Madison County

I AM reporting to you today from Dimension Z, which is a sort of parallel dimension to the one you're in, Dimension A.I'm speeding along at breathtaking speed, and yet also standing perfectly still. That's how it is in this separate reality. I can't even tell you how I got here except that it took a whole lot of connecting flights.I came here searching for Robert Kincaid, who is the protagonist in the best-selling book "The Bridges of Madison County." In the book, he's a photographer on assignment to shoot the covered bridges of Madison County, Iowa.

"Unless you're content to do nothing more than copy others and float in safe waters, risks have to be taken," Robert James Waller writes in "One Good Road Is Enough," his second collection of essays.Mr. Waller may or may not be one of the last cowboys, as he is fond of saying, but unquestionably he's lived a freewheeling and stubbornly individualistic life.He's 54, has been married to the same woman for 31 years (Georgia Ann Waller is a potter), has two grown daughters, and lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

If some Americans somehow are untouched by "The Bridges" phenomenon, it won't be because Time Warner isn't trying. Speaking about the book/record promotion strategy involving Warner Books and Atlantic Records, co-chairman Doug Morris of the Atlantic Group boasted, "We look forward to breaking new marketing ground in the service of such a terrific and exciting project."Here's the cross-marketing campaign, according to a spokeswoman for Atlantic Records:"The Bridges of Madison County" book and "The Ballads of Madison County" record will be packaged together on a home shopping channel to be determined.

SIAMESE DREAMSmashing Pumpkins (Virgin 88267)Not all guitar noise is created equal. Some albums may make the mighty crunch of Marshall amps seem screechy and abrasive, but not "Siamese Dream." Even when the members of Smashing Pumpkins crank their amps to 11 (which is most of the time), the resultant roar is smooth and polished, keeping the instrumental clangor for crowding out the band's melodic flair. Add in the cool understatement of Billy Corgan's vocals, and the Pumpkins are left with a sound that's as tuneful as it is powerful -- and that's as true of full-throttle romps like "Cherub Rock" or "Geek U.S.A."

Sometime soon -- probably this month, his publisher says -- the 3 millionth copy of Robert James Waller's "The Bridges of Madison County" will be printed. On Sunday, it will have been on the best-seller list of The New York Times Book Review for exactly one year. This slim novel of bittersweet love in rural Iowa has been the Times' No. 1 fiction seller for 24 of those weeks, and remains atop the list despite competition from such heavyweights as John Grisham, Scott Turow and John le Carre.