雷濛德•卡佛（1938—1988），海明威之後美國最偉大的短篇小說傢，被尊為簡約派文學典範。人生的前一半充滿瞭苦難與失望。失業，酗酒，破産，妻離子散，友人背棄，墜入人生之榖底。晚年文學聲名漸高，卻罹患肺癌，五十歲便英年早逝。卡佛緻力於描繪美國的藍領生活，是寫失敗者的失敗者，寫酒鬼的酒鬼，生活的變質和走投無路後的無望，是他小說中的常態。卡佛的作品風格和他自身經曆密切相關，包括極其精簡的遣詞和冷硬的語言風格。

When he died in August 1988, Raymond Carver had just published what were thought to be his last stories in the collection entitled Elephant and his own collection of stories, Where I'm Calling from. Five previously unpublished stories have recently been discovered, and this new volume brings together all of his uncollected fiction, including a fragment of an unfinished novel, five early stories, and all of his non-fiction prose. Three of these late-found stories are fine examples of Carver's late, open style, while two date from his middle period. The non-fiction prose includes all of his essays, together with occasional commentary on his own fiction and poetry, writings on the American short story, and reviews of work by his contemporaries, among them Donald Barthelme, Richard Brautigan, Jim Harrison, Thomas McGuane and Richard Ford. Also included is Carver's latest essay "Friendship", about a London reunion with Richard Ford and Tobias Wolff. Call If You Need Me takes us into Carver's workshop, and alongside All of Us: The Collected Poems and Where I'm Calling from: The Selected Stories completes the picture of one of the most original writers in the English language of his generation.