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Summary
“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.
This classic American story of hope and despair serves as the inspiration for an eclectic mix of short stories written by an array of acclaimed authors, including Pam Houston, Eric Garcia, C. J. Box, David Corbett, Gregg Hurwitz, and Steve Hamilton. Springsteen’s spare lyrics leave much unsaid, and 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, in literature, just as with music, no two performances are alike.
© 2005 by Jessica Kaye and Richard J. Brewer
Review Quotes
“A clever, collaborative idea…Many are compelling, all are imaginative, and a few are real gems…the narrators here are just as intriguing…This is one meeting not to be missed.”
Plain Dealer
“Stefan Rudnicki…brings a feeling of doomed noir to Wallace Stroby’s moving ‘Lovers in the Cold.’ Maxwell Caufield does an excellent job with Paul Charles’ 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’…From New Jersey to the afterlife, these are twenty rides worth taking.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Twenty-one narrators recount the stories using sarcasm and wit to reveal characters with haunting pasts and recurring personal flaws…These diverse reading styles all reflect a tone befitting the centerpiece of the Springsteen song.”
AudioFile
“The editors have carefully chosen the right voice with the right story, using the talents of the various narrators skillfully and with no false notes.”
Kliatt
