a cliff is essential for the story to work. Having been a topographical officer in the Civil War, Bierce describes the setting in much detail, showing his talent for topographical rendering. The image of a falling Confederate officer is supposed to present (for Federals a thousand feet below) "a grandly grotesque image that seems to herald the Apocalypse". Bierce apparently considered "A Horseman in the Sky" one of his strongest stories, because he chose to begin his Tales of Soldiers and Civilians with this story. From a Freudian perspective, "A Horseman in the Sky" exemplifies "Bierce's compulsive acts of patricide". Some of Bierce's biographers argue that he "wrote too many stories about sons killing fathers", as evidenced by stories in his so-called "Patricide Club". Influence Carlos Fuentes's novel The Old Gringo (1985), a fictionalized account of Bierce's disappearance, contains numerous allusions to "A Horseman in the Sky". References External links Text of the story Photographs of actual locations described in "A Horseman in the Sky" 1889 short stories Short stories by Ambrose Bierce Short stories set in the American Civil War Patricide in fiction