Dear Friends:

What you're looking at is a big, stinkin' mess. But it is a mess in progress.

Eventually, PopCult will be a beloved repository of fine pop culture writing, focusing on subjects worthy of examination. Right now, though, it has a long, long way to go. This site isn't even half-finished, so it's not really up for public consumption. What I've posted here is simply a desperate effort to lure in gullible writers who may be swayed into contributing stories (either "pre-written" or new). As you'll see, it's mostly my own archival material so far (located in the "Obsessions" section), but once I get it up and running, PopCult will have a regular rotation of fresh material on the front end with an ever-growing archive on the back end.

Why? Very simply, good pop culture writing is hard to find these days. You have to really dig out the great stories from the usual mountains of hype. Most of what we get these days from mainstream publications is entertainment writing, which means either promoting new products like movies and CDs, or fluffing the latest 15-minute celebrity. I think the best pop culture writing focuses on subjects of lasting value–people who are genuinely interesting and creations that resonate no matter how new or old they may be. So why not start a one-stop website to furnish such stories to a discerning public? (Don't answer.)

So: What I'm hoping to include on this site are stories that you cared about when you wrote them, ones that are close to the heart. They ought to have some level of interest for a national readership, even if they're about a local subject. They ought to have a strong shelf life (that is, still fun to read even if they were written years ago). Finally, you must either have the rights to the stories or be able to easily get them. I will not claim any rights to them after I publish your stories online–you may still sell them to whomever you want and may ask to have them removed from PopCult any time you wish.

Basically, I just want to put together a cool site with great stories. I eagerly await your contributions!

Your Pal,

Coury Turczyn
(February 3, 2002)

*Provided you are a semi-professional writer with little or no desire for monetary gain, and can manage to glean some measure of personal satisfaction by merely seeing your words "published" online. But, hey, this could lead to better things!