literary news |

All About “The Loud Boys”

Posted on January 3 by newpoplitnews

NOW AVAILABLE at both Amazon’s Kindle Store and at Kobo—

–the new hyper-pop multidimensional novella, The Loud Boys.

Cast of Characters:

VAN HECKLER

Dark web podcaster and volatile leader of the most notorious gang of right-wing extremists ever seen.

DARA DEFIANT

Beautiful-but-inscrutable news reporter and Substack writer carrying a dark secret.

ABIGAIL SHRUB

In-your-face woke attack dog.

FAKE FACE

The city’s richest and most renowned business speculator doubling as a mobster.

JEREMY SMITH

Flamboyant #2 Loud Boy.

RASHEEN HOLLERAN

Manager of a homeless shelter in The Forgotten Zone.

TERRY THE HOOD

Ambitious hired killer.

HOWELL

New publisher of a failing newspaper.

THE THREE HERMITS

A rap group.

MUGGS

The most dangerous Loud Boy.

***

HOW will these personalities clash and conflict in the most beaten-down American city of them all?

FIND OUT!

The Loud Boys. Dystopia now. This isn’t fantasy– it’s today’s reality.

The Inside Game of AI

Posted on March 4, 2024 by newpoplitnews

WHILE BOTH the literary establishment and the broader lit-mag world dawdle, tech bros are investing large sums of money toward the goal of taking over the publishing world– as outlined in THIS hair-raising article about a company called Inkitt. The article doesn’t give the entire story: that the chief Venture Capitalist backing the project, billionaire Vinod Khosla, co-founded Sun Microsystems decades ago and went on to invest in, and make a fortune from, several enormous tech projects since. Now he’s looking for new territory to conquer. His current target: the literary world.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

What’s happening is an ongoing accelerationist blitzkrieg, fueled by billions in VC money. The goal: to take over industry after industry, using the tool of AI. “Move fast and break things” has long been the tech mantra– to spread the use of new technology as quickly as possible, allowing momentum itself to bypass slow-moving regulations and protests. To make adoption of the technology an accomplished fact.

MEDIA INFRASTRUCTURE

A large advantage tech companies have over traditional publishers– not to mention over low-rent literary outfits like New Pop Lit— is a tech media infrastructure in place ready to make PR noise about everything done by technology companies, large and small. This particular story about Inkitt, for instance, was covered not just by Tech Crunch, but also by dozens of other tech media outlets– coverage a standard small press outlet would never receive. In addition, business media flagships like Fortune Magazine are now devoting a huge amount of time and space to everything AI related, and are in business arrangements with AI companies, pumping onto social media outlets, like X, ads disguised as news articles.

How do poorly-funded literary outfits compete? We need to find ways to compete.

PRODUCER-DRIVEN ART

The goal, as outlined with the Inkitt strategy, is to model the literary business on what happened to the music industry, where creators aren’t artists themselves, but producers, who use computer technology to create the superstructure of a song, with an artist’s voice one of several tools layered into the recording. (With AI, a real human voice will no longer be required.) This process is well described by John Seabrook in his book, The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory. The key figures in Seabrook’s narrative are two producers who created the careers of pop stars Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Rihanna, and many others: Dr. Luke and Swedish-born Max Martin. They set a pattern that was followed by other entrepreneurs– and taken to extremes by South Korean Lee Soo-man’s SM Entertainment Company, creator of enormously successful K-Pop music. According to the Wall Street Journal, SM spends $3 million on meticulously training and molding each manufactured pop idol. The singers play their parts, but the music and presentation are the carefully-choreographed products of a billion-dollar entertainment company which calls all the shots.

This is a far cry from a Bob Dylan writing his own songs, then performing them himself with only an acoustic guitar and a harmonica.

Is this the future of the writer? To provide a name, face and semblance of a novel– then the tech corporation does everything else? A world of difference from the DIY ethos of print zines, and of the Underground Literary Alliance, which in the early 2000’s constructed the foundations of a cooperative literary movement in which writers themselves would make all decisions and be in total control of their own art; of every aspect of the publishing and promotional process.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

IF outfits like Inkitt are successful, one can expect that Big Five publishing will either mimic the strategy of new AI publishers, or buy them out. Then there are “self-publishing” (vanity press) outfits like Mindstir Media. Mindstir, whose packages for would-be authors with money to burn range from $3299 to $30,000, already uses AI voices for their customers’ audio books. Will they also begin using AI for the editing/creation of the books themselves, in order to inexpensively grab more customers?

In any case, the market will be swamped by more and more AI-generated books, with plots and characters following the dictates of algorithms. Computer-programmed literature for a computer-programmed world, human beings used as both tools and consumers, a handful of giant corporations run by mega-billionaires making all profits.

Alternatives need to be found for this nightmare scenario. We believe the only viable alternative for human creators to follow will be human-centered– drawing on our human souls and natural abilities to create literary works more relevant and meaningful than anything produced by inhuman bots and soulless conglomerates.

-Karl Wenclas

“The Coming AI Assault”

Posted on February 29, 2024 by newpoplitnews

–is already here. In September of last year I presented a fairly detailed analysis of how AI chatbots were beginning to affect the world of literature, in an article at the Lit Mag News Substack, here. Since then, the amount of money behind AI, and the number of tech companies and tech hustlers seeking to grab control of publishing– and thereby define literature with their twisted creations– have increased. The hustlers are moving quickly– they have to, because of the money behind them, which needs to be justified.

I’ll be discussing this more in a series of upcoming posts at this blog– revived and utilized because of the speed at which events are moving. Stay tuned to this pop-lit station.

-KW

More Thoughts About A.I.

Posted on February 24, 2023 by newpoplitnews

MORE ABOUT CHAT GPT

Tesla’s proposed A.I. robot.

THE BIG NEWS in the publishing world revolves around science fiction magazine Clarksworld closing submissions after being swamped with ChatGPT-created short stories– an increase over three months from under 25 to over 500.

In other news, a spate of A.I.-generated books have already begun to hit the market, per this article from Reuters.

OR: disruption of the publishing industry has taken place much more swiftly than anticipated. We at New Pop Lit have attempted to be open-minded regarding the new technology. It’s usually futile to fight progress, or what’s marketed as progress. The new technology has undeniable benefits for the individual writer, in speed and ease of writing. We also believed that using it more astutely than others might be a way to take on publishing’s Big Five, who are slow at adapting to anything. (Much of their way of operating is lodged in the early 20th Century, if not the 19th.)

However, techies themselves have decided to become major players in writing and publishing. Here’s a Tweet from the founder and CEO of OpenAI, the company which has inflicted ChatGPT and Dall-E upon the world: the two A.I. devices most directly aimed at the literary world.

writing a really great prompt for a chatbot persona is an amazingly high-leverage skill and an early example of programming in a little bit of natural language
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 20, 2023

Keep in mind that Sam Altman, like his technology colleagues and peers, is utterly ruthless. Who were the other original investors in OpenAI when it began business in 2015? Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever, Peter Thiel: billionaires all, almost a Who’s Who of technology venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. (Corporate investors included Amazon Web Services.)

Elon Musk is the most well-known of the bunch (Peter Thiel perhaps the most infamous). These are people who have their interests and money invested in everything.

Over the past few years I’ve been researching Musk, reading every book I could find on him. Why? Because he’s disrupting the automotive industry. Being from Detroit, I’ve worked in an auto plant, and have friends and relatives in the automobile business. As do most people in this area.

Elon Musk exemplifies the mindset. Move into a vulnerable field and with new technology and aggressive tactics– including hyperbolic salesmanship– take it over. These are not preppy Ivy Leaguers taking casual three-martini Manhattan lunches and dawdling over the perks of upper-level publishing. An entirely different animal is entering the literary arena.

Technology for these people isn’t a job or a game– it’s a religion. They want it all: spaceships to Mars, A.I. robots, eternal life: everything. They won’t stop until the science fiction world of their fantasies is reality.

THE IMPACT

In the meantime, what’s the impact on the cozy world of letters? Publications large and small, online and print, will be overwhelmed with submissions, as anyone who ever had a vague thought of becoming a writer can now create a manuscript in minutes with a few prompts. It may become difficult to tell real from fake. A culture which already has too many writers will see their number multiplied– which will make it that much greater a task for any of us to stand out from the mass. Connections to the right people– already a determining factor– will become even more important. Who you know and who you suck up to. Got a book you want to market? Good luck!

There may be solutions or ways to overcome the obstacles, but the odds against have increased.

-Karl Wenclas for New Pop Lit News

Our Recent Grant

Posted on January 21, 2022 by newpoplitnews

A CREATOR OF CULTURE?

logo c/o CultureSource

BEEN TARDY in posting the announcement from Culture Source on the “Creators of Culture” grant received by our Editor-In-Chief. Click here then scroll down to Karl Wenclas.

Will this enable us to do amazing things? Like Archimedes, we’ve only been looking for a place to stand. Or, to use a different analogy, for the tiniest opening. We may now have that.

Watch out!

State of the Site 2022

Posted on January 3, 2022 by newpoplitnews

NEW POP LIT ENTERS A NEW YEAR

THE BIG NEWS for the New Pop Lit project is our receiving a “Creators of Culture” grant from a wonderful Detroit-based arts organization named Culture Source. As near as we can determine, we qualified based on several criterion:

-Our EIC’s long history of promoting overlooked writers, notably in the 2000s with the Underground Literary Alliance.

-New Pop Lit’s focus on artistic innovation and design, including with our one-of-a-kind publications. “Craft publishing”: the idea to make our publications as creative and non-generic as possible.

-Our continued experimentation with literary form. This includes our behind-the-scenes effort to completely reinvent the short story, ongoing.

The starting point for everything we do is that the literary status quo isn’t good enough.

THE FUTURE

We’ll use the graciously-awarded funds not solely to keep this project operating (it’s been touch-and-go at times), but chiefly to discover and spotlight new writing and artistic talent, with more focus on talent in metro Detroit and environs.

Toward those ends, we’ll hold a contest or three, with monetary prizes.

The grant will also enable us to create more print publications. A portion of the award will be spent on necessary equipment and supplies. (Notably, paper and ink!)

The intelligent universe has conspired to keep us ongoing a while longer. As long as New Pop Lit lasts, we’ll aspire to achieve amazing arts breakthroughs– or at least one!

Stay informed via our Coming Soon page. Thanks.

XXX

Welcome 2022!

Posted on January 1, 2022 by newpoplitnews

THE PAST TWO YEARS have been tough ones for us, as for a lot of people. We plan to turn things around in 2022 (have already begun to)– and turn New Pop Lit into a more viable and exciting project.

Within days we’ll post at this blog a “State of the Site” announcement discussing what’s been happening.

IN THE MEANTIME, a few goals:

1.) A lot of talented new writers are out there. We haven’t failed to notice. (Good poker players that we both are, we don’t miss a thing.) We intend to connect with more of those writers.

2.) We have to do a lot more to sell our unique aesthetic ideas to literary people, and beyond. We’ll do so.

Those ideas center around:

DESIGN

New designs of writing and presentations of writing. For both aspects, we favor a modified 20th century modernist aesthetic. Meaning, clear, colorful, and stylish. Cultural chaos is everywhere. To be truly different, an arts project should offer an alternative to the chaos. Escape from the madness.

CLARITY (of thought and presentation) is important to us, as a foundation to build upon in endeavors to connect literature to a larger swath of the general public.

3.) At some point soon enough we’ll need to add more contributors to our staff– those in general synch with what we’re about, who can bring with them new ideas to supplement ours. As a project we’re foremost an expression of ideas.

Currently KMC and I work drudge day jobs. But give us enough time and help and we’ll unleash the full potential of this ambitious project. That’s the goal.

Thanks for your interest!

–Karl Wenclas

The UNLV Believer Mag Matter

Posted on October 21, 2021 by newpoplitnews

WILL THE BELIEVER MAGAZINE BE SAVED?

A host of questions are raised by the decision of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas to shut down iconic literary journal The Believer.

The Believer magazine has long been the flagship for a particular kind of upper-middle class literary self-importance. From the beginning they presented themselves as a better-than-thou cultural aristocracy, as indicated in their “belief in the good book review” and “nod to the inherent good” (per Wikipedia).

The Chief Question: Will that presumed aristocracy– including the many names published at the magazine, and the magazine’s founders– rouse themselves to save one of the pillars of their kind of literature? To date there’s been hand-wringing, but no action.

Where’s the Literary Underground?

Posted on October 5, 2021 by newpoplitnews

FINDING THE UNDERGROUND

WHERE is underground culture?

NO ONE online is underground. We’re on a system this instant– the Internet– that was initiated and in large part paid for by the United States Defense Department. An electronic arrangement where every word can be recorded and tracked with a few keyboard clicks.

With our new state-of-the-art print zeens, we at New Pop Lit are partially underground. They’re handmade in-house, and unregistered. No barcodes.

Why is this important? Because print underground literature is an actual alternative– samizdat!— a free space of ideas not subject to self-appointed hall monitors and censors. Breaking the hive mind. No bureaucrats, official or unofficial. In the tradition of Thomas Paine, Davy Crockett, Walt Whitman, Stephen Crane, Robert McAlmon, the Beats– and including Alexander Solzhenitsyn and a host of other international samizdat writers. The genuine article. The authentic American yawp.

THE ANALOG EXPERIENCE

We’ve begun exploring ideas behind new analog culture (vinyl, zines, film) in a newsletter, The Analog Experience. We’ll soon send copies to our “prestige” customers– those who’ve purchased three or more of our zeens. BUT you can subscribe to four issues now at our POP SHOP.

Doing so will keep you abreast of underground happenings, ideas, and debates. Plus in some small way it keeps this project alive.

Consider it a door to another world. A portal to underground culture.

XXXX

Wake Up the Tastemakers!

Posted on August 20, 2021 by newpoplitnews

ONE of the reasons literature is in sad shape– its role in the greater culture plummeting– is that staffs of Manhattan magazines, beneath surface differences, are invariably the same. Well-educated upper-middle class climbers from the “best” schools. Usually the same schools. Their ideas on art and culture are the same.

Will they be able to recognize the radically NEW when it lands on the desk in front of them?

Why does it matter? It matters because they have the remaining promotional infrastructure for all things literary in today’s media world– an infrastructure underground publishers lack.

What we offer are ways to engage the larger culture, via more exciting literary products. We’re little different from hip-hop creators and others who’ve come from outside the cultural system and with new ideas were able to reinvigorate that system along with the culture at large. They depended on perceptive outliers among media able to spot an opportunity and jump on it.

>>>><<<<

HOW do you revive an art? Another example from pop music history is the early 1990s when groups like The Pixies and Nirvana injected pop elements into punk rock and thereby created a new hybrid. Not dissimilar to what we’re doing at New Pop Lit via our zeen creations. Check us out. Drop into our POP SHOP.