Rick Bass response

I went to see Rick Bass tonight from 7-8. I wasn't really looking forward to it; I had been out of town all weekend and he was the only one left by the time I got back. I haven't heard of him before and I was just dreading it, to be honest.
However, he read two short stories to us, and I thought they were really good. He read one that was about a couple who hit an owl while driving, then stop at a diner where the man eats 24 eggs and other various breakfast-type foods... and they notice the owl they hit is stuck in the canoe on top of their car. I liked the easy way Rick read the stories... he has a very interesting accent. He was born in Texas and also lived in Missouri, but he didn't have an extremely thick Southern accent. It was a more a slight, eloquent drawl, and I found this accent was highly effective... and it definitely fit with the stories he read. I liked the first story the best, I think, because it was very interesting, had some funny parts, and the end was sudden and a little disorienting. I had been silently watching the chair in front of me, enthralled with the story; and then it was over, and I felt a little lost. But in a good way.. in a way that made me think over the story again.
Then he read his second story, which was about his family, especially his brother who is more focused on material things than Rick sees himself to be. They would vacation at a beach resort in Texas, maybe? I didn't catch that part. Anyway, then there would sometimes be a "jubilee" where the mixing of salt and fresh water would cause the resort goers to be able to wade into the waves and reap fish after fish after fish into pillowcases and have a huge feast on the beach.
This story was definitely more political- Rick is a conservationist and it was pointing out the gluttony people had for the fish.. they took many more than they needed simply because they could. I didn't like the political tones to the story, but I still liked the way it was written and the way he read it.

I found the hour passed quickly and Rick Bass was an interesting writer as well as adept speaker.