In these stories, some only three or four pages long, plots are set in motion with astonishing speed, narration is colloquial and laconic, dialogue reveals an ear for the way people speak, and every story packs a devastating emotional charge.

With this collection, Carver breathes new life into the short story. In the pared-down style that has since become his hallmark, Carver shows how humour and tragedy dwell in the hearts of ordinary people.

This anthology, which includes the stories 'Vitamins' and 'A Small Good Thing', firmly established Carver's reputation as the master storyteller of his generation. Carver is also the author of 'Short Cuts', 'Fires' and 'No Heroics, Please'.

These seven stories were the last Carver wrote. Among them is one of his longest, 'Errand', in which he imagines the death of Chekhov, a writer Carver hugely admired and to whose work his own was often compared.

'Fires' is an introduction to the full range and humanity of Carver's writing. It contains four essays, including a moving memoir of his father's working life in the sawmills of the Pacific Northwest, a tribute to his mentor John Gardner, and the title essay about the influences on his writing life.

'Beginners' is a collection of short stories by Raymond Carver.

Shortly before he died, America's laureate of the dispossessed made his own choice of his short stories, revised the texts and published them in this authorative edition. The stories in Where I'm Calling from are selected from the full range of the author's work including Furious Seasons, Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, What We Talk about When We Talk about Love, and Cathedral and include all seven stories from his last collection, Elephant. Where I'm Calling from, with the author's original introduction, is the essential Raymond Carver story collection.

I look at all of Carver's work as just one story, for his stories are all occurences, all about things that just happen to people and cause their lives to take a turn...In formulating the mosaic of the film Short Cuts, which is based on these nine stories and a poem, 'Lemonade', I've tried to do the same thing- to give the audience one look...But it all began here. I was a reader turning these pages. Trying on these lives' - Robert Altman in his introduction.

This is the first complete edition of Carver's poems, bringing together 'Where Water Comes Together With Other Water' and 'No Heroics, Please', among others. Also included is an introductory essay by Carver's widow, Tess Gallagher.