The Sky, the Stars, the Wilderness

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Ebook in EPUB format. Available for immediate download after we receive your order

DRM:
Watermark

Publication Year:
1998

ISBN-13: 9780547346816

<DIV><B>&ldquo;Two appealing short stories and an exquisite novella&rdquo; about the relationship between humans and the natural world around them (<I>Kirkus Reviews</I>).</B><BR /><BR /> This is a &ldquo;wondrous&rdquo; (<I>GQ</I>) collection of short fiction exploring the subtle interplay between predator and prey, from &ldquo;a literary titan&rdquo; (<I>The New York Times Book Review</I>).<BR /> &#160;<BR /> In the title story, a woman has returned to live on the west Texas ranch that has been in her family since Texas was a republic. Her mother, who died when she was a child, is buried there; the three men who raised her&mdash;her father, grandfather, and Old Chubb, a Mexican ranch hand&mdash;are gone; and her brother, like herself, is childless. Soon, all that will be left of the family is the land: &ldquo;I suppose the land is all we will leave behind,&rdquo; she reflects. &ldquo;In that way it is both our parents and our children.&rdquo;<BR /> &#160;<BR /> Land is central to the other tales here as well. In <I>The Myths of Bears</I>, a man tracks his wife through a winter wilderness as she both lures and eludes him. And in <I>Where the Sea Used to Be</I>, an ancient ocean buried in the foothills of the Appalachians becomes a battleground for a young wildcat oilman and his aging mentor.<BR /> &#160;<BR /> &ldquo;Rick Bass is a force of nature. [This book] is a force of language. As a reader, a third thing comes to mind: gratitude for a good story that allows us to ponder what is above and what is below.&rdquo; &mdash;Terry Tempest Williams<BR /> &#160;<BR /> &ldquo;What&rsquo;s exhilarating about Rick Bass&rsquo;s stories is that they show every hallmark of &lsquo;the natural&rsquo;&mdash;that lucid, free-flowing, particularly American talent whose voice we can hear in Twain, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway.&rdquo; &mdash;<I>Chicago Tribune</I></DIV>