Are monks and priests incels? That’s all I could think as I moved through this story, which does obfuscate that idea by putting the whole, “I’m just trying to save your soul” thing ahead of the monk’s desire to just get with the hangman’s daughter — or any of the other lovely maids who all seem to fuss over this hot young monk.

Anyway, I loved this story and I really enjoyed how certain misdirections (like the title, itself!) make the quite obvious-seeming ending still feel like a surprise. But that’s good writing, right? It works most effectively in showing how the naive, (hot) young monk is only just seemingly witnessing the world, and he’s so absorbed in the horror of anything outside the church that it sets the mood for the story really well. It is also interesting to see how this sort of sandwiches around the other “monks gone awry” literature of Matthew Lewis’s The Monk and Anne Radcliffe’s The Italian, being that it takes place (and was maybe, originally, written) before either of those stories, but this English translation was created a while after. This story is much more aligned with the latter, and is nowhere near as gruesome, or even truly entering the “gothic” realm. But it’s still very atmospheric and I did truly expect a real demon or something to show up at any moment. (The “entity” who does “appear” is very well placed and I love its ambiguity [?] as presented… Not to get into spoilers, but I don’t think it’s ambiguous at all. It does just leave enough room for there to be different readings. Also good writing!)

This is, I believe, my first Ambrose Bierce (or, it’s not, depending on where you come down on the questionable authorship debate.) So it was a surprise actually getting through someone’s work who was so influential on the dark, weird, and horror writers I conventionally enjoy, and being able to see where it all comes from. Definitely looking forward to reading more!