SOURCE: A review of In the Loyal Mountains, in Bloomsbury Review, Vol. 16, No. 2, March, 1996, p. 17.

Sullivan is an American writer and critic. In the following review of In the Loyal Mountains, he favorably examines Bass's depth of introspection into seemingly mundane, simple human existence and the solace found by humanity in the natural world.

Those familiar with the fiction of Rick Bass know that he is able to create wonderful characters who live in a world as peculiar as our own. With the publication of In the Loyal Mountains, his latest collection of short fiction, he has once again accomplished this feat, writing convincing stories so natural and intensely human they have the power to make readers wilt with glimpses of truth.

Rick Bass is a prolific naturalist, keenly aware of the inner workings of nature and of the animals who reside in her environs. In this collection...