In Our Time (short story collection) we are in hell." Hemingway conjures a world where "the weak are pitilessly exploited by the strong, and ... all functions of life ... promise only pain." Hemingway's semi-autobiographical character Nick Adams is "vital to Hemingway's career", writes Mellow, and generally his character reflects Hemingway's experiences. Nick, who features in eight of the stories, is an alter ego, a means for Hemingway to express his own experiences, from the first story '"Indian Camp" which features Nick as a child. According to critic Howard Hannum, the trauma of birth and suicide Hemingway paints in "Indian Camp" rendered a leitmotif that gave
Debbie Macomber the first of her novels to be published, as part of the Silhouette Special Edition romance line, now owned by Harlequin. Macomber continued to write romances for Silhouette, and later Harlequin. In 1988, Harlequin asked Macomber to write a series of interconnected stories, which became known as the Navy series. Before long, she was releasing two or three titles per year. By 1994, Macomber began releasing single-title novels. Her first hardcover was released in 2001. In 2002, Macomber realized that she wanted to write books focusing more on women and their friendships. "Thursdays at Eight" was her first departure from