Lit Riffs: Writers ""Cover"" Songs They Love

Writers pay homage to rockers in Lit Riffs, a collection of 24 stories inspired by songs. Edited by Matthew Miele, the book features a familiar list of hip young literary lights offering good-but perhaps not their best-work. Jonathan Letham, inspired by Daniel Johnston's ""Speeding Motorcycle,"" offers a mannered consideration of love and adultery; Elissa Schappell tells of a writer's loving (and exploitative) feelings toward an old flame, after John Cale's ""Dying on the Vine""; and Heidi Julavitz, riffing on Cat Power's cover of ""I Found a Reason"" by the Velvet Underground, serves up a story with characters inspired by Chan Marshall and Lou Reed. A CD from Manhattan Records will be released simultaneously.