Rick Bass

"Animated by a radiant literary sensibility" ("Newsday"), Bass's stories explore the mythical, near-magical connections between man and nature. "The Hermit's Story" is a masterly collection that shows Rick Bass at the top of his form.

One of Rick Bass's most widely respected works of natural history, The Ninemile Wolves follows the fate of a modern wolf pack, the first known group of wolves to attempt to settle in Montana outside protected national park territory. The wolf inspires hatred, affection, myth, fear, and pity; its return polarizes the whole of the West -- igniting the passions of cattle ranchers and environmentalists, wildlife biologists and hunters. One man's vigorous, emotional inquiry into the proper relationship between man and nature, The Ninemile Wolves eloquently advocates wolf reintroduction in the West. In a new preface, Bass discusses the enduring lessons of the Ninemile story.

Colter pairs one of America's most treasured writers with our most treasured "best friend." The runt of the litter, Colter, a German shorthair pup, surprised Rick Bass first with his raging genius, then with his innocent ability to lead his owner to a new territory altogether, a place where Bass felt instantly more connected to the world. Distinguished by "crystalline, see-through-to-the-bottom prose" (Rocky Mountain News), this interspecies love story vividly captures the essence of canine companionship, and yet does far more. "With an elegant, often erudite flavor" (Book Page), Bass illuminates the heart of life by "drawing out the momentousness of an autumn afternoon with a dog in the Montana hills" (New York Times). Author Biography: Rick Bass is the author of fourteen acclaimed books of fiction and nonfiction, including WHERE THE SEA USED TO BE and THE SKY, THE STARS AND THE WILDERNESS. He resides in Montana.

Essays explore the author's relationship with his dog, Colter, and how it has helped him to understand intuition

The first full-length novel by one of our finest fiction writers, Where the Sea Used to Be tells the story of a struggle between a father and his daughter for the souls of two men, Matthew and Wallis-his protgs, her lovers. Old Dudley is a Texan whose religion is oil, and in his fifty years of searching for it in Swan Valley he has destroyed a dozen geologists. Matthew is Dudley's most recent victim, but Wallis begins to uncover the dark mystery of Dudley's life. Each character, the wildlife, and the land itself are rendered with the vivid poetry that is that hallmark of Rick Bass's writing.

GQ called the three short novels in this collection "wondrous." A woman returns to live on her family's west Texas ranch ...a man tracks his wife through a winter wilderness ...an ancient ocean buried in the foothills of the Appalachians becomes a battleground for a young wildcat oilman and his aging mentor. Here is Bass at his magical, passionate, and lyrical best.

The California Bear Flag and the University of California football team the Golden Bears emblemize the great animal that has been extinct in California since the 1920s but once numbered perhaps as many as ten thousand in the state. Forty years after its original publication, University of California Press proudly reissues "California Grizzly", still the most comprehensive book on the bear's history in California. The lessons of the book resonate today as the issues of protection of wildlife habitat versus unfettered development of land for human use are debated with increasing urgency.

Set in the South and West, they pursue themes of friendship, loyalty, and freedom, of escape, where valiant holdouts refuse to grow up, or to grow old.

In 17 essays, Rick Bass tells the story of a deer pasture set in the Texas Hill Country. More than just a place to stalk deer, chase armadillos and tell campfire stories, the deer pasture is also a place for Bass and his relations to renew family ties and recharge spiritual batteries.