'Bass is, hands down, a master of the short form, creating in a few pages a natural world of mythic proportions' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'A rallying cry against our modern, urban existence... a celebration of being wild' THE TIMES 'A rich collection of stories by a major American writer' ANNIE PROULX Rick Bass is unsurpassed in his ability to perceive and portray the enduring truths of the human heart. To read his fiction is to feel more alive, and to be captivated by his expression of the vastness of human experience, and the awesome beauty of the natural world. The men and women in these stories live with intensity and tenderness, struggling against their fate at the moment of recognition. The stories collected here - brimming with magic and wonder, filled with hard-won empathy, marbled throughout with astonishing imagery - have the power both to devastate and uplift.