WE MAKE NO SECRET of the fact that as a literary project we look for writing talent. Talent not of the approved predictable “literary” variety– we’re not out to be the next The New Yorker or Paris Review. Instead, talent with an edge to it– and which shows hints of openings toward new viewpoints or new directions.
For our final feature of 2023 we present one such story, “Straight and Narrow” by Joshua Vigil. Click on, plunge in and see what you think.
She lived in a gated community with low hanging fronds that draped every door in fit boxes of shade. The bell clanged an unlovely sound. But she was graceful in how she opened it. Taking a step back. Scrutinizing me for a split second before deciding that yes, I would do. I felt my worth, and I strolled in with some misplaced confidence, leaving the perfect fronds and the perfect shade for the giddy unknown.
New Pop Lit 
Hey, Karl. Here are my thoughts.
If we intend to attract new readers, we need writing that jerks us out of our seats and demands that we read on. Consider the opening line to one of America’s greatest novels, “Lonesome Dove,” by Larry McMurtry.
When Augustus came out on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnakenot a very big one.”
The blue pigs? Eating a rattlesnake? I defy you not to read on.
Compare this to “She lived in a gated community with low hanging fronds that draped every door in fit boxes of shade.” (Wuthering Heights, no doubt.)
I know what story I want to read first.
Don’t get me wrong. I read Joshua’s story, and his narrative skills are outstanding, infinitely greater than mine. The story was more bizarre than interesting, filled with gothic characters whose weird behavior and dire circumstances make me think I had strayed into some sort of post apocalyptic world. Why does the woman get off on being shot with a bullet-proof vest? The thrill of risk-taking? Why is she so cash-laden when everyone else is so broke? And his mother and grandfather. What’s going on? What are the answers? Well, there just aren’t any. It’s up to us to figure it all out, and no two of us might come to the same conclusions. That’s the way I see it. And here’s my complaint. Joshua’s story is literary, very much so, Master of Fine Arts worthy. It’s not the panacea were searching for.
No offense to Joshua. I think there are many literary mags that would happily publish his story. The operative word is literary, and that’s what they want, the kind of stuff they are taught to write in creative writing classes. It’s not about the story; it’s about how poetically the prose writer writes. Isn’t this what we’ve kind of declared war on?
Sci-fi sounds like fertile ground to me. I think we should get some advice from younger people. What, if anything, would make them stop texting for ten minutes or so? Man, the joy I got in reading McMurtry, Hemingway, James Jones, Jane Austin, John LeCarre, Steinbeck, Patricia Highsmith, and Ian Fleming. Even Tom Harris and Hannibal. Hell, even John Grisham and Dan Brown. But that’s me, and I haven’t learned yet to enjoy smart-phone sex.
Keep fighting the good fight, my friend. Nick Gallup.
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Hi Nick. We’ll push the bounds of our pop lit standards on occasion while searching for new writing talent. We’re open to both sides of the equation. We’ve erred on the other, “pop” side of our spectrum before (incl with some of my own writing).
I love the premise and set-up of Joshua’s story. Edgy, without going too far. We seek to attract stray “literary” readers as well as those who right now aren’t reading much of anything. All things to all readers? Sure.
-Karl