similar insulting order from his general and wanting to take it out on a subordinate. He comes to regret this.

* "Literature/AnOccurrenceAtOwlCreekBridge"

** That was a GeniusBonus reference, for sure.

* GreaterScopeVillain: In "The Death of Halpin Frayser" it's the killer who is responsible for [[Catherine, Mrs. Frayser, and (indirectly) Halpin's deaths. The story ends with him [[KharmaHoudini still out there,]] the two investigators who were closing in on him now distracted by the discovery of Halpin's corpse and the seemingly supernatural means of his death.]]

* ''Literature/AnOccurrenceAtOwlCreekBridge''

Ambrose Bierce (later nicknamed "Bitter Bierce" and the "Old Gringo") was a journalist and editorialist from Meigs County, Ohio, whose deeply cynical opinions on the world [[HumansAreFlawed and the people living in it]] led him to create his now-famous series of short stories and other fiction pieces, most notably ''An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge''[[note]]Adapted as a French short movie, which was then aired as a ''Series/TwilightZone'' episode[[/note]]. Bitter Bierce never gave anyone a reason to wonder about his nickname: he was aggressive and fond of war (though also an anti-imperialist), fascinated by death, ''very'' cynical about love and religion, and perplexed by women. His works are notable for their [[DarkerAndEdgier dark, troubled, and haunting]] tone and subject matter. He would have made a fine bedfellow for [[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe Poe]] and [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraft]], but sadly, and certainly not for lack of talent on his part, he never achieved their notoriety.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/30494-004-BD637FBD.jpg]]

Later in his life, when the Mexican Revolution was raging down south, Ambrose Bierce decided to leave the United States and contribute to the war effort in Mexico, hoping to meet up with and fight alongside Pancho Villa. After a couple of months (during which time he did indeed meet up with Pancho Villa), his letters to his friends in the States abruptly ceased. He was never heard from again. He may have had something of a death wish; see the Quotes page. The book (and TheFilmOfTheBook) ''Old Gringo'' speculates on what might have happened to him after his famous disappearance, but no one knows what happened for sure.

* BlackComedy: "Oil of Dog", "My Favorite Murder", "An Imperfect Conflagration"

->''"Humour is tolerant, tender; its ridicule caresses. Wit stabs, begs pardon - and turns the weapon in the wound."''

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/30494-004-BD637FBD.jpg]]

* BlackComedy: "Oil of Dog", "My Favorite Murder" and "An Imperfect Conflagration".