Corrections or additions?

This column was published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on July 28,

1999.

Between the Lines: Summer Fiction

One hundred years ago, the great (and solvent) Italian composer

Giacomo Puccini helped fix in our cultural lexicon the image of the

starving artist. The moment in "La Boheme" when the poet Rodolpho

thrusts the manuscript of his latest play into the stove to warm his

freezing garret continues to provoke gasps of genuine dismay. More

recently, the late American composer Jonathan Larson revivified the

image of Rudolpho and his starving artist friends in "Rent," and his

potent accomplishment promises to perpetuate this cultural icon into

the 21st century.

Here at U.S. 1, however, the adventure of our annual summer fiction

issue has given us a very different image of the life of an author.

Not one of the 39 authors who bring you the 21 short stories and 17

poems you’ll find in our third annual summer fiction extravaganza that

begins on page 26 lives in an unheated garret. They’re all out there

holding down jobs (including mothering at home jobs) to support their

love of writing. Granted, some of these jobs are modest, even

temporary, some involve the rigors of a daily commute to Manhattan,

but others come with a swish corner office and a receptionist out

front.

So although by night these authors may still be found in upstairs

rooms (lit by a bit more than a candle) hunched over their word

processors, by day you’ll find them at Educational Testing Service,

Dow Jones & Co., Fox Chase Cancer Center, and Clancy Paul Computers.

Also represented here are luminaries of the Princeton Internet Group,

Mathematica Policy Research, and Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. Add to

this hardworking group members of a Carnegie Center law firm, a

private investment company, a psychology group practice, and a

psychiatrist in private practice, and you’ll get a more accurate

picture of today’s authors and poets.

Once again, the number of submissions received surpassed the previous

year’s, and choosing from such a wealth of work was as difficult (and

in some cases serendipitous) as ever, which is why our fiction issue

continues to be our most challenging and unpredictable Preview issues

of the year.

Please don’t forget that all our readers, authors, would-be authors,

and their family, friends, and co-workers are invited to meet each

other and the U.S. 1 staff at our special annual Fiction Issue party

on Thursday, August 12, from 5 to 7 p.m., at Micawber Books, 114

Nassau Street, in Princeton. We will also have extra recycled copies

of the Summer Fiction Issue available at Micawber Books on that date,

so please postpone stocking up, and plan to pick up your extra copies

at that time.

Editors’ note: None of the stories and poems in this issue has

been made available for this website. To receive a paper copy, send $4

to U.S. 1 Newspaper, 12 Roszel Road, Princeton NJ 08540. Or stop by

our office to get one free.

Corrections or additions?

— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.