Raymond Fraser has many distinctions as a writer. As a novelist, story writer, poet, biographer and journalist, he has been called New Brunswick's greatest living writer and one of Canada's foremost authors. His novel "The Struggle Outside" easily fits into the top-ten list of Canada's all-time greatest books and "The Bannonbridge Musicians" was runner-up for the Governor General's Award in 1978. "WHEN THE EARTH WAS FLAT" is a collection of autobiographic snapshots—a patchwork of memoirs, histories, essays and short stories of almost poetic intensity which are held together by Fraser's ubiquitous sense of humour and idiosyncratic eye. For those of us who have read all his books it is an added treat to our collection. For those who have never read Fraser, this is the book to begin with, and doubtless, the rest of the author's library will follow in its tracks.