Meeting Across the River: Stories Inspired by the Haunting Bruce Springsteen Song - Softcover

Kaye, Jessica; Brewer, Richard; Brewer, Richard J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1582342830 ISBN 13: 9781582342832

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2005

Synopsis

Bruce Springsteen's melancholy "Meeting Across the River," a song rarely performed but beloved by his countless fans, serves as the inspiration for this eclectic mix of short stories written by an array of acclaimed authors.

"Meeting Across the River," from Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run album, is a song with an evocative melody and lyrics that unfold like a noir fable: a man down on his luck but desperate to make things right with his girl tells his buddy, Eddie, that they have to get across the river for a last-chance meeting with someone, all in the hopes of a big score: two grand. With that money, our hero can win back his girl and all will be right with the world-but if he and Eddie screw up, the consequences will be grave. Authors including Eric Garcia, C. J. Box, Barbara Seranella, David Corbett, Gregg Hurwitz, and Steve Hamilton, among others, have written imaginative, heartbreaking, funny, and bold stories based on this classic American story of hope and despair, each a surprisingly different experiment with character and plot. For as familiar as this story is, Springsteen's spare lyrics leave much unsaid. How these authors fill in the absences is what makes this collection, published a month before the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Springsteen's Born to Run, such an unusual treasure, proving that, just as with music, in literature no two performances are alike.

About this title

About the Author

Jessica Kaye is a publishing law attorney, occasional writer and the founder and former publisher of the Publishing Mills, an award-winning audiobook company, as well as a lifelong fan of great music and great writing.

Richard J. Brewer is an author, actor, and voice-over talent for films and audiobooks.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Hey, Eddie, can you get us a ride," starts the Bruce Springsteen song, "Meeting Across the River," from his classic 1975 album Born to Run. With its spare lyrics and the moody trumpet playing in the background, Springsteen's song tells the tale of two smalltime losers out for one last try at the brass ring, and provides the inspiration behind the 20 stories found in this imaginative and enjoyable anthology. The 16 readers assembled for this recording are as eclectic as the stories they narrate. Stefan Rudnicki, who also produced the program, brings a feeling of doomed noir to Wallace Stroby's moving "Lovers in the Cold." Maxwell Caufield does an excellent job with Paul Charles's amusing Irish story "In the Midnight Hour"; and Harlan Ellison supplies a rich, no-holds-barred reading of Peter David's inspired fantasy, "Killing Time by the River Styx," while Cara Black's "Mosquito Incense," set in Japan, is given just the right sense of melancholia by Moira Quirk. Other notable readers include John Rubinstein, Arte Johnson, Gabrielle de Cuir, Richard Brewer and a most effective Orson Scott Card, reading Jessica Kaye's "Drink to Long Life." From New Jersey to the afterlife, these are 20 rides worth taking. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1582342830
• ISBN 13: 9781582342832
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256