Here is where it all began - the professional fiction-writing careers of forty-one of our century's finest authors, from Raymond Carver and Alice Walker to F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ursula K. Le Guin. Spanning nearly eight decades, these short stories mark their creators' breakthroughs from amateur writer to published author. Standing as a testament to the writers' youth and ambition, they bear witness to the emergence of some of the most distinctive literary voices of our time.

As Jane Smiley writes in the introduction to First Fiction, "Education begins with publication." The brief biographical notes that preface each story provide insight into this learning process and detail the circumstances surrounding publication. Nelson Algren's debut, for example, was preceded by a jail sentence served for stealing a typewriter. Mary McCarthy's first story is based on the bitter breakup of her first marriage.

In many cases, the author's thoughts about his or her craft are also included. ("I can do this!" Mark Helprin realized.). Some of these stories blazed a trail of glory to literary eminence for their authors, while others were more like a trace of light at dawn: William Saroyan's first published fiction brought him instant recognition; Charles Bukowski, on the other hand, languished in obscurity for several decades after his professional debut.

Some of the authors are easily recognizable: most readers will identify as Kurt Vonnegut's "The Barnhouse Effect," a Cold War story about the most powerful weapon on earth. The authors of other stories, such as Doris Lessing, are barely recognizable. Youth and age are both represented here - from Tennessee Williams's debut at seventeen with "The Vengeance of Nitocris" to Henry Miller's at forty with his story "Mademoiselle Claude.".

These stories represent the true starting points of the careers of some of the most talented writers of our time. First Fiction is fascinating reading for all those interested in the creative process, for would-be writers, and for all lovers of twentieth-century fiction.