New Pop Lit Goes International

WE EXPECT New Pop Lit to eventually be a worldwide phenomenon, so we’re not averse to spotlighting writers from around the world. We’ve published or presented writers from UK, Germany, Poland, Canada, Malta, Italy, Belarus, Spain, Israel, Switzerland– and we’ve had readers on every continent, with the possible exception of Antarctica.

Today we present new fiction, “The Major,” by renowned Russian author Vladimir Kozlov, translated by Andrea Gregovich. Worth reading for its realism but also to see what’s happening in other literary scenes.

“Well, I have evidence not only that you’ve seen it before, but that you were directly involved in its creation. Do you know what this is called?

“A comic book, I guess.”

“It’s called ‘spreading deliberately false fabrications to defame the Soviet state and social order.’ Article seventy-two of the Criminal Code for the BSSR. I can also pull up Article 58-10: ‘Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda.’”
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BUT, at the same time we also present a New Pop Lit review of Mr. Kozlov’s entire new short story collection, 1987 and Other Stories, of which “The Major” is part.

ONLY at New Pop Lit. Always at the literary forefront.
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(Painting: “Blue Crest” by Wassily Kandinsky.)

Pushcart Time

Announcement

OUR PUSHCART PRIZE NOMINATIONS

All Hail Pushcart! Yes, we’re one of the many small literary outfits who applaud the Pushcart Prize collections– though we have reservations. To discover what they are, and at the same time find out which works we nominated for the annual awards this year, read this.

Have we missed the boat this year with our picks? Are we all wet? Living in Fantasyland? Let us know!

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This week we’ve also kicked off a can’t miss Cat Poetry Festival at our Fun Pop Poetry feature, here.

Review of Undone

book review

OUR CHIEF INTEREST is in finding writing which pushes against the acceptable boundaries of the establishment literary/publishing world– and which blurs the lines between the “literary” and “pop.” Toward that end we’ve published work by new writers like Andrea Gregovich, and interviewed more established authors like John Colapinto, if their artistic interests in some way converge with ours.

With our new feature we bring both tracks together, as Andrea Gregovich reviews John Colapinto’s controversial novel Undone. Offbeat personality reviewing a different kind of offbeat personality? It’s a feature not to be missed.

Here’s the thing about the much-maligned male gaze, though: every now and again it hits upon something real.

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(Remember to stay current with our Fun Pop Poetry feature.)

Our Pushcart Prize Nominations

Announcement

What about our Pushcart Prize nominations? Did we send in for work published in 2015 any Pushcart Prize nominations?

Absolutely! This time around we sent in three nominations of work from this website, along with three nominations from our just-released-to-the-world print version, NEW POP LIT #1. (Available for sale via our Detroit blog; soon to be offered at the “Shop” feature of this our main site.)

We had an awful lot of very good work to choose from, in both cases, journal and site. We settled on a representative sampling of each. Given that the Pushcart people receive hundreds, maybe thousands, of nominations each year, our bias went slightly toward work which might get their attention, and therefore stand an outside shot at being prize worthy. We erred on the side of uniqueness, and so, went with in one case a translation; in another, a work which could be classified as either story or essay.

The nominations are–

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From the website:

“ENERGY” by Andrei Dichenko (translated by Andrea Gregovich).

https://newpoplit.com/portfolio/energy/

“MOO-G” by David Solórzano.

https://newpoplit.com/portfolio/moo-g/

“BASEBALL IS TRUTH, TRUTH IS BASEBALL” by Tom Tolnay.

https://newpoplit.com/portfolio/baseball-is-truth-truth-is-baseball/

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From the NEW POP LIT print journal:

“DICK AND LIZA” by Alex Bernstein.

“LOS ANGELES AFTER THE QUEEN” by Robin Dunn.

“DANNY BOY” by Jessie Lynn McMains.

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Thanks to the nominees for submitting their work to us. THANKS most to all the other excellent writers who allowed us to present their work to the world, either here or in our new journal.

Energy

Pop Lit Fiction

We at NEW POP LIT have promised to showcase exciting lit talent wherever we find it. We’re also determined to remain topical.

Talk about timing! Belarusian author Svetlana Alexievich was announced yesterday as winner of the Nobel Prize in literature. Where is Belarus, you ask? West of Russia; part of the old Soviet Union; at the crossroads still of dramatic historical events.

Stop the presses! We work fast– at least some of the time. Not ones to evah evah evah miss a trend, we present to you a leading writer from Belarus, Andrei Dichenko. Read his magical story about blue pots, Crimea, train rides and magical energy. The able translator is Andrea Gregovich, who appeared here last year with a story of her own about the world of professional wrestling. (Did I say trends?)

Alexander introduced himself as a tourist from Belarus, returned the girl’s smile, and began to peruse the little pots. They were blue, red, and green, and painted with mysterious runes and unfamiliar characters that made it feel as if they were asking for his hands to hold them.

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

An Interview with Andrea Gregovich

Announcement

This Saturday’s treat is an interview with the author of The Unshakable Kayfabe of Tommy Rage, Andrea Gregovich!

Andrea gives the inside scoop on what inspired Tommy Rage; her latest translation projects; and where to find out what’s happening with Russian Literature.

An unmissable interview from our Pop Lit wrestling maven!

The Unshakable Kayfabe of Tommy Rage

Third-Way Fiction

Karl and I are pleased to give New Pop Lit readers a special story today: The Unshakable Kayfabe of Tommy Rage, by Alaska-based writer Andrea Gregovich.

Ms Gregovich’s sharp story about amateur-wrestling fandom will brighten your Post-Labor-Day week and inject a healthy dose of pop lit into your Wednesday. Enjoy!

That was the night the heat war between Danny and Sergeant Smackdown culminated in a knockout barb from Smackdown. As Danny stood at the base of the ring, barking wicked old school chants through his hands in the form of a megaphone, Smackdown issued his knockout barb: “I should buy you a saddle for Christmas so you can ride my dick.” The poetics of the thing rendered us all speechless, blinking and mouths agape for a moment on the white plastic patio chairs as Smackdown stood in the ring in his tattered camo pants, basking in the yellowish glow of the crappy spotlights they had rigged up in there and the brilliance of the thing he’d said against the background of his death metal entrance music.