Talkin’ Muhlenberg County Blues

Today’s Saturday Story is by NPL author ‘Fishspit’ and will take you into the simple, yet somewhat benighted heart of a music fan. Talkin’ Muhlenberg County Blues.

OK! OK! I got a story! I’ve been fishing for one a long time. I’m gonna tell it to you all. But wait . . . but wait! It’s two stories in one actually . . . oh hell . . . I’ve already started rambling . . . and I ain’t hardly started yet! Don’t give up on me. I know! Oh reader . . . I know you have to put up with this concerning me all the time. No . . . just . . . well, quit hollering at me! I . . . OK . . . you set? It starts “now” . . . but I’m going to have to be going back and forth. Aaron was there . . . an old pal of mine . . . and he had a little cutie with him. Some little chick chick. Aaron started playing his guitar for us . . . a Townes Van Zandt song he know I like.

When he had finished it we talked a little about Townes, and then the little cutie spoke up and asked, “Have you ever heard of John Prine?” I whipped around and looked at where she was sitting on this rock.

How To Tell Stories To Children

Opinion

At NPL, we’re trying to revive reader-centered writing; writing that’s written for readers. But what does that mean? NPL editor Andrea Nolen explores this question in our latest addition to the Opinion page, How to Tell Stories to Children.

One of my favorite books on writing isn’t technically about writing at all, it’s titled How to Tell Stories to Children, by Sara Cone Bryant. Bryant was a storyteller– someone who told stories to live audiences. She would travel from school to school treating children to Aesop’s Fables, The Brothers Grimm and the like.

Sometimes the children weren’t well-behaved and many of Bryant’s insights came from figuring out how to get the kids’ attention despite themselves. Bryant was working in the early twentieth century, but today, when a reader’s attention is distracted by their iPhone, laptop and whatever else, authors face the same problem. How do we engage readers? How do we tell stories for readers?

Thank you to amazon.com for cover image.

Super Bowl!

Third-Way Fiction

For readers who are outside of the United States, the pinnacle weekend for American football fans is upon us: The Super Bowl Weekend.

In the lead-up to Sunday, February 1st, millions of people across North America will be absorbed by the show-down between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. Television pundits will offer endless hours of commentary; employees around water coolers everywhere will discuss just why they hate the Patriots; and bloggers will opine on every Super Bowl detail. In the USA, football is the topic of the hour.

At NPL we think that the Super Bowl– a true cultural phenomenon– deserves more attention than the mainstream literary world delivers. We’d like to break the ice by doing something we’ve never done before: offer two excerpts from NPL editor Karl Wenclas’ book The Tower, which explores the American Cult of Football.

Frustrated Mascots, Unite! Aim pens at the Arena of Common Experience! Deck the Monday Night Halls! Enjoy excerpt one, The Press Conference!

“Bobo!” Rick Romeo barked. “The press conference begins in twelve minutes. You have to be there.”

The bizarre looking mascot, who’d been skulking around the facility, raised a costume hand in acknowledgement while running off. Not necessarily in the right direction. The stadium was so huge, had so many levels, turns, and byways, corridors of blue, orange, or green, Rick wasn’t sure the mascot knew where he was going. But if anyone knew the facility better than Rick did it was Bobo.

Pitcher John

Third-Way Fiction

A reflective story for you today, readers. Pitcher John, by James Freeze. What does it mean to be happy?

What happens to a warrior’s mind after the smoke clears, years from the end of his war? In this case it was the Second World War and this warrior had participated in some of the bloodiest battles in Germany. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was not something many had heard of during this time.

The Cigarette Girl

Third-Way Fiction

It’s a frosty morning in the Midwest readers, so what better time to bring you this thoughtful story from Denmark? Our contributor today, Anthony Kane Evans, is a writer and documentary film maker based out of Copenhagen.

The Cigarette Girl is a modern tale about two cultures colliding– colliding with disastrous consequences.

Jesus had a Buick. God only knows where he’d picked it up from. I mean, those things are museum pieces, you only see them moving in old black and whites. Colin said I should check it out.

“It’s the most beautiful car I’ve ever seen,” he said.

I got ready to go over on the Saturday morning.

Interview with Elizabeth S. Craig

Announcement

Happy New Year readers!

We’re starting things off with an interview from an author who has mastered the art of self-publishing and working with traditional publishers: Elizabeth S. Craig.

Elizabeth shares some of the knowledge she’s learned from her publishing experience, including the importance of genre in writing and what challenges authors should expect from both forms of publishing. She also fills us in on upcoming books. Enjoy!

Pushcart Prize Announcement

Announcement

Greetings New Pop Lit’ers! Instead of a story today, we’re announcing our nominees for the 2015 Pushcart Prizes!

This was somewhat of a bittersweet process for Karl and me, because we publish what we feel are exceptional stories and Pushcart only allows six nominations per publication. Because of this limitation, we’ve chosen six stories that represent a variety of writing styles. Our 2015 nominees are:

1) Jessie Lynn McMains; Insect Summer
2) Thomas Mundt; Placeholder
3) Kathleen Crane; Donnie Darko
4) Pablo D’Stair; Yellow is the Color of My True Love’s Hair, in the Morning
5) Ian Lahey; The Janitor
6) Andrea Gregovich; The Unshakable Kayfabe of Tommy Rage

Congratulations, nominees and congratulations to our other writers who helped us make NPL happen in 2014! More great things to come!!

Portrait of Santa Claus, by Thomas Nast, Published in Harper’s Weekly, 1881. Photo image obtained/rendered by Gwillhickers. Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Aftertaste

Third-Way Fiction

A ghost story today, readers. Not a scary ghost story, but a story of reflection and resolution by author Edward Ahern— enjoy Aftertaste!

It began with the toilet seat. It was down. Roger never left the toilet seat down– it had been one of the sore points with Joyce before she divorced him. He squinted early morning eyes and propped the seat back up.

His cell phone beeped as he slid a razor down his cheeks. Roger glanced at the heading –a message from Joyce’s sister. He finished shaving, wiped his face, and looked at the text, a broadcast to about twenty people. Joyce was dead. He called the sister without putting the phone back down.

Beyond Hypocrisy: The n+1 Story

Opinion

Hear ye, hear ye!

Spoiled rich girl Dayna Tortorici just impaled n+1 on a watermelon!

Dayna made editor at n+1, yet she doesn’t know who Daniel Handler is and couldn’t care less about his racist jokes at the National Book Awards!

Is it possible that cronyism could lead to incompetence and hypocrisy?! I never thought that could happen either!

Fortunately, NPL editor Karl Wenclas is here to make sense of the insane literary world and speak truth to power in his scathing editorial, Beyond Hypocrisy.

To survive in the high-priced, high-cost world of New York publishing, literary individuals are forced into a schizophrenic mindset.

On the one hand they’re required to be correctly liberal in their attitudes, if not Leftist. On the other hand they’re placed at the center of power and money in the richest, most capitalist city on the planet. Within the pyramid of hierarchy that defines that city, the realm of literature exists at the highest levels. As the recent swanky black-tie National Book Awards dinner demonstrated.

Thanks to usatoday.com for Daniel Handler image.

Placeholders

Third-Way Fiction

Happy St. Nick’s Feast Day, New Pop Lit’ers! You made it!

This week our Saturday Story happens to fall on a joyous day in Central Europe: all the good kids who weren’t eaten by Krampus last night get extra special treats!

In the spirit of the day, NPL presents survivors with this wicked story by Chicago writer Tom Mundt, titled Placeholders. Enjoy!

This is about the time my skull got whaled upon by an anonymous assailant who will likely remain an enigmatic shadow until end times or the completion of the Chicago Police Department’s battery investigation, whichever comes first.