Short stories by the award-winning author of From Here to Eternity : "One of the significant writers of his generation" ( The New York Times Book Review ). In his introduction to this collection of sharply crafted short stories, James Jones compares novel writing to a long-term, chronic illness. Writing short stories, he says, is like a brief, intense fever: the kind that can kill or disappear in a matter of days. Although best known for epic war novels such as From Here to Eternity and The Thin Red Line , Jones also wrote short stories, and the ones in this volume burn with deadly intensity. Besides the expected stories of the soldier's life, Jones gives us something surprising: five stories of childhood, tender and horrifying at the same time, inspired by his early life in the Depression-stricken Midwest. They and the other shorts in this volume are accompanied by author's notes, which supplement Jones's introduction, and a preface by his daughter, Kaylie Jones. This ebook features an illustrated biography of James Jones including rare photos from the author's estate.