Art in Today’s Insane World

SHOULD art be removed from realities of this world? Or immersed in them?

Today we’re surrounded by narratives. Layers of them. What’s real? What’s fake? Who’s scamming us? How do we grasp any sense of reality? Curiously enough, the task of fiction in this kind of world is to awaken us to the falseness, and ground us in some sense or memory of reality.

Our new feature short story, “In Translation” by Cliff Aliperti is about narratives. It’s an artful examination of a televised press conference which might possibly relate to a certain war taking place at the moment. (“No! Be literary! Uninvolved. Literature isn’t supposed to matter,” the usual timid locked-in-a-box suspects exclaim.) Or the story might simply be a highly imaginative work inspired, in part, by said war, as well as by “news” and media shows. Who’s to know?

Anyway, enjoy our own show, er, story!

The familiar man in his familiar costume, a military uniform with unfamiliar medals and ribbons, spoke in his language, unfamiliar to me, while a neutral voice translated through the TV in the break room.

“We embrace peace with all peoples, especially your nation,” the translator said. “Opposing powers, enemies of both of our nations, are the ones who rattle sabers towards our olive branches.”

new writing

DON’T FORGET! We have many other happenings on our site. Such as a three-part story by Filiz Turhan, about celebrities, at Fast Pop Lit. Or the entire three parts read by Filiz herself at our too-occasionally used Open Mic. As well as other literary doings.

News and Reviews: Reality, Talent, and Hype

book review

Here’s the link.

MEANWHILE, we’re adding yet more hype to the pop-lit world with a poem at Fast Pop Lit by Julia Piehler. We’ll be featuring in a week or two a very good creative non-fiction work by Julia. One of many new literary talents lurking under literature’s snoozy facade, waiting to be brought to the surface. Stay tuned!

Best of the Net Nominations

Announcement

EVERY YEAR Sundress Publications issues their prestigious Best of the Net anthology, devoted to spotlighting writing appearing online, in digital form. As this has been our chief focus of late– and as this may change, as we’re eager to return to analog print publishing– we decided this would be a good time to submit nominations. As we did last week, ten total, from both our main features and our Fast Pop Lit page, chosen for various reasons.

(Keep in mind that a literary project is limited to two fiction, two creative nonfiction, and six poetry nominations. Book reviews not allowed, unfortunately.)

Our ten nominees are:

Dominik Slusarczyk, “Little Church,” 9/11/2023.

Michael Maiello, “Jon Fosse: Reaction,” 10/05/2023.

James Croal Jackson, “Moment (October),” 10/18/2023.

Ali J. Prince, “Slick,” 11/17/2023.

Bela Seitz, “Give the People Guns,” 12/08/2023.

Ken Kakareka, “Encounter,” 2/20/2024.

James Lee, “Marillion On My Face,” 4/12/2024.

Perry Genovesi, “Sketch Rex,” 4/16/2024.

Brian Pilling, “Today’s Poetry Scene,” 5/13/2024.

Haoyi Zhang, “Ad Break,” 6/26/2024.

There were several pieces we would’ve liked to have nominated, but couldn’t or didn’t. Intense debate at New Pop Lit HQ? Maybe!

The chief idea was to choose those works whose writing and presentation best fit the digital medium. And frankly, we wanted the nominees to be eye-or-mind catching in some way, whether in aesthetic effect, in style, subject, or theme. How well we accomplished that will be for you– and for “Best of the Net” judges themselves– to judge.

-Karl and Kathleen

Pop Lit Summer 2024

Announcement, Poetry

WE ARE HERE to celebrate life, the world, humanity– including the celebration of ART and the joys of prose and poetry. Despite wars and inhuman tragedies filling our phones, our screens, and our brains, the world is for the moment still here– it’s summer. July! Let’s enjoy it.

TOWARD THAT END we have several pop lit happenings to announce.

FIRST, our new feature, “Four Poems by John Zedolik,” which consists of– you guessed it– exactly four thought-provoking new poems by John Zedolik, one of the best practitioners of the poetic art around today.

SECOND, ongoing happenings and happiness at our pop-lit literary art gallery, Fast Pop Lit. The current week’s special-on-the-menu, “Ad for Contemporary Artist Wannabes,” is by hyper-talented actress-writer Zoé Mahfouz. Summer writing with flair and energy.

THIRD, we have coming up in less than a week at Fast Pop Lit an impromptu Hemingway Festival(!!) as tribute to one of our favorite authors and literary role models. (Without doubt the best of the highly-touted 20th Century modernists.)

Things are happening. Don’t miss any of it!

Goodbye 2023!

Announcement

NO DOUBT 2023 was a tough year for everyone except a handful of tech billionaires who gathered enormous wealth–

— but we got through it, which is what counts. In so doing, at New Pop Lit we published a variety of sterling work, fiction and poetry both. In our admittedly biased opinion, some of the best writing to be found anywhere. Doubt this? Then click onto our “TOP OF THE POP” page and browse around. READ some of the stories and poems. They fit our goal of being readable and striking.

WHAT ELSE were we up to in 2023? For one, our “Save the Writer!” petition, which has us standing at the forefront among literary people in questioning the dubious benefits of Artificial Intelligence. If you have not yet signed the petition– you should.

WE ALSO began a new page at our site, Fast Pop Lit— a site within a site, really– for posting shorter work much faster than we can put up our longer features. Also, as a way to promote those writers we do feature at our main site. Plus, it’s as striking looking as any literary site out there– a reflection of our intention to be not just one more literary mag. Previews, interviews, commentary, satires– with much more to come. Check it out!

Then stay tuned for a lot more to come in 2024.

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.

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.

Summer Poetry 2023

Poetry

Yes, it’s officially summer, so we can call this feature summer poetry– though we’ve been on a poetry kick now for several weeks, including presentations of poems at our new Fast Pop Lit site. (Did you miss them? You have to act fast, before they vanish.)

The world is moving fast, as it did in the time of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his famous character Jay Gatsby. The Roaring Twenties! We have today in the 2020’s the same kind of sped-up economy– we simply need a tad more glamour and style.

To celebrate the memory of Jay Gatsby, the Twenties, and a peak era for writers and the literary scene (may it return quickly!), we present a wonderful poem by Sara Megan Kay— “I Am Gatsby”— plus two other poems which may be even better. See if you agree.

Eyeglasses are my curse.
I am not God.
I do not see all.
Part of me struggles to leave
This damned garage once and for all

More and More Poetry

Poetry

Hello! Today we continue presenting poetry– it’s a summer season for poetry– the latest being “The Crow” by Ken Kakareka, exclusively at our new Fast Pop Lit site. Check it out.

THEN, within days, look for a special Sneak Preview– at the same special underground venue– of work from another amazing poet.

Think of a basement club where appear the world’s best new poets. . . .