Month: March 2026

The Hustle Is Not a Dance

Pop Lit Fiction

LIVING IN AMERICA TODAY

In this insane society there are two kinds of hustlers.

One kind are the multi-billionaire tech boys painting visual sci-fi pictures of futuristic craziness while scamming in every possible way to pump up their money bubble to further increase their enormous wealth.

The other is the traditional hustling-to-survive kind, still seen in parts of hectic cities like New York. Which is the kind portrayed in our slightly crazy new feature story, “Casanova Must Die,” by Dan Shapiro. A story which well captures the unique east coast city street vibe, and the fast-moving fast-talking characters who inhabit those towns. Especially fascinating is when one of the characters is a gorgeous woman.

Jump into the story. You’ll enjoy it.

The entire time not a single glimpse of the woman who stole his wallet, but plenty of women who reminded him of Madeline, something he hadn’t anticipated. Not so much facial resemblance, but the way they dressed. Cream-colored summer sun hats, with wide brims for extra protection. Long, flowy white short-sleeve sundresses that billowed in the breeze and swayed as they walked. Standard  tote bags hanging off their shoulders.  

Our Chaotic World

Pop Lit Fiction

NO DOUBT, as anyone who watches the news can attest, we live in a world and society in chaos. Given ups and downs, this has long been the case.

As example we present our new feature short story, “Contact” by Joe Del Castillo, who writes with humanity and heart. His latest story circles around the murder in 1980 of a public figure. As public– as famous– as one can get. Moreover, a figure known for his humanity, his often-flawed stumbles through this hectic world, as we all stumble through it.

The theme of Del Castillo’s story, so necessary in this age of robots and cruelties, is our common humanity. As the title implies, the need of all of us for human contact.

He gazed at the pictures and read the liner notes, knowing but not yet comprehending that a door had shut, a wall had risen, over his past.

WE’LL ALSO be posting in coming days many new thoughts and provocative writing at the other parts of this project, addressing various aspects of literature and the world. These spots include Fast Pop Lit, our NPL News blog, our Interactive page– which we need to make more interactive c/o quizzes and such– and we hope to soon revive our book review feature.

THE QUESTION for us, as perhaps for others, is: How to address the world without being corrupted by it? We’re still working on that one!