Classic work of literature, known by most due to its inclusion in English curriculum. One of the few worthy pieces of literature from my public-school education. ( )

A short, solid collection of vaguely crowd-pleasing stories – the sort you might find in an old newspaper or periodical. Ambrose Bierce is more accessible than many turn-of-the-century authors, and this slim collection contains 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge', his most famous story.

'Owl Creek' is perfectly fine, but its reputation comes rather from its use of a technique that was original at the time but is more common now. Consequently, it is entertaining but not as remarkable as it perhaps ought to be. After 'Owl Creek', the book starts a sequence of mostly strange horror stories. These evince a credulous supernaturalism that is not only difficult to parse for a modern reader, but are not in keeping with Bierce's reputation as a satirist and a cynic. Then again, perhaps they are, and a cynical Bierce was writing stories he thought would sell to the public.

Regardless, 'Beyond the Wall' reads like a lesser Edgar Allan Poe story, and there's certainly worse things to be compared to. 'An Adventure at Brownville' is probably the most unsuccessful of the stories here, and though it reads well enough I still don't know what the writer was trying to achieve. 'The Damned Thing' is a rather lame horror story; credit to Bierce for thinking outside the box, but when such thinking doesn't work the errors are magnified. 'One of the Missing' is a non-supernatural war story that, with its cynical edge, wouldn't be out of place if it had been written at any time after 1968 (or even 1918). Finally, 'The Stranger' was another limp ghost story told around a campfire.

All told, there's some notable stories in this unassuming volume and some by-the-numbers ones. If you really want to experience Ambrose Bierce, you need to read his timeless and acerbic Devil's Dictionary. ( )