Holly Day

Best of the Best?

OUR BEST OF THE NET NOMINATIONS

ARE we the best of the best? We like to think so! No one does more with less, working on the New Pop Lit project in our spare time and still having the best looking literary site(s) out there, while presenting some terrific writing.

Which we’re proud to spotlight with our “Best of the Net” nominations for this unsteady point in time. Choices made from New Pop Lit and Fast Pop Lit. We wish we could have nominated all the writers we spotlighted during the designated time frame, as we don’t publish anything unless it meets our own unique exacting pop-lit standards, which in fact are more demanding than anything seen from the status quo mainstream.

Here then are our nominations for the various categories. With links, so we hope you start reading! (Many thanks to all who read and send submissions for our site!)

FICTION

“The Wrong Crowd” by Lyn Michele Stevens, 10/3/2025.
https://newpoplit.com/portfolio/the-wrong-crowd/

“Contact” by Joe Del Castillo, 3/12/2026.
https://newpoplit.com/portfolio/contact/

POETRY

“Blue in Green” by Ben Macnair, 7/26/2025.
https://fastpoplit.com/2025/07/26/blue-in-green-by-ben-macnair/

“Super Bowl 2025” by James Croal Jackson, 11/24/2025.
https://fastpoplit.com/2025/11/24/super-bowl-2025-by-james-croal-jackson/

“True Punk” by Chris Cipollini, 2/4/2026.
https://newpoplit.com/portfolio/true-punk/

“Optional Nourishment” by John Zedolik, 3/10/2026.
https://fastpoplit.com/2026/03/10/optional-nourishment-by-john-zedolik/

“Cold” by Holly Day, 3/21/2026.
https://fastpoplit.com/2026/03/21/cold-by-holly-day/

“Otherness” by Julia Piehler, 6/10/2026.
https://fastpoplit.com/2026/06/10/otherness-by-julia-piehler/

CREATIVE NON-FICTION

“The Marshal” by J.B. Stevens, 11/10/2025.
https://newpoplit.com/portfolio/the-marshal/

“Los Alamos: Manna” by Julia Piehler, 6/18/2026.
https://newpoplit.com/portfolio/los-alamos-manna/

ALSO:

In the Art category we nominated three of our designs used to announce or illustrate work. Because: Why not? They were titled, “Late Summer Fiction,” “The Best!” and “Punk.”

THE CHIEF QUESTION though is: DO we present the best writing on the planet? Yea or nay? Please read the works chosen and tell us what you think.

“Cold” by Holly Day

NEW POETRY

I walk down the street putting rocks into my pockets
because they’re pretty and I want them, I whistle at the birds fluttering overhead
talk to squirrels, tell everything how much it’s loved, I want everything to know
how much I love them, everything around me I don’t know why.

My husband tells me I don’t pay enough attention to him, and I
wallow in guilt as I make his sandwiches and cookies for work
my daughter shouts that having me for a mother is like being raised
by an angry wolf, I curl up inside, imagine my heart is a fireplace.

Out in the garden, I set the rocks from my walk in a neat pile
imagine how much the frogs hiding in the greenery will enjoy these rocks
tell the invisible frogs how I got these rocks just for them
fuss over the pile until everything is balanced in such a way that they will not fall.

My husband tells me I talk to the dog more than I talk to him, my daughter
tells me how happy she’ll be to move out in a couple of years
I close my eyes and imagine a house of silence and warmth
imagine that I can get these noisy things to love me as much as I love them.

Holly Day‘s writing has recently appeared in Analog SF, Talking River, and New Plains Review, and her published books include Music Theory for Dummies and Music Composition for Dummies. She currently teaches classes at The Loft Literary Center in Minnesota, Huge House in Washington, and the Indiana Writers Center.