SUMMER is officially here in a few days but weather-wise it’s already arrived, for most of us anyway. Which means it’s time for: Summer Reading! Sitting on a beach or veranda with your favorite book, or on your favorite literary site, plunging into adventure and literary experience while expanding your neuropathways hopefully by encountering talented new writers. Which we’re always on lookout for like scouts, watchdogs and detectives.

WE’VE ENCOUNTERED via this site a few exciting new talents the past several years, including the author of our newest feature. Julia Piehler, who’s penned, in addition to three new poems we’ve presented at our Fast Pop Lit forum, a great Creative Non-Fiction work, “Los Alamos: Manna.” Which we’re pleased to present to you today.

I had been taught that, if caught in quicksand, I should lie back on the surface, limbs outspread like a starfish, and wait, immobile, for my companions to fish me out. Flailing about would only cause more liquefaction. But I was alone.