Don Swaim's Blog
May 25, 2016
Amazon Reader Review
A satisfied customer...
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Mystery No More: Man of Lurid Letters Writ Large Captured in Brilliant New Historical Novel
By Amazon Customer on May 24, 2016
Verified Purchase
An Ambrose Bierce buff since "A" in The Devil's Dictionary," lit my fire 60 years ago, I knew Don Swaim's website is the mother lode of all things Bierce. The very title of Don's kaleidoscopic re-discovery of the missing man of wickedly hilarious, cynical takes on the human condition suggests the reach and heat of his embrace.
Bierce would delight in linking "Assassination" and "Love Story." Author Swaim is so damned good at imaginatively blending known history with 'well, anything was possible with Bierce,' that this historical, often hysterical novel had me often laughing out loud, and -- not infrequently -- shuddering.
The question of whether Ambrose Bierce courted death or attracted women with equal fervor still pends, but "The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce is a stunning accomplishment. It is a measure of Swaim's knowledge and skill that he not only brings the satirist/cynic/fabulist back from revolutionary Mexico, his last known sighting, but also plops him down to die in serene Saratoga Springs, New York. At his side and also pseudonymous, is none other than the Mexican firebrand General Pancho Villa. And Bierce's last lover, a much younger widow and aspiring author.
It's no small matter that the introduction to Don Swaim's magnum opus is by the noted novelist and critic of writers of the weird and fantastic, S. T. Joshi, who has himself earned the title, "the nastiest reviewer in the field." Bierce would have liked that.
http://www.amazon.com/Assassination-A...
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Mystery No More: Man of Lurid Letters Writ Large Captured in Brilliant New Historical Novel
By Amazon Customer on May 24, 2016
Verified Purchase
An Ambrose Bierce buff since "A" in The Devil's Dictionary," lit my fire 60 years ago, I knew Don Swaim's website is the mother lode of all things Bierce. The very title of Don's kaleidoscopic re-discovery of the missing man of wickedly hilarious, cynical takes on the human condition suggests the reach and heat of his embrace.
Bierce would delight in linking "Assassination" and "Love Story." Author Swaim is so damned good at imaginatively blending known history with 'well, anything was possible with Bierce,' that this historical, often hysterical novel had me often laughing out loud, and -- not infrequently -- shuddering.
The question of whether Ambrose Bierce courted death or attracted women with equal fervor still pends, but "The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce is a stunning accomplishment. It is a measure of Swaim's knowledge and skill that he not only brings the satirist/cynic/fabulist back from revolutionary Mexico, his last known sighting, but also plops him down to die in serene Saratoga Springs, New York. At his side and also pseudonymous, is none other than the Mexican firebrand General Pancho Villa. And Bierce's last lover, a much younger widow and aspiring author.
It's no small matter that the introduction to Don Swaim's magnum opus is by the noted novelist and critic of writers of the weird and fantastic, S. T. Joshi, who has himself earned the title, "the nastiest reviewer in the field." Bierce would have liked that.
http://www.amazon.com/Assassination-A...
