Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) was the author of supernatural stories that have secured his place in both the weird tradition and in American letters at large. Apart from a few well-anthologized ghost stories (notably, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"), Bierce is best remembered for his cynical but humorous Devil's Dictionary.

Bierce was born in Ohio on June 24, 1842. He served as an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865. He is noted for his tales of the Civil War, which drew on his own experience as a Union cartographer and officer. His first job in journalism was as editor for the San Francisco News-Letter and California Advertiser. His true love was satire in any form -- whether ghost story or fable, newspaper column or lyrical lambaste, fantasy or pseudo-lexicography. His works added a Western setting to Gothic fiction and, more importantly, developed the psychological aspects of horror first recognized by Poe.

In time, Bierce established himself a kind of literary dictator of the West Coast and was so respected and feared as a critic that his judgment could "make or break" an aspiring author's reputation. Between the years 1887 and 1906, Bierce wrote his famous column, "The Prattler". He collected his sardonic aphorisms and epigrams as The Cynic's Word Book in 1906. When he edited his twelve volume Collected Works, the title was changed to The Devil's Dictionary. (1911)

In 1913, at the age of seventy-one, Bierce disappeared into revolution-torn Mexico. His end is mysterious, though he probably perished in the battle of Ojinaga on January 11, 1914.