new short fiction 2023

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.

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.