Against the Literary Slows

THE STATUS QUO SLOG

The prevailing characteristic of literary fiction today is how slow it is. Establishment writers from Jonathan Franzen and Jonathan Lethem to Ann Beattie and Alice Munro to Mark Gaitskill and Madison Smartt Bell to Francine Prose and Lorrie Moore think and write in slow motion. Not society's greyhounds or pit bulls. Poodles. They pile on irrelevant meaningless detail throughout their narratives, which slows things down until the pace is that of a turtle's. For them, slowness is of high value. So their stories and novels go ever slower, s-l-o-w-e-r.

The reader is asleep in his armchair, snoring loudly, head back, mouth open, book of well-crafted literary fiction dropped to the floor.

S-L-O-W-E-R. SSS-LLL-OOOO-WWWW-EEEEEE-RRRRRRRRR.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. . . .

The literary slows are caused by two factors.

One is the removal of these esteemed Approved writers from the hectic high-speed madness of the contemporary world. Through awards, advances, or university teaching assignments they've willfully isolated from the knockabout struggle of life which gives edge to an art. (Think early punk. Early rock n' roll. Think Van Gogh.) These well-lauded comfortable bowed-and-ribboned poodles-on-leashes have no edge. None. Not once does a one of them anymore lose control. Most of them never have.

The other factor is the way fiction writing today is taught. Painstaking craft, dawdling over the proliferation and precision of words, is the focus. They're conditioned to write not for readers, but their peers. They compete with one another to impress experts with word-clotted dead-thought go-nowhere slowness, reaching an audience of tepidly comfortable aficionados, or at least, themselves.

WANT TO READ NEW WRITING? Read the new e-book novella, Crime City USA, available at Kindle or Nook.

Jonathan Lethem's Fraudulent Essay

What! How can I say such a thing about the great Jonathan Lethem?

Read http://kingwenclas.blogspot.com/p/jonathan-lethem-and-postmodernism.html and tell me what you think.

One Out of Five

An unscientific survey finds that four out of five literary hipsters hate the new pop e-book, Crime City USA.

I'm looking for the one.

Who Is Fake Face?

Can evil gangleader Fake Face, chief villain of the new e-book novella Crime City USA, be equated with any high-profile personality in literature today? Who are your candidates?

Have you read yet Crime City USA?

Next Wave Literary Revolution

Publishing revolution is happening-- a sea change in how literary product is delivered. What's needed is a commensurate revolution in the literary art. A more exciting, more accessible model which can bring more of the potential audience into the fold. Fiction for everybody.

It's what I offer with e-books like Ten Pop Stories, but especially with Crime City USA.

About Crime City USA

FICTION THAT ROCKS

Hard, fast-paced, exciting pulp fiction is what I'm offering with Crime City USA, my new e-book release.

Is my short pop novel over-the-top? YES it's over-the-top. Balls-to-the-wall is how I've run my literary life. I'm not about to stop.

Readability

With the new style of fiction I'm offering, readability is the highest value. If the work doesn't have clarity and momentum, nothing else matters.

Read Crime City USA, a short pop novel.

Dollar Store Fiction

Step up for stronger fiction, lower prices, better value. I now have three e-books of entertaining pop fiction for sale:

-Ten Pop Stories.

-Mood Detroit.

-Crime City USA.

Can you afford 99 cents?

Pop fiction is new art.

I Want Art!

What makes my prose different from that of any other writer is that I'm attempting to create word paintings. In truth, I think and see differently from other writers-- especially from those in the literary establishment. I stress the visual, while making economic use of my brushstrokes. I want the painted images to explode off the page. Albeit I do this in uneven ways.

Among my more visual, cartoony stories are "The Strange Case of Mr. Box" in Ten Pop Stories, and "Kevin and Koreena" in Mood Detroit. It's not that they're not realistic. Like impressionism, they're a different take on reality.

My most Lit-as-Art e-book to date will be my next. Officially released any day. A colorful painting come to life. Watch for it!

Pop fiction is new art.