The Search for New Writers

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.

What Will New Fiction Look Like?

Pop Lit Fiction

FOR US, that’s the big question, as we’re a forward-looking literary project out to decipher how the literary art will change– how it must change to retain any place in this crazy noisy society. Or in any society. (One criterion we look for in new fiction is universality: Is it enough of a tale to appeal to anyone anyplace?)

We’ll take, in our mad quest, pieces of ideas from anytime in the past– if we believe they’ll work with readers today. For instance: the yarn. The kind of Mark Twain Bret Harte Jack London story told at night around a campfire, or under an urban streetlamp, or in a dorm room. Something maybe over-the-top, often imaginative, and definitely so compelling you couldn’t stop listening– or reading– if you tried. Three months ago, New Pop Lit’s two editors (we hope to add others) were sitting around a coffee shop discussing this very notion. We’d presented several terrific tales in the past, but we wanted more. Give us stories! we shouted (not really), but wanted to, whether propelled by the love of literature and art or from too much caffeine. Lo and behold, arriving into our Inbox that very day was a wild story– definitely a yarn– set in New York City, that maddest, wildest, most ambitious of all cities. The story: “Give the People Guns” by Bela Seitz. Please click on the title and read.

Bela Seitz anyway seems wildly talented. Perhaps one of a phalanx of new prodigies prepared to bring fresh imagination and excitement into today’s literary game? One never knows. Idealists that we are, we hope so. We also hope you enjoy the story.

Grey billowing clouds rushed across the sky, as though someone had a high-powered fan propelling them across the vast blue expanse so that the weather could match the demeanor of the collected reporters. They used to have passion in their eyes, but now their faces were taut, stretched with the gravity of the situation and an innate understanding that the news was no longer something to look at on your phone and laugh about – but was something to be taken seriously.

The Importance of Poetry

Poetry

Is Poetry 3D?

POETRY may be the most multidimensional art, because right now rules are few: there’s an endless variety of ways to create and present the art form. Unique ways of viewing and reacting to the world.

TODAY we offer as powerful a feature poem as we ever have: “Slick” by Ali J. Prince.

Want poetry with passion? Which addresses the world around us? Poems that grab the reader or listener by the lapels– or t-shirt or pajamas– to pull the person from their comfortable chair or complacent attitude and shake that individual to say, “This is the world. This is art!” If so, then you might enjoy today’s offering.

SIMULTANEOUSLY with our feature poem, we’ve been showcasing at our Fast Pop Lit site the very different style of poetry of James Croal Jackson— including his latest for us, “House Concert,” which itself has a 3D or cubist quality to it. Click on it and see if you agree.

UPCOMING: More striking writing and provocative ideas, setting down in the current chaotic environment a path out of the morass into all-new artistic experiences. Stay tuned.

Halloween 2023

Announcement

Happy Halloween from Karl and Kathleen!

No, we don’t have any scary stories to offer this Halloween season– we figure there are already plenty of frightening tales and images this year courtesy of mass shootings, world events, and news media.

We DO invite people to read our enlightening offerings– our features, listed at our Top of the Pop page, and short poems, interviews, fiction, commentary and satires at our new-this-year Fast Pop Lit site.

More Fall Fiction!

Pop Lit Fiction

WE’RE in a race to pick up our game to be the best literary project on the planet, to point a direction out of the doldrums for literature and restore it to its rightful place as leading force in the culture. NOT marginalized, not an afterthought, not a forum for niche thinking and satisfied-with-obscurity players, of whom today in the overground and underground there are far too many.

How do we find a path out? It begins with relatable, real, relevant writing. Like our new feature story: “And the Angels Sing” by Joe Del Castillo. A tale about a dying music fan and five young subway singers.

The question is: Does the literary art belong only in airless halls of shuffling professors in Ivy-covered universities who clutch selfishly to the treasured object and won’t let it out of their grasp for public enjoyment– OR in locked rooms inside thick-walled insane asylums where doomed individuals scream solipsistic obscenities under the guise of self-expressive “alternative” or “outsider”? (Way outside.)

The answer is: NO! We can do better as a culture and art form and we will do better if we reach readers with emotion and meaning.

As, for instance, Joe Del Castillo does in our brand-new feature. We hope you enjoy it.

The Go-To Spot

Announcement

GO!

That’s what we’re aiming for, rather ambitiously, with our Fast Pop Lit site (also linked on our menu). The idea being to quickly post new work on an instantaneous basis (almost)– to create a colorful kaleidoscope of criticism, commentary, quirkiness, satire, sneak previews, short fiction, poems, and gossip. Sometimes off-the-wall, and other times completely serious. Or utterly ridiculous.

THIS MOMENT

Our newest post at Fast Pop is a poem, “Moment (October)” by James Croal Jackson, who appeared in one of our unique print zeens, ZEENITH. (Still available at our POP SHOP.)

NEXT UP

We have coming Thursday a quick interview with Aspen Audley, who penned our current feature, “White Crane Spreads Its Wings.” After that, a Sneak Preview of our next feature; short interviews with other writers; more James Croal Jackson poetry; and a short essay about the “Worst Literary Critic Ever” (not to miss); and much more!

We aim to be all things and everything books, writing, and literature related.

Autumn Fiction

Pop Lit Fiction

Hello! Welcome to autumn and more great fiction. We’ll be presenting fewer full features at this site, as we move many of our hit-and-run activities to our Fast Pop blog (see top of this page)– which is why we’re making sure the features we do present are choice. Emphasis on the reading experience.

As example, our new feature– “White Crane Spreads Its Wings” by Aspen Audley. A tale about a tai chi class– something with which many of us can relate. Is there a Mr. Know-It-All in the class? Of course! Read the story to see what happens.

It was only my third lesson, but I’d already fallen in love with this beautiful dance-like form of martial arts. Its slow, graceful movements soothed me, and I was intrigued at how every motion, no matter how elegant, had its roots in self-defense. It was all about harmony: for every right turn, there was a left; for every pull, there was a push. The steps and poses somehow felt intuitive to me, as though my body had been designed for them.

Is There Hope for Literature?

Controversy, Poetry

Last week Lit Mag News ran a short article about AI by New Pop Lit’s Editor (myself). My co-editor Kathleen Crane– this site’s conscience and objective intelligence– liked the article but said there wasn’t enough hope in it. An apt criticism, because this literary site was built on hope. One of our missions is to be a positive force in the culture amid a mass of literary negativity and complacency. I’m an optimist– a realistic one who knows the world is a tough, chaotic, often hellish place, but there are stray gems of goodness and beauty to be found in it.

Which might be the appeal for us– and hopefully our readers– of the poem “Little Church” by Dominik Slusarczyk, presented at our Fast Pop site. An aged structure serving as a reminder of humanity’s past– of human decay and weakness, as well as humanity’s hopes. A marker of those who went before us on this mad planet.

This church has stood strong for centuries
But we will be here to see it fall.

\\\\////\\\\////

(Why am I an optimist? Culturally this civilization is at the bottom of a wave. The only direction we can go is UP. –KW)

Late Summer Pop

Pop Fiction

WHAT HAPPENED to the days when fiction had an idealistic magic to it, created by literary magicians like Robert Louis Stevenson or F. Scott Fitzgerald with tales of mysterious personas with unreal qualities– romantic characters who in Fitzgerald’s timeless phrase were “simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.” Does one find that magic from today’s writers?

Not often, but alert editors can occasionally stumble upon it– as we did with our new feature story, “Killian and the Black Blade!” by C. A. Shoultz. An exciting narrative about a fencing club. A story designed to be read. Enjoy.

No further time to mark the oddness of her foe. The two girls tossed salutes and bent their knees to ready. Killian, as was her habit, advanced first, and broadly, long steps directing her with strident purpose. This flicker of initiative was usually enough to pass the opposition into defense, quail them back and give her early triumph. But the sable girl, to Killian’s shock, advanced as well, every bit as swift as she. In fact, the girl moved faster, so that abruptly both were in each others’ range. Killian lunged and thrust-–

Summer Fiction 2023

Pop Lit Fiction

SCIENCE FICTION– OR REALISM?

Hello! With writers and actors strikes against giant movie conglomerates in Hollywood; with every scam artist on the planet joining the AI-hype techno-bubble big money bandwagon– and contentious politics on all sides (plus ongoing war in Ukraine), we thought we’d present a moment of summer escapism. NOT! Our feature story, “The Henry Plan” by screenwriter Matt O’Reilly (on break from his usual writing for some reason– it’s perplexing) is not exactly designed to lower any widespread fear and paranoia. But it might wake people up to the direction in which this technology-at-all-costs mindset is taking us.

He continued toward the far end of the hall, but well before he got there, he spotted something that made him stop short and stare, wide-eyed. Staining the floor ahead of him were years-old blood stains that trailed down the hall. Henry followed the blood stains with great eagerness. Where would the trail lead? It was as much excitement as he had felt on the station for as long as he could remember.

(Speaking of AI and writers, and ongoing happenings, we still have our “Save the Writer!” petition out there, our small contribution toward saving human creativity– one of numerous petitions and actions from a wide variety of artists and writers of all kinds across the world.)