The Damned Thing (Cryptofiction Classics)

By Ambrose Bierce

This early work by Ambrose Bierce was originally published in 1894 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography as part of our Cryptofiction Classics series. 'The Damned Thing' is a short story of an inquest into a mysterious death possibly caused by unseen natural forces. Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born in Meigs County, Ohio, United States in 1842. He was the tenth of thirteen children, and left home aged fifteen to become a 'printer's devil' (a printing apprentice) at a small Ohio newspaper. Many of his short stories - such as 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge', 'The Boarded Window', 'Killed at Resaca' and 'Chickamauga', all of which are penned in 'Pure English' - are held among the best of the 19th century. Bierce's writings are also generally regarded as some of the best war writings of all time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Dec 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781473399150

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.

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Contents

Introduction

The Damned Thing

I. One Does Not Always Eat What Is On The Table

 II. What May Happen In A Field of Wild Oats

III. A Man Though Naked May Be In Rags

IV. An Explanation From The Tomb

Ambrose Bierce

The Damned Thing

By Ambrose Bierce

A Cryptofiction Classic

Introduction

The genre of cryptofiction has grown up in the shadow of its older brothers, science fiction and fantasy. While the latter two continue to move towards the mainstream of literary tastes – as evidenced by reaction to modern series such as Neal Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle and George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire – many readers have probably never even heard of cryptofiction. Odd, when one considers that some of the most famous authors in the Western tradition have dabbled in cryptofiction, and that even today works of cryptofiction frequently feature on bestseller lists.

Cryptofiction takes its name from another,