A Bite of Bierce

Written by Ambrose Bierce

Narrated by Robert Bethune and Susie Berneis

Five wonderful stories by Ambrose Bierce, full of vivid characters, precise and evocative language, surprises and suspense. Written more than a century ago, these stories still capture the imagination with vivid, precise language that bites--and may even draw blood! This Freshwater Seas production presents these five classic stories performed by Susie Berneis and Robert Bethune, with subtle musical underscoring to enhance and enrich Bierce's words. Playing time: one hour and thirteen minutes. Including: “Staley Fleming's Hallucination,” in which the ghost of a Newfoundland dog with a white forefoot--and hungry for revenge! “The Damned Thing,” in which we meet a wild, ferocious animal determined to drive a man off his land--or or drive him insane, once he realizes the strange truth about the danger he faces. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” in which a life, flashing before the eyes, and a miraculous escape from certain death, suddenly becomes--something else entirely in Bierce's strangest and most famous fantasy. (By the way, in 1963 a movie version of this by Paul De Roubaix and Marcel Ichac won the Academy Award for live action short subject, and the Twilight Zone version of it is, of course, justly famous.) Last but not least: Diagnosis of Death: A doctor whose incredibly accurate diagnoses are not at all conducive to a long and healthy life, and “The Boarded Window:” A window forever boarded up; a love forever gone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Freshwater Seas
• Release date: Dec 20, 2007
• ISBN: 9781933311081

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) was an American novelist and short story writer. Born in Meigs County, Ohio, Bierce was raised Indiana in a poor family who treasured literature and extolled the value of education. Despite this, he left school at 15 to work as a printer’s apprentice, otherwise known as a “devil”, for the Northern Indianan, an abolitionist newspaper. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he enlisted in the Union infantry and was present at some of the conflict’s most harrowing events, including the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. During the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864, Bierce—by then a lieutenant—suffered a serious brain injury and was discharged the following year. After a brief re-enlistment, he resigned from the Army and settled in San Francisco, where he worked for years as a newspaper editor and crime reporter. In addition to his career in journalism, Bierce wrote a series of realist stories including “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and “Chickamauga,” which depict the brutalities of warfare while emphasizing the psychological implications of violence. In 1906, he published The Devil’s Dictionary, a satirical dictionary compiled from numerous installments written over several decades for newspapers and magazines. In 1913, he accompanied Pancho Villa’s army as an observer of the Mexican Revolution and disappeared without a trace at the age of 71.