The Sky, the Stars, the Wilderness

Novellas

Fiction & Literature, Short Stories, Literary
Cover of the book The Sky, the Stars, the Wilderness by Rick Bass, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Rick Bass ISBN: 9780547346816
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publication: September 30, 1998
Imprint: Mariner Books Language: English
Author: Rick Bass
ISBN: 9780547346816
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication: September 30, 1998
Imprint: Mariner Books
Language: English

“Two appealing short stories and an exquisite novella” about the relationship between humans and the natural world around them (Kirkus Reviews).

This is a “wondrous” (GQ) collection of short fiction exploring the subtle interplay between predator and prey, from “a literary titan” (The New York Times Book Review).

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—her father, grandfather, and Old Chubb, a Mexican ranch hand—are gone; and her brother, like herself, is childless. Soon, all that will be left of the family is the land: “I suppose the land is all we will leave behind,” she reflects. “In that way it is both our parents and our children.”

Land is central to the other tales here as well. In The Myths of Bears, a man tracks his wife through a winter wilderness as she both lures and eludes him. And in Where the Sea Used to Be, an ancient ocean buried in the foothills of the Appalachians becomes a battleground for a young wildcat oilman and his aging mentor.

“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.” —Terry Tempest Williams

“What’s exhilarating about Rick Bass’s stories is that they show every hallmark of ‘the natural’—that lucid, free-flowing, particularly American talent whose voice we can hear in Twain, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway.” —Chicago Tribune

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

“Two appealing short stories and an exquisite novella” about the relationship between humans and the natural world around them (Kirkus Reviews).

This is a “wondrous” (GQ) collection of short fiction exploring the subtle interplay between predator and prey, from “a literary titan” (The New York Times Book Review).

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—her father, grandfather, and Old Chubb, a Mexican ranch hand—are gone; and her brother, like herself, is childless. Soon, all that will be left of the family is the land: “I suppose the land is all we will leave behind,” she reflects. “In that way it is both our parents and our children.”

Land is central to the other tales here as well. In The Myths of Bears, a man tracks his wife through a winter wilderness as she both lures and eludes him. And in Where the Sea Used to Be, an ancient ocean buried in the foothills of the Appalachians becomes a battleground for a young wildcat oilman and his aging mentor.

“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.” —Terry Tempest Williams

“What’s exhilarating about Rick Bass’s stories is that they show every hallmark of ‘the natural’—that lucid, free-flowing, particularly American talent whose voice we can hear in Twain, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway.” —Chicago Tribune

More books from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Cover of the book Prince of Peace by Rick Bass
Cover of the book The Beauty of the Beastly by Rick Bass
Cover of the book Ludie's Life by Rick Bass
Cover of the book Glory in a Camel’s Eye by Rick Bass
Cover of the book The Outside by Rick Bass
Cover of the book The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight by Rick Bass
Cover of the book The German Woman by Rick Bass
Cover of the book Leeches by Rick Bass
Cover of the book The Robber Barons by Rick Bass
Cover of the book Rhyming Life & Death by Rick Bass
Cover of the book Innocence by Rick Bass
Cover of the book The Complete Plays of T. S. Eliot by Rick Bass
Cover of the book The Sparkling-Eyed Boy by Rick Bass
Cover of the book The Anniversary and Other Stories by Rick Bass
Cover of the book The Cyberiad by Rick Bass
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy