If you go into the woods today, chances are still good that you could come back with your own bear story. Whether it’s with black bears, grizzly bears, polar bears or even circus bears, the encounter usually gets the adrenalin pumping. Whatever the details, the result is always a story that will be retold many times. Thirteen such accounts of the truly terrifying comprise this collection of stories by raconteur Jim Nelson, including these gripping tales: * A roustabout down on his luck is tempted into the illegal trade of bear parts, only to find that without bad luck he would have no luck at all * A young woman living alone in a wilderness cabin imagines she is being stalked–until the sound of window glass breaking wakens her in the night * Among the Hutterite boys out in cow-camp, a meandering bear is a target of interest–but it is actually a skunk that will ultimately prove to be their undoing * The bears we imagine are always more terrible than the ones we encounter–or so a film-maker believes until he finds himself running faster than he can think.