News

A National Book Awards Skeptic

Posted on by newpoplitnews

IT’S ALWAYS HEARTENING to see contrarian viewpoints within the often-monolithic established literary world. One of the consistent contrarians is critic and book reviewer Thomas Leclair. Recently he wrote this provocative examination of the National Book Award fiction finalists. (Winners were announced last Wednesday, November 16.) We agree with Leclair’s calling for more nominees from the small press– though we may be thinking of a different small press than he is. Our favored small press is in the process of creation– presenting neither “Big Five” commercialized crap, nor excessively “literary” scribblings penned by an insular literary elite disconnected from the vital currents of the American people and land. We look for a new hybrid– literary art which will be both popular, relevant, and original. A new American literature.

We also note that Leclair avoided the question of political correctness– of whether or not politics and/or ideology played a role in the NBA selection process. The task of the writer– of any artist– is to avoid the trap of an approved status quo viewpoint.

We trust that Thomas Leclair will continue to question the literary status quo, whatever his viewpoint.

(Also see our own recent look at the National Book Award poetry finalists. The announced winner shows the topsy-turvy alternate-universe world of American literature now.)

National Book Award Poetry Finalists

Posted on by newpoplitnews

dove_rita

LAST WEEK the National Book Foundation in New York, at the center of establishment arts culture, announced their nominees for this year’s Poetry award. Each one of the five finalists has been highly awarded by the current literary system– by foundations, universities and/or governments. One would expect this to be the best of the best.

We did a quick perusal of bios, then examined one poem from each poet. Our grades follow.

***

Daniel Borzutzky. P.C. factor: Of Chilean heritage. The poem: “Sentence”

We found Borzutzky to be a cross between an Allen Ginsberg wannabe and a flarf poet who jams random words and sentence fragments together. The result is pretentious nonsense. We give him a point or two for being tongue-in-cheek, and to be fair, he’s called what he does “Non-Writing.” We won’t disagree. (And, he’s making quite a living from minimal artistic investment, so kudos for that.)

Grade: D.

***

Rita Dove. P.C. factor: African-American woman. The poem: “Heart to Heart”

A short, simple poem which expresses clarity and emotion.

Grade: B.

***

Peter Gizzi. P.C. factor: Token white guy. The poem: “In Defense of Nothing”

Before Gizzi became part of the official literary game, he was a Do-It-Yourselfer. We’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt– but in this case his poem is aptly titled.

Grade: D+.

***

Jay Hopler. P.C. factor: Born in Puerto Rico. The poem: “So Many Birds to Kill and So Few Stones”

We like Hopler’s use of alliteration. Here’s a poet who’s given at least some thought to craft. Still, the title and content are a tad too sober-serious for our taste– as is Hopler’s bio photo. Hopler’s clearly going for the “Poetry is serious business!” crowd.

Grade: C.

***

Solmaz Sharif. P.C. factor: Turkish-born woman. The poem: “Vulnerability Study”

A very simple poem– but we like the juxtapositions. Easy seriousness.

Grade: C.

***

Conclusion: The poems are a tad better then we expected– we’ve seen far worse come out of the academy. But we’re still left saying, “Is that all there is?” Is this all we’re competing against, in our fledgling campaign to remake and renew the art form? At their best, the poems are unexceptional. Not one is going to be remembered and quoted by readers– in the way people quote Poe, or Dylan Thomas, or Shakespeare. Not one will cause a person to sit up in shock or surprise– or outrage– or roar with laughter.

We want better poems!

 

Tarzana Joe at New Pop Lit!

Posted on by newpoplitnews

tarzana-joe-elizabethan

Tarzana Joe is one of America’s few true poet celebrities, via his regular appearances on the nationally syndicated Hugh Hewitt Show. It’s therefore a mini-coup to obtain one of his poems for our Fun Pop Poetry feature. See the poem.

Tarzana Joe could be called the uncrowned champion of contemporary pop poetry. At the moment he is the master of the form.

American pop poetry has a long pedigree. Edgar Allan Poe was a pop poet through widely-known works like “The Bells,” “The Raven,” and “El Dorado.” Robert W. Service is another classic example of an American pop poet, whose “The Shooting of Dan McGrew” was wildly popular in the first half of the Twentieth Century.

Our goal with our Fun Pop Poetry feature is to restore the profile of the pop poetry genre in America.

*******

POP POETRY TODAY

While Tarzana Joe is pop poetry’s leading personality, we’re discovering no shortage of other claimants to that designation. Among them:

***

dsc06486

Blixa BelGrande, whose poetry ranges from the furious to the facetious to the outrageous.

***

Cerebral poet Bruce Dale Wise  practices all poetic styles, pop included. In an interview, soon to be featured at New Pop Lit, Bruce doesn’t exclude himself from title of best current American poet. (Gotta love the confidence.)

***

Craig Kurtz has been writing pop poetry since the 1990’s, usually with a historical motif.

***

relaxed-001

(Artwork by Dan Nielsen.)

Dan Nielsen pens witty Dorothy Parkerisms, in addition to crisp avant-garde stylings. (More coming from Dan next week.)

***

emerson-2

Emerson Dameron runs the Weird Deer website, and has performed at open mics around the country. So far we’ve obtained only one pop poem from Emerson, but it was a good one.

***

Other pop poets we’ve featured or will feature include spoken word veteran Wred Fright; ace short story writer Scott Cannon; and Tarzana Joe-wannabe Ellsworth B. Smith.

*******

Keep up with the pop poetry movement at Fun Pop Poetry.

 

24 Big Lit Names

Posted on by newpoplitnews

There are 24 big lit names featured in our first “Lit Question of the Month” forum discussing the contemporary short story.

They’re from all parts of the new literary universe.

They gave 24 striking answers, here.

(Why the Edsel photo? The car is a classic example of a giant manufacturer trying to force-feed the public a product it didn’t want. Is the same thing happening with the giant publishing conglomerates?)

Outmaneuvering New York

Posted on by newpoplitnews

ONE of our missions at Detroit-based NEW POP LIT is to outmaneuver the mandarins of the Manhattan-Brooklyn literary world.

We’ve just done it!– obtaining the first U.S. publication of one of Belarus’s most exciting writers, Andrei Dichenko. This exactly one day after Belarus author Svetlana Alexievich won the Nobel Prize for literature. Read Dichenko’s work now, ably translated by Andrea Gregovich.

This scoop is proof that we’re hungrier, tougher and faster than the pseudo-intellectuals. (Also more fun.)

Sabrina

Posted on by newpoplitnews

By Lloyd Poast

Archie comics have always been a symbol of the simpler pleasures in life. Nearly every household in the seventies and eighties had a dog-eared Archie digest laying around where the adventures of Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, and the rest of the gang could be picked up and read for a quick smile.

Last year, Archie Comics surprised readers by placing those same loveable teenagers from Riverdale into the pages of a zombie apocalypse called Afterlife with Archie. The very mature and dark series was both a critical and commercial success which proved that Archie could pull off horror as well as comedy.

This October, the company continued to capitalize on their newfound notoriety and reinvented everyone’s favorite teenage witch, Sabrina, releasing their newest entry in the horror field entitled Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. If the rest of the series is anything like the debut issue, Archie Comic Publications has monster on their hands. Sabrina is amazing.

Born of a mortal woman and a warlock father, Sabrina is raised by her two aunts and the first issue follows her from birth until her early teens. Along the way, we also meet her familiar, a talking cat named Salem, and her warlock cousin, Ambrose. With superb writing by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and art by Robert Hack, the creative team have developed an atmospheric supernatural thriller that blends the classic chills of Rosemary’s Baby with the youthful cool of The Lost Boys. While there may not be long haired teenage vampires cavorting about a large Jim Morrison poster, Robert Hack’s artwork is appropriately creepy with a slight retro feel that is a perfect complement to Aguirre-Sacasa’s story. His images seem to creep out of the panels and stick in your subconscious, preying on many of the universal fears everyone has. The introduction of Madame Satan is especially well done.

In addition to the new monthly story, each issue of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will also reprint a classic Sabrina tale, adding even more value to an already impressive package.

The series is a must have for horror fans and now is the perfect time to jump on board with Issue #2 about to be released. After the startling conclusion of the first issue, Sabrina’s teenage crush, Harvey Kinkle, doesn’t seem to be himself. In fact, he doesn’t seem human. When the Witches’ Council refuses to help her, Sabrina turns to Madame Satan for comfort. Will Sabrina save Harvey or succumb to Madame Satan’s ol’ black magic? Find out when Sabrina #2 is released on November 5th.

Anne Rice Returns to Vampires with ‘Prince Lestat’

Posted on by newpoplitnews

by Lloyd Poast

Anne Rice is about to unleash the vampire one more time. After spending more than a decade in the dark, the author’s most famous character, the vampire Lestat, is set to embark on a new journey in the Vampire Chronicles entitled Prince Lestat. It’s the eleventh entry in the series that began in 1976 with Interview with the Vampire.

Considered a sequel to the third book, Queen of the Damned, the plot of Prince Lestat involves old vampires doing the bidding of a Voice commanding that they indiscriminately burn vampire-mavericks in cities from around the globe. The novel moves from present day to ancient times as supernatural creatures rise up and seek out who-or what-the Voice is.

Anne Rice had previously stated that there would not be any new entries to The Vampire Chronicles, but her obvious change of heart will be greeted with both excitement and fear from longtime fans of the series. Many feel that Lestat lost much of his rebellious charm over time, and that despite a long string of books, Rice arguably peaked as a writer with her first three novels of immortal fiction (Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, and Queen of the Damned). All three are considered modern horror classics that added touches of humanity to the vampire mythology, while later novels such as Memnoch the Devil weren’t quite able to match their hypnotic quality.

Will Prince Lestat regain the glory of the original trilogy or be just another reason to remember the undead brilliance of what was? Fans will find out when the dust blows off the coffin on October 28th.

 

New Jonathan Carroll Novel

Posted on by newpoplitnews

by Lloyd Poast

Jonathan Carroll is about to release his newest book, Bathing the Lion (St. Martin’s Press), in North America on October 21st. The novel, about five people who live in the same New England town that have the same dream one night and discover they are “mechanics” whose job it is to keep order in the universe, is more of the surreal pop candy the author has become known for.

Carroll began taking readers on his flights of fantasy in 1980 with arguably his strongest work, The Land of Laughs, and continued with a string of highly imaginative, but not always commercially successful novels, such as The Wooden Sea, White Apples, and Sleeping in Flame. His books are truly unique and can best be described as Salvador Dali paintings melted onto the pages of seemingly normal stories where everything is not quite as it appears. He is a master at slowly building everyday situations into something utterly bizarre. The contemporary fantasy author’s works are also extremely addictive and those discovering his writing for the first time will want to scour eBay and local bookstores for everything he’s done.

Bathing the Lion is already garnering praise in the advance reviews and is sure to please any reader brave enough to believe in magic and follow Alice down into the rabbit hole. Just be prepared to make a stop in the Twilight Zone along the way.

 

Chuck Palahniuk Book Tour Imminent

Posted on by newpoplitnews

chuck-palahniuk-sarah-lee-1
Lloyd Poast
Staff Writer

Novelist Chuck Palahniuk is about to embark on a book tour for his upcoming release, Beautiful You. The novel has a release date of October 21st and an evening with Chuck Palahniuk should not be missed for those lucky enough to live near one of his many stops. His tours are electric and amongst the most entertaining in literature.

The old cliché about never forgetting your first time is pretty much true. I know I’ll never forget mine. It was on May 25th, 2007 at 7:00 PM at The Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg, Canada. That was when I attended my first book reading and I can’t imagine it getting much better.

My wife and I were in the city for the weekend, and thanks to a quick flip through the local newspaper just prior to leaving for home, I noticed that Chuck Palahniuk was also in Winnipeg for his Rant tour. I excitedly told my wife about Invisible Monsters and about Lullaby, and of course that he wrote Fight Club, and asked if we could hang out in the city for a few more hours. She agreed and it was anything but the slow and quiet book reading she’d imagined. Author readings in Winnipeg are usually held in a book store, but the organizers were expecting much larger crowds than usual for Palahniuk and they were right. The theatre was rocking and fans were lined up to purchase autographed copies of Rant and put on a bridal headpiece to get photos with the author. Afterwards, he read two short stories, answered questions, asked trivia about his books and threw a few giant stuffed moose into the crowd to those that answered correctly, and even had a small tantrum or two when people interrupted him. Pure entertainment. Even my wife was impressed.

Since 2007 and Rant, Palahniuk has written several more novels such as Haunted, Pygmy, and his latest, Beautiful You. Beautiful You is a disturbing, satirical look at world domination through the art of female pleasure and is sure to be another controversial release that will both entertain and disgust.

Chuck Palahniuk is to literature what the Sex Pistols were to rock n’ roll-brash, controversial, and depending on your viewpoint, both repulsive and brilliant. The author may never incite a crowd into a frenzy and dive in front of bottles being thrown onstage the way Sid Vicious did in 1978, but unless he’s mellowed now that he’s surpassed fifty, I wouldn’t put it past him either.

BEAUTIFUL YOU TOUR DATES:

Seattle –Monday October 20 7:00 PM Third Place Books

San Francisco-Tuesday October 21 7:30 PM DNA Lounge

San Diego- Wednesday October 22 7:00 PM Mandeville auditorium at UCSD

Phoenix- Thursday October 23 7:00 PM Dobson High School Auditorium

Albuquerque-Monday October 27 7:00 PM University of New Mexico Student Ballroom

Boulder-Tuesday October 28 7:00 PM First Congregational Church

Salt Lake City- Wednesday October 29 8:00 PM University of Utah

Brooklyn-Friday October 31 7:00PM Powerhouse Arena

Saratoga Springs-Saturday November 1 7:00 PM Gannett Auditorium Skidmore College

Montreal Monday November 3 7:30 PM Indigo

Portland Saturday November 15 2:00 PM Powell’s *Book signing only*

Thank you, chuckpalahniuk.net for image.

New York Comic Con 2014

Posted on by newpoplitnews

New York Comic Con '13, thank you, New York Daily News!

New York Comic Con ’13, thank you, New York Daily News!

Lloyd Post
Staff Writer

Gotham City is preparing to embrace the pop culture explosion known as the New York Comic Con from October 9th – 12th at the Javits Center in Manhattan. The convention has been a hit for fans since the inaugural event was held in 2006 and this year will be no exception.

Several of the biggest names in the comic/graphic novel industry will be in attendance such as Brian K. Vaughn, Brian Michael Bendis, Adam Hughes, and Chris Claremont. The convention isn’t only a great opportunity for fans to interact with their favorite creators, but also the best chance to get convention only exclusives – at least at cover price. Speculators always flock to the tables and search for low print exclusives, purchasing several copies to resell on sites such as Ebay for an insane profit. Marvel and DC will, of course, be major draws at NYCC, but Image comics has been stealing much of the spotlight recently with a strong stable of creator-owned titles. The company has several NYCC exclusives planned including #1 issues of Roche Limit, Birthright, and the highly anticipated Wytches, written by Scott Snyder of American Vampire fame.

The convention is a multimedia event, however, and the rock stars of graphic storytelling will be sharing the spotlight with many other celebrities such as Kevin Smith, Keri Russell(The Americans), Andrew Lincoln(Walking Dead), Christian Slater(remember when he was so good in Heathers once upon a time), and convention icon, Adam West. Marvel will also debut the cast of their new Netflix television series, Daredevil.

The New York City Comic Con is four days of pop culture candy that should not be missed. Everyone has a little inner geek, and hey, where else can you put on a Master Chief costume and still leave with a date.