Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories
Raymond CarverFires is the best introduction to the full range and humanity of Raymond Carver's writing.
"You should read Fires now. These stories and poems...show the enormous talent of Raymond Carver beginning to take hold." - San Francisco Chronicle
It contains four essays, including a moving memoir of his father's working life in the saw-mills of the Pacific Northwest, a tribute to his mentor John Gardner, and the title essay about the influences on his writing life; fifty poems, many of them not collected elsewhere; and seven stories, including three from the early collection Furious Seasons.
"Carver's most revealing book... This collection confirms the worth of Raymond Carver's work...Like bright birds in distant trees, Carver's stories appear in flashes, glimpses; Fires reveals the arc of his purposeful flight." - Boston Globe