Serving 'The only world we have'

 

Thenatural world is the only one we have. To try to not see the natural world - toput on blinders and avoid seeing it - would for me seem like a form ofmadness.” - Rick Bass

 

Bass, who was born in Texas in Marchof 1958, started writing short stories on his lunch breaks while working as a geologistin the petroleum and gas industry.  Eventuallyhe left that field and gravitated toward environmental activism.

 

Among his more than two dozen booksare the award-winning Where the Sea Used to Be; his short storycollection The Lives of Rocks; and his autobiographical Why I CameWest.  Also a noted essayist, hismost recent book is With Every Great Breath: New and Selected Essays,1995-2023.   In addition to writing,he is a noted public speaker, appears often on television, and is a frequentcollege lecturer.

 

While Bass has authored an equalnumber of nonfiction and fiction works, he said approaching the latter genre’is a more delicate proposition.

 

“I think a novelist must be moretender with living or 'real' people,” he said.  “The moral imperative of having been entrusted with their story loomsbefore you every day, in every sentence.”

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