The son of a famous author, Stuart is a creative writing teacher and an expert in lifelong writer’s block. While trying to write a book that could save his career and finally earn his father’s respect, he finds himself seeking a breakthrough in a cottage nestled in a Maine graveyard. The village is great for inspiration, but the more he writes about zombies in the tavern basement and serial killers who make cinnamon buns, the further he gets from his truth.

His heart isn’t in those stories. And the thing that keeps him from getting it right is the same reason his relationships are failing, he can’t connect with his father, and doesn’t feel at home in his own city. While trying to craft a life that will please everyone else, he’s put himself last.

Just when he’s at the brink, his mother exposes a family secret that changes his definition of family and forces him to ask if he really wants the approval he’s been seeking all along.

With the clock ticking on his sabbatical, he discovers that family isn’t always what it seems, the pressures we create for ourselves can be our own undoing, and home is often where we least expect to find it.

The Warmth of Fires is the sixth book in The Collected Stories of Ramsbolt.