A major collection of Carver's short stories, including seven new stories written shortly before the author's death in 1988. Spans twenty-five years of the author's writing career with both earlier works and original stories that explore betrayal, madness, and other reaches of human experience, in tales including "Intimacy" and "Boxes."

Collects legendary and controversial works by the mid-twentieth-century writer including posthumous, unedited, and previously unseen versions, in a comparative anthology that offers insight into the influence of editor Gordon Lish.

Contains advice to young writers organized around three main questions: Am I talented enough? How should I educate myself? Can I make a living from writing fiction?

While helicopters overhead spray against a Medfly infestation, a group of peoples' lives in Los Angeles intersect, some casually, some to more lasting effect. While they go out to concerts and jazz clubs and even have their pools cleaned, these same folks also lie, drink, and cheat. Death itself seems never to be far away. A look at human life and American culture with over 20 lives interweaving.

"On Writing Short Stories is a unique collection of original essays by seven professional writers. It is the only text of its kind to offer writing advice from such authors, editors, and instructors as Francine Prose, Joyce Carol Oates, Frank Conroy, Andre Dubus, Robert Coles, Tom Bailey, and C. Michael Curtis, with a foreword by Tobias Wolff. These experts give voice - voices - to a dialogue about the art and craft of writing short stories." "Ideal...