This Week on Friday Live: FJ Bergmann, Mary Rykov, and Graham Robert Scott

Ordinary Wonder

Writing is often at its best when it blends the relatable with the fantastic, the ordinary with the extraordinary. Even the strangest of characters or the most far-flung of worlds invites the reader into the page and encourages them to identify with something or someone.      

As it turns out, everyday heroes are a lot like the best of stories. Now, perhaps more than ever before, ordinary people are accomplishing the extraordinary. Healthcare providers, teachers, delivery staff, grocery clerks, and all of the other essential workers are relatable folks doing fantastic things. 

Included in that group of extraordinaries are countless authors, artists, and poets. When we first put out the call inviting the Pulp Lit community to participate in our Friday Live reading series, the response was overwhelming. (So much so that the series will march well into summer!) Talented and diverse, our contributors range from emergent newcomers to established luminaries. Representing a multiplicity of genres, styles, and voices, they are united by the desire to shine some literary sunshine into the shadows.  

And from now until June 15, you have the chance to join the hallowed ranks of Pulp Literati! Pen a new tale or dust off that shoebox of forgotten writing, and send your story in to the 2020 Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize. 

From the example of others, be they writers or modern-day heroes, we are inspired, reassured, and perhaps even strengthened in our own resolve. 

Friday’s live line-up

Every Friday, from 10:00-10:30am pacific, we are livestreaming readings, featuring three authors who will read their work and answer questions from the audience. This week on Friday Live, we bring you FJ Bergmann, Mary Rykov, and Graham Robert Scott.

FJ Bergmann

FJ Bergmann has manifested in Analog, Asimov’s, Apex and elsewhere in the alphabet, and functions, so to speak, as editor of Star*Line, the journal of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (sfpoetry.com), poetry editor of Mobius: The Journal of Social Change (mobiusmagazine.com), and in other literary roles. A Catalogue of the Further Suns (dystopian first-contact SF poems — don’t say you weren’t warned), winner of the 2017 Gold Line Press chapbook contest, appeared earlier in 2017. ‘Yellow Paint’, FJ’s fourth story in Pulp Literature, appeared in Issue 24. It follows ‘Opening Doors’ (Issue 6), ‘How to Lose a Week’ (Issue 13), and ‘For Your Convenience’ (Issue 16). We hope you enjoy this semi-regular trip in to strange and quirky universes that live in her mind.

Mary Rykov

Puerto Rican-Canadian María Helena Auerbach Rykov serves as proofreader for Pulp Literature Press and freelances as a writing mentor and editor in multiple genres. Her poetry has appeared in Pulp Literature (Issues 2 and 9). Known for her eagle eyes and quick wit, she sadly lacks other redeeming qualities or practical skills. Buy her poetry collection, some conditions apply, at your local indie bookstore or directly from Inanna Publications. Find her on Twitter @MaryRykov.

Graham Robert Scott

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