New Pop Lit

New Pop Lit’s Editor Appears in Frighty #3! BIG LITERARY NEWS IN THE BIG PUSH back to humanity and reality, Wred Fright's new zine Frighty is at the forefront. IN THE AFTERMATH of the Halloween season, with smashed pumpkins and out-of-control squirrels everyplace, it's appropriate that another issue of Frighty-- #3-- appears on the scene. Does the pumpkin on the cover foretell the fate of the established literary realm?

New Pop Lit’s Editor Appears in Frighty #3!

BIG LITERARY NEWS IN THE BIG PUSH back to humanity and reality, Wred Fright's new zine Frighty is at the forefront. IN THE AFTERMATH of the Halloween season, with smashed pumpkins and out-of-control squirrels everyplace, it's appropriate that another…

Have a Happy Halloween!

-from Karl and Kathleen at New Pop Lit
🎃

“Trump’s New Ballroom” NEW FICTION (EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, I know, editors aren't supposed to run their own work on their litmags, but I do it anyway. You might say I'm the Donald Trump of this modest little literary site.) He dreamt of a ballroom. A big ballroom. BIG. In capitals. An actual dream. He'd first had the dream at age twelve. Or maybe seventeen, when he was a cadet at a military academy, sleeping in a dorm.

“Trump’s New Ballroom”

NEW FICTION (EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, I know, editors aren't supposed to run their own work on their litmags, but I do it anyway. You might say I'm the Donald Trump of this modest little literary site.) He dreamt of a ballroom. A big ballroom. BIG. In capitals. An actual dream.…

Of Music and Men by Jeff Nazzaro (image c/o ktla) It’s Veteran’s Day, 2019, and the Metrolink commuter train into LA is all but empty. The private university I teach at instead gives us something called Autumn Day …

"Of Music and Men" by Jeff Nazzaro.
newpoplit.com/portfolio/of...
#fiction #shortstories #writing

Fall Fiction! What's happening out in the world? As opposed to, say, in stray literary areas of gentrified New York, where what's happening among a self-absorbed media elite seems to be an article in Harper's magazine about, er, self-absorption. We say, enough! Time for writers to not be as insular as an AI chatbot, but to become interested in other people. To plunge into real-world human experience-- the one edge we have over our new programmed, computer-generated competitors-- then write about it.

Fall Fiction!

What's happening out in the world? As opposed to, say, in stray literary areas of gentrified New York, where what's happening among a self-absorbed media elite seems to be an article in Harper's magazine about, er, self-absorption. We say, enough! Time for writers to not be as…

An Excerpt from “Of Music and Men” by Jeff Nazzaro NEW FICTION Crowded. I move across the car and stand in the doorway. It’s the rear of the front end of a double car. Just before the train leaves the station, a tall, thin man hurries on and thumps down into the empty aisle seat by the door across from me. He looks up at me. Then he looks again. He keeps doing it.

An Excerpt from “Of Music and Men” by Jeff Nazzaro

NEW FICTION Crowded. I move across the car and stand in the doorway. It’s the rear of the front end of a double car. Just before the train leaves the station, a tall, thin man hurries on and thumps down into the empty aisle seat by the door across…

Literary Introverts Versus Extroverts AN ONGOING BATTLE (cover to the French version of a Robert McAlmon memoir about the 1920’s Lost Generation) TWO THINGS recently caught my attention. FIRST was a quote from Susan Sontag giving…

Literary Introverts Versus Extroverts.

(Which side are you on?)
newpoplitnews.com/2025/10/18/l...
#literature #writing

“Hello, My Name Is” by James Croal Jackson NEW POETRY (publicdomainpicturesdotnet) Hello, my name is Hello.Yes, it rhymes with yellow, mellow, Jell-O. You know.I don't talk much, I just drink. Put me in a taxi, call me Buddy,take me anywhere. I don't care. Home is the bottom of a bottle,the last drop a farewell kiss before I blast into space,my veins full of rocket fuel.

“Hello, My Name Is” by James Croal Jackson

NEW POETRY (publicdomainpicturesdotnet) Hello, my name is Hello.Yes, it rhymes with yellow, mellow, Jell-O. You know.I don't talk much, I just drink. Put me in a taxi, call me Buddy,take me anywhere. I don't care. Home is the bottom of a bottle,the last…

Addressing the #PynchonAuthorship question with a new post at the AttackingtheDemiPuppets blog:
kingwenclas.blogspot.com/2025/10/how-...
#ThomasPynchon #books

New Literary Criticism Don't kid yourself. We're not living in a golden age of literary criticism, as a few scribbling souls clinging desperately to their crumbling status would have you believe. Criticism exists in a symbiotic relationship with the art form it addresses. You can't have a golden age of criticism without a golden age of the art. There was once a golden age of rock/pop criticism, centered on magazines like…

New Literary Criticism

Don't kid yourself. We're not living in a golden age of literary criticism, as a few scribbling souls clinging desperately to their crumbling status would have you believe. Criticism exists in a symbiotic relationship with the art form it addresses. You can't have a golden…

Needed: Better Literary Criticism A RANT EVERY TIME I begin to read a standard 7,000-word essay of literary criticism, I recall something Bret Easton Ellis once said at a bookstore appearance in Philadelphia: "Now I'm going to bore you for twenty minutes." (Then he did, by reading from his work.) Boredom, among the established literary set, is a given. For instance, however well, or mildly provocative, the standard…

Needed: Better Literary Criticism

A RANT EVERY TIME I begin to read a standard 7,000-word essay of literary criticism, I recall something Bret Easton Ellis once said at a bookstore appearance in Philadelphia: "Now I'm going to bore you for twenty minutes." (Then he did, by reading from his work.)…

“a non-writer for the new yorker” by Ken Kakareka NEW POETRY you won’t seea passage ofmy writingfeatured inthe SAT.you won’treada paragraphand think:the fuckdid ijust read?some writerstryto confuseyouwith theirpretenseandderanged syntax,but i aimto be clearand simple.so if youreadthe new yorkerand thinkthis writersounds like…

“a non-writer for the new yorker” by Ken Kakareka

NEW POETRY you won’t seea passage ofmy writingfeatured inthe SAT.you won’treada paragraphand think:the fuckdid ijust read?some writerstryto confuseyouwith theirpretenseandderanged syntax,but i aimto be clearand simple.so if youreadthe new yorkerand…

Living In the Actual World RECENTLY I read an article about famed film director Stanley Kubrick's "cool precision." Not long after, I read about the conflicts Kubrick had with actor Marlon Brando during the filming of the 1961 Western, "One-Eyed Jacks," which resulted in Stanley Kubrick leaving and Brando taking over as director of the project. Which started me thinking about approaches to writing, and to art in general.

Living In the Actual World

RECENTLY I read an article about famed film director Stanley Kubrick's "cool precision." Not long after, I read about the conflicts Kubrick had with actor Marlon Brando during the filming of the 1961 Western, "One-Eyed Jacks," which resulted in Stanley Kubrick leaving…

The Wrong Crowd by Lyn Michele Stevens On the east side of Manhattan, Esther had been sitting on the couch for the past two hours stroking Sparkles when the envelope with the handicapped parking pass slid under the door. She knew it had been delivered by courier from Jack. She looked down at the snow-white Persian cat in her lap. Underneath the long silky fur, she was skin and bones.

The Wrong Crowd

by Lyn Michele Stevens On the east side of Manhattan, Esther had been sitting on the couch for the past two hours stroking Sparkles when the envelope with the handicapped parking pass slid under the door. She knew it had been delivered by courier from Jack. She looked down at the…

An Excerpt from “The Wrong Crowd” by Lyn Michele Stevens NEW FICTION The evening before, Jack had called eager to take her to see Shakespeare in the Park. Though Esther had always lived in a studio on York Avenue, she’d never been to Shakespeare in the Park (or the Empire State Building, or the Statue of Liberty). She was flattered Jack wanted to take her. It was only their second date.

An Excerpt from “The Wrong Crowd” by Lyn Michele Stevens

NEW FICTION The evening before, Jack had called eager to take her to see Shakespeare in the Park. Though Esther had always lived in a studio on York Avenue, she’d never been to Shakespeare in the Park (or the Empire State Building, or the…

THERE'S NO EXCUSE!
--for not having read our current feature presentation, "Big Lagoon" by Thomas Thonson.

READ IT NOW!
newpoplit.com/portfolio/bi...
#fiction #shortstories #writing

Our Best of the Net THIS YEAR’S NOMINATIONS THE HARDEST PART of selecting nominees for compilations like Best of the Net is choosing between many excellent works all of which we love or we wouldn’t have ac…

Our nominations for the Best of the Net anthology:
newpoplitnews.com/2025/09/18/o...
#writers #fiction #poetry

The Best The Best The Best OUR NOMINATIONS FOR 2026 BEST OF THE NET AT THE MOMENT we're strictly an on-line project, at least until we get our art printer fixed and begin cranking out print publications again. Which means the best location for nominating writing we've published is Best of the Net. SO: we nominated some of the work we've run, by some of the…

The Best The Best The Best

OUR NOMINATIONS FOR 2026 BEST OF THE NET AT THE MOMENT we're strictly an on-line project, at least until we get our art printer fixed and begin cranking out print publications again. Which means the best location for nominating writing we've published is Best of the Net.…

WHO Has the Best Writing? BEST STORIES AND POEMS DEPT. At New Pop Lit we'll put our stories, poems and essays up against ANYBODY'S. Case in Point #1: Our nominations for the 2026 Best of the Net collection. Case in Point #2: Our excellent current "Top of the Pop" fiction feature, "Big Lagoon" by Thomas Thonson. A plunge into deep water, but also into humanity and life. Have you read it yet? WHO has the best writing? WE do!

WHO Has the Best Writing?

BEST STORIES AND POEMS DEPT. At New Pop Lit we'll put our stories, poems and essays up against ANYBODY'S. Case in Point #1: Our nominations for the 2026 Best of the Net collection. Case in Point #2: Our excellent current "Top of the Pop" fiction feature, "Big Lagoon" by…

The "Us versus Them" mentality which is dividing this country is shown by the "THEY killed Charlie" statements coming from the MAGA crowd.

No, it was one lone too-much-time-online crackpot who shot him.

Can't say I get all the criticisms of Kamala Harris and her "107 Days" book. No, she's not a PR person or super-salesman. What she is and has always been is a competent public servant. Which right now is looking very, very good, compared to the ongoing clown show running this country right now.

The Best The Best The Best OUR NOMINATIONS FOR 2026 BEST OF THE NET AT THE MOMENT we're strictly an on-line project, at least until we get our art printer fixed and begin cranking out print publications again. Which means the best location for nominating writing we've published is Best of the Net. SO: we nominated some of the work we've run, by some of the…

The Best The Best The Best

OUR NOMINATIONS FOR 2026 BEST OF THE NET AT THE MOMENT we're strictly an on-line project, at least until we get our art printer fixed and begin cranking out print publications again. Which means the best location for nominating writing we've published is Best of the Net.…

Our Best of the Net THIS YEAR’S NOMINATIONS THE HARDEST PART of selecting nominees for compilations like Best of the Net is choosing between many excellent works all of which we love or we wouldn’t have ac…

Our nominations for the Best of the Net anthology:
newpoplitnews.com/2025/09/18/o...
#writers #fiction #poetry

The Frankfurt School: Lost in America A RANT (Image c/o wikiwand. Early Brutalism?) THE PROBLEM with our intellectual class is how easily impressed they are with the facade of intellectualism, especially when presented in a university setting. THE CLASSIC example of such is the so-called Frankfurt School of German Marxist intellectuals who set up shop in the United States (at Columbia University in New York) when the Austrian paper hanger and his crew of violent misfits took power in Germany in 1933.

The Frankfurt School: Lost in America

A RANT (Image c/o wikiwand. Early Brutalism?) THE PROBLEM with our intellectual class is how easily impressed they are with the facade of intellectualism, especially when presented in a university setting. THE CLASSIC example of such is the so-called Frankfurt…

Assassination of X Assassination of X - Kindle edition by Wenclas, King. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Assassination of X.

My novella about a political assassination, and the investigation into how it was done.
www.amazon.com/Assassinatio...
#book

BEST NOVEL about a political #assassination?

Judgment on Deltchev by Eric Ambler.

(I wrote a novella myself on the topic, eleven years ago. Went into the nuts and bolts of such an event. Will post a link when I get the chance.)
#books #authors

Future historians will shake their heads in disbelief that an entire political party-- self-described conservatives yet-- went all-in on a loose cannon con man with zero scruples. Then all the way down with the ship? 🤔
#epsteinfiles #DonaldTrump

“Season of Monarchs” by John Brantingham FLASH FICTION (image c/o wallpapersafari) Stephanie goes out back with her morning coffee to find her milkweed bush covered with September monarchs preparing for their long flight back to Mexico. Then she’s inside her earliest memory of her father, back from World War II, seeing each other for the first time. It was the season of monarchs then too, and they had a milkweed bush covered then like now in butterflies.

“Season of Monarchs” by John Brantingham

FLASH FICTION (image c/o wallpapersafari) Stephanie goes out back with her morning coffee to find her milkweed bush covered with September monarchs preparing for their long flight back to Mexico. Then she’s inside her earliest memory of her father, back…

We all had a really joyful few hours here last night and they can’t take that away from us no matter how much how longer he lives.

End of Summer 2025 LATE SUMMER! Post-Labor Day. A time of earlier sunsets, cooling nights, and poignant melancholy accompanying the end of summer's carefree days. A time of change, wistfulness, memories. Our new feature short story, "Big Lagoon" by Thomas Thonson is a tale about summer experiences and memories, of present merging with past-- with persons from the past-- an artistic blend of setting and personality, of experience that jumps out at you.

End of Summer 2025

LATE SUMMER! Post-Labor Day. A time of earlier sunsets, cooling nights, and poignant melancholy accompanying the end of summer's carefree days. A time of change, wistfulness, memories. Our new feature short story, "Big Lagoon" by Thomas Thonson is a tale about summer experiences…