new writing

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.

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.

Traveling In Space

Pop Lit Fiction

How many planets are there in our solar system?

Do you know?

We ask the question, because the question is asked– and tentatively answered– in our new feature short story, “Hey Mr. Tombaugh Won’t You Name a Star for Me” by Zach Smith. Whether you answer the question eight or nine might depend upon what year you were in school– a question of time. Any question involving space, as this story does, also gets us thinking about the question and meaning of time: our own, and maybe that of the universe itself.

Anyway, the story is an unusual one– science fiction and science fact. Zach Smith is a unique writer, with the gift of writing with clarity but also intelligence and meaning. We can safely say there’s no writer out there quite like him, nor so consistently worth reading– if you wish to expand your boundaries, your sense of time and space, as you escape for a few minutes the hectic pace of life, and jump into that alternate universe known as a short story–

I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, said Xarlox, as he reached out a beam of energy, that by a certain definition could be described as a hand, toward the probe.

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. . . .

The Launch of Fast Pop Lit

Announcement

Hello! Today, April 27, 2023, we announce the launch of a new literary site intended as our “botkiller” response to botbooks and AI-created poems and stories– but also as an alternative to the established alternatives to the bots and other mass-produced offerings. Meaning, the stagnant New York-London-centered status quo, which has lost all sense of connecting with ordinary readers (not to mention current non-readers) as long as they please themselves in their endless self-congratulatory “I’m Okay, You’re Okay” backslaps of how important they are, if not compelling or exciting.

We’re out to connect with EVERYBODY. Our objective with Fast Pop Lit is to provide a literary thrill ride of fiction, poetry, opinions, analysis, and surprises. We hope to provoke reaction– if such a thing be possible in the sleepy-bordering-on-comatose world of letters.

WAKE UP!

We launch the site with Two Prose Poems by Brian Pilling. DON’T MISS THEM!

(Also, please sign the “Save the Writer” petition, if you haven’t already. Thanks!)

Human Fiction

Pop Lit Fiction

WITH IMMENSE CHANGE happening or about to happen at all levels of the literary and publishing worlds with the advent of A.I.-generated texts, at New Pop Lit we’re thinking about what’s important in our modest project. What do we wish to say or accomplish in coming months?

MOST IMPORTANT for us is the ideal of human creativity. Publishing the very best fiction and poetry– which we’ve been doing– while exploring new ideas of deep learning of human beings instead of deep learning of machines. Ideas counter to those of plutocrats pumping billions of dollars into ever-more advanced, ever-more insane technologies.

OUR LATEST example of excellent fiction not generated by bots is our new feature, “The View from a Window of the House on the Embankment” by Mark Marchenko. A story about the old Soviet Union– its author calls it “an alternative history fiction piece”– but maybe also a story about today. We hope you like it.

When the knock came at the door, Georgy was standing with his hands at the windowsill, gazing out of the window. Grey sky hung over Moscow. Before his eyes was ground covered with autumn splashes of orange and red, the square that was named after Repin (it was in 1958 when the monument to Ilya Repin, a Russian realist painter, was built on Bolotnaya Square; in 1962 the square was renamed Repin Square) just a couple of months ago, withered grass awaiting the first snow, a band of water, and the walls of the Kremlin. A river, slow, almost black, under his feet.

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(ALSO, the “Save the Writer!” petition calling for labeling of A.I.-generated books– a modest ask– is ongoing. Please read and consider signing. 441 readers and writers have done so to date. Thanks!)

Pop Summer Crescendo

Pop Lit Fiction

WE ARE putting this project this summer as much as possible into the zeitgeist the vibe the flow of angst and anger rushing on all sides around us. We’re caught in a sense of chaos. Of reality, the world, and all stability preconceived notions of comfort and sense dropping beneath us– as if the floors and earth under our feet have given way. In all likelihood the challenges we all face are temporary. Which doesn’t make them easier.

This summer we plan to have the writing– the art– we present reach a crescendo. Afterward which (we hope) the world will resume a course of peace and harmony. Setting the stage for a fun and reinvigorating pop culture revival.

FIRST UP in our literary symphony is a short story by M.C. Schmidt— “We Love You, Ringo”— ostensibly about a Beatles tribute band, but at the same time about a relationship, and maybe also, about the world we live in today. Humor combined with seriousness. We hope you enjoy it.

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ALSO when you get a chance drop into our Special Projects room on this site and check out the latest piece of quirky writing there: “Aim For the Snyder Brothers” by Bud Sturguess. With more fun stuff already posted at the blog, and more (including a collaborative project?) to follow.

Don’t miss any of it!

Why Pop Lit?

Announcement

WHY?

Why read our web site?

Why “pop lit”– an intended fusion of the literary and the popular?

If you’re interested in writing and literature and believe literature can change the world (which at the moment needs an upsurge in cultural enthusiasm), then we’re a literary site to keep an eye on. None are more ambitious. (A sign of absurd confidence?)

What makes us stand out is A.) We believe the literary art, as well as the publishing industry itself, will change. As arts over time inevitably change. B.) We have plans to change it. Plans-– the plural, because we know many if not most of our ideas won’t work. Which is why we have a lot of them. We’re the innovation machine of today’s literary world.

This means: creating prototypes.

We have a primitive “3-D” multidimensional short story as our current feature, as one example of a writing prototype. We also have “zeens”– print journal prototypes– available for sale at our POP SHOP, in addition to the latest issue of a newsletter discussing more of what our plans are about.

Jump on the New Pop Lit bandwagon before it takes off!