Collected Stories combines Peter Carey's bizarre, brilliant, chilling short stories from The Fat Man in History and War Crimes, plus three not in either.

Those from Fat Man posit what-ifs, with the title story wondering how, were some post-Marxist utopia to declare obesity counter-revolutionary, a household of fat men would strike back. Those from War Crimes are all in one way or another about power - those who wield it, those who want it, and those who recall only its dazzling exhilaration and degradation.

'Impressive and entertaining. Each story ends on a melancholy but powerful note, like the sudden discharge of electrical energy which illuminates all that it touches.' Peter Ackroyd, Sunday Times

'Reading his stories is like being shot by a firing squad of angels.' Jill Neville, Sydney Morning Herald

'His imagination is soaring, his style beautifully disciplined, his eye for the truth unblinking.' Geoffrey Dutton, The Bulletin

'Peter Carey is one of the great storytellers of our time, the kind who makes you take the telephone off the hook, forget the television and ignore the doorbell.' London Evening Standard

'Carey's imagination is fired with genius.' Robert Adamson, The Australian

'A commanding writer with a laser eye for detail and luxuriant narrative gifts.' Wall Street Journal