Although Bisson's first science fiction novel was written in 1980, he did not receive widespread critical acclaim until the early 1990s, when he began to publish science fiction short stories in magazines. In 1993, he collected a number of these stories into Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories. In a 1993 review of the collection for Kirkus Reviews, the reviewer notes of Bisson that "at his best, he combines a splendidly loopy inventiveness with real poignancy, a hard-edged sense of wonder and a grasp of the genuinely alien." Other 1993 reviews of the collection are equally favorable. A critic from Publishers Weekly notes "the astonishing range of Bisson's talent" and calls Bisson "one of science fiction's most promising short story practitioners."

Within the collection, most reviewers single out the award-winning title story, "Bears Discover Fire," as worthy of the highest praise. Says Martha Soukup in her 1993 Washington Post Book World...