Title:  A Son of the Gods and A Horseman in the Sky

Author:  Ambrose Bierce

Release Date:  May, 2004 [EBook #5661] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on August 5, 2002]

Edition:  10

Language:  English

Character set encoding:  ASCII

*** Start of the project gutenberg EBOOK, A son of the gods and A horseman in the sky ***

This eBook was produced by David Schwan davidsch@earthlink.net.

Western Classics No.  Four

A Son of the Gods
and
A Horseman in the Sky

By Ambrose Bierce

Including an Introduction by W. C. Morrow

The Photogravure Frontispiece After A Painting by Will Jenkins

The Introduction

Brilliant and magnetic as are these two studies by Ambrose Bierce, and especially significant as coming from one who was a boy soldier in the Civil War, they merely reflect one side of his original and many-faceted genius.  Poet, critic, satirist, fun-maker, incomparable writer of fables and masterly prose sketches, a seer of startling insight, a reasoner mercilessly logical, with the delicate wit and keenness of an Irving or an Addison, the dramatic quality of a Hugo, — all of these, and still in the prime of his powers; yet so restricted has been his output and so little exploited that only the judicious few have been impressed.

Although an American, he formed his bent years ago in London, where he was associated with the younger Hood on Fun.  There he laid the foundation for that reputation which he today enjoys:  the distinction of being the last of the scholarly satirists.  With that training he came to San Francisco, where, in an environment equally as genial, his talent grew and mellowed through the years.  Then he was summoned to New York to assist a newspaper fight against a great railroad, since the conclusion of which brilliant campaign eastern journalism and magazine work have claimed his attention.

Two volumes, “The Fiend’s Delight” and “Cobwebs from an Empty Skull” titles that would damn modern books — were collections published years ago from his work on London Fun.  Their appearance made him at once the chief wit and humorist of England, and, combined with his satirical work on Fun, led to his engagement by friends of the exiled Eugénie to conduct a periodical against her enemies, who purposed to make her refuge in England untenable by means of newspaper attacks.  It is easy to imagine the zest with which the chivalrous Bierce plunged into preparations for the fight.  But the struggle never came; it was sufficient to learn that Bierce would be the Richmond; the attack upon the stricken ex-empress was abandoned.