JEFF HULL, 30, was born in New York City and raised in Fremont, Ohio. After earning his B.A. in English from Penn State in 1984, he lived in Hilton Head, S.C., and then Newport, R.I., working in advertising, public relations, and newspaper reporting. He moved to Missoula, Mont., where he now lives, to attend the M.F.A. program at the University of Montana. He has since returned to freelance writing, which he has supplemented with bartending, roadside herbicide spraying, working as a moving man, and running shuttles for fly-fishing guides. He is working on a novel about modern medicine.