Rick Bass

Born in Fort Worth, Rick Bass worked as a petroleum geologist before turning to writing. “They cleared a kind of space,” recalled critic Dwight Garner of reading Bass’ stories in the late 1980s and early 1990s. “You felt you could probably learn something from them: how to field dress an elk, in case you happened to blast one, or track a Gila monster or fight a fire or fry up the rabbit you just shot in your garden.”