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Ambrose Bierce (view source)

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One of American literature's most intriguing, and most overlooked, luminaries... and a man who scared [[H.P. Lovecraft|Lovecraft]].
 
[['''Ambrose Bierce]]''' (later nicknamed "Bitter Bierce" and the "Old Gringo") was a journalist and editorialist from Meigs County, Ohio, whose deeply cynical opinions on the world [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|and the people living in it]] led him to create his now-famous ([[Needs More Love|though not nearly famous enough]]) series of short stories and other fiction pieces, most notably ''An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge''.<ref>Adapted as a French short movie, which was then aired as a [[Twilight Zone]] episode</ref>. Bitter Bierce never gave anyone a reason to wonder about his nickname: he was aggressive and fond of war (though also an anti-imperialist), fascinated by death, ''very'' cynical about love and religion, and perplexed by women. His works are notable for their [[Darker and Edgier|dark, troubled, and haunting]] tone and subject matter. He would have made a fine bedfellow for [[Edgar Allan Poe|Poe]] and [[H.P. Lovecraft|Lovecraft]], but sadly, and certainly not for lack of talent on his part, he never achieved their notoriety.
 
Later in his life, when the Mexican Revolution was raging down south, Ambrose Bierce decided to leave the United States and contribute to the war effort in Mexico, hoping to meet up with and fight alongside Pancho Villa. After a couple of months (during which time he did indeed meet up with Pancho Villa), his letters to his friends in the States abruptly ceased. He was never heard from again. He may have had something of a death wish; see the Quotes page. The book (and [[The Film of the Book]]) ''Old Gringo'' speculates on what might have happened to him after his famous disappearance, but no one knows what happened for sure.
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=== Appearances in fiction: ===
* ''Old Gringo'' by Carlos Fuentes
* In [[Robert Bloch]]'s story "I Like Blondes" (originally published in ''Playboy'', 1956), the alien tells Shirley that "the body I'm using right now. Its name was Ambrose Beers, I believe. [Ril] picked it up in Mexico a long time ago..."
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* ''[[From Dusk till Dawn]] 3: The Hangman's Daughter''. Oddly, the vampires don't get him in the end.
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=== Commonly used tropes: ===
 
* [[And I Must Scream]]
* [[Darker and Edgier]]
* [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]]
* [[Hurricane of Puns]]
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]
* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]] (''overwhelmingly'' on the cynical side)
 
=== Specific trope uses: ===
 
 
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=== Bierce's life contained examples of: ===
 
* [[Alliterative Family]]: His father gave all the children names starting with "A".
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