{"id":5482,"date":"2014-03-31T20:21:08","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T20:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?page_id=5482"},"modified":"2026-02-09T16:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T16:02:29","slug":"about-one-hundred-miles-from-manhattan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/novels-and-short-fiction\/about-one-hundred-miles-from-manhattan\/","title":{"rendered":"About One Hundred Miles from Manhattan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"One_Hundred_Miles_from_Manhattan_by_Chris_Orcutt_cover\"One of IndieRead\u00ader\u2019s Best Books of 2014.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One Hun\u00addred Miles from Man\u00adhat\u00adtan<\/strong><\/i> is a nov\u00adel about an upscale  rur\u00adal community\u2014Wellington, NY\u2014where the hills and the seem\u00ading\u00adly quaint vil\u00adlage con\u00adceal lives of love, lust, adul\u00adtery, tragedy and small wars.<\/p>\n

Unlike oth\u00ader nov\u00adels in the pas\u00adtoral tra\u00addi\u00adtion, which attempt to tell the sto\u00adry of a place and a time through the eyes of a sin\u00adgle char\u00adac\u00adter, this mod\u00adern nov\u00adel uses 10 nar\u00adra\u00adtors, a dif\u00adfer\u00adent one per chap\u00adter, to shed light on this exclu\u00adsive com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty.<\/p>\n

In Welling\u00adton, a tro\u00adphy wife under\u00adgoes a shock\u00ading trans\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion. A med\u00adical doc\u00adtor attracts his own destruc\u00adtion. A local bach\u00ade\u00adlor steals a dog and has an epiphany. A town Casano\u00adva goes on a per\u00adson\u00adal odyssey to make amends. And a Man\u00adhat\u00adtan book edi\u00adtor reveals what it\u2019s like to be a first-time vis\u00adi\u00adtor to this rar\u00adefied world of wealth, hors\u00ades and equestri\u00adennes.<\/p>\n

To this exquis\u00adite\u00adly writ\u00adten nov\u00adel, Chris Orcutt brings his metic\u00adu\u00adlous craft and his tal\u00adent for writ\u00ading in mul\u00adti\u00adfar\u00adi\u00adous voic\u00ades and styles\u2014all while expos\u00ading a world of mas\u00adsive estates, rolling green hills, hill\u00adtop\u00adpers, town\u00adies, celebri\u00adties, hopes, dreams, sex, and the fleet\u00ading promis\u00ades of love\u2026<\/p>\n

Buy: <\/strong><\/span>Ama\u00adzon<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Excerpt from One Hundred Miles from Manhattan<\/em><\/h1>\n

Although I\u2019d had sev\u00ader\u00adal authors from Welling\u00adton over the years, includ\u00ading a for\u00admer edi\u00adtor pal turned best\u00adselling mys\u00adtery nov\u00adel\u00adist, not one of them had deigned to invite me to so much as a cock\u00adtail par\u00adty up here. Creep\u00ading through the vil\u00adlage that Sat\u00adur\u00adday morn\u00ading in a rental car, I passed a shiny alu\u00adminum din\u00ader and myr\u00adi\u00adad antiques deal\u00aders and con\u00adtin\u00adued on through a ham\u00adlet mys\u00adte\u00adri\u00adous\u00adly called Rab\u00adbitsville (although I didn\u2019t see a sin\u00adgle rab\u00adbit to war\u00adrant the name). From there, I fol\u00adlowed sand\u00adwich boards point\u00ading to Fox Hill.<\/p>\n

The road rib\u00adboned out in front of me, over rolling green hills and miles of black wood\u00aden fence. The sky was a soft sum\u00admer blue. In the hol\u00adlows, pock\u00adets of thin fog hov\u00adered over the grass. The whole coun\u00adtry\u00adside had a vague\u00adly mys\u00adti\u00adcal aura, like Mr. Darcy\u2019s Der\u00adbyshire.<\/p>\n

Most of the dri\u00adve from Man\u00adhat\u00adtan, how\u00adev\u00ader, had been tedious. Dron\u00ading along the emp\u00adty and wood\u00aded Tacon\u00adic Park\u00adway, still half-asleep, I had start\u00aded to ques\u00adtion the wis\u00addom of trav\u00adel\u00ading two hours upstate for a young woman with whom I had done noth\u00ading but have inor\u00addi\u00adnate sex\u2014and that only in her favored cow\u00adgirl posi\u00adtion. To be fair, we had<\/i> man\u00adaged to squeeze in a few sub\u00adstan\u00adtial conversations\u2014about books (for a young woman of prodi\u00adgious sex\u00adu\u00adal appetites she was sur\u00adpris\u00ading\u00adly well-read, Chekhov\u2019s sto\u00adries being her favorites); about tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy (she embraced the use\u00adful, cit\u00ading her auto\u00admat\u00adic lights and a robot\u00adic vac\u00adu\u00adum clean\u00ader that per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly crawled around the apart\u00adment); and about lifestyles (she adored sim\u00adplic\u00adi\u00adty bor\u00adder\u00ading on the Spar\u00adtan; every room in her apart\u00adment con\u00adtained min\u00adi\u00admal fur\u00adni\u00adture and absolute\u00adly no<\/i> knickknacks)\u2014but since those con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtions invari\u00adably took place before or after sex, I con\u00adsid\u00adered them sus\u00adpect, and not rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtive of how we would relate under less sybarit\u00adic cir\u00adcum\u00adstances. For that rea\u00adson, the week\u00adend was a test, or, as she had put it, \u201ca tri\u00adal run for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Reading from the Novel<\/h1>\n

The fol\u00adlow\u00ading read\u00ading was per\u00adformed at the Mill\u00adbrook Lit\u00ader\u00adary Fes\u00adti\u00adval in June 2014. The Mill\u00adbrook, NY coun\u00adtry\u00adside was one of the inspi\u00adra\u00adtions for the nov\u00adel.<\/p>\n