SOURCE: A review of Goodnight, Nebraska, in Publishers Weekly, January 12, 1998, Vol. 245, No. 2, p. 32.

[In the following review, Hix provides information on the editorial process that led to the final version of Goodnight, Nebraska.]

When Bob Loomis, Random House vice-president and executive editor, purchased Goodnight, Nebraska, Tom McNeal believed his interlocking narrative about the inhabitants of that fictional fanning community constituted, he says, "in the broadest definition, a novel." The veteran editor disagreed: "What Tom had was a bunch of short stories with connections all over the place. I felt we could meld it all together for more impact." After 15 months and two comprehensive overhauls, Goodnight, Nebraska took final shape. "What I feel pretty good about, now, is thinking of this definitely as a novel," declares McNeal. "I enjoyed the process. Bob was never prescriptive. He would present such and such as a possible problem, and if I agreed...