About Us (2015)

Turn off your mind relax and float downstream.

Welcome to Literary Kicks, a website about literature. It’s also about music, philosophy, Internet culture, pacifism, visual art, world history, literary criticism, pop culture, politics, bad television.

This is my website — the name is Marc though I’m also known as Levi, and it’s nice to meet you. Literary Kicks is my personal labor of love, and I basically publish anything I think my readers will be interested in. I’ve been running this website nonstop since 1994, so I guess it must be my idea of fun.

I also share literary links on Facebook, and occasionally post smart-alecky comments about whatever is going on in the world on Twitter. Please also check out my Instagram if you have any desire to see the world through my eyes.

I don’t often run contributed articles, but if you have an idea that seems to be right up Litkicks’s alley, please pitch me at litkicks@gmail.com.

You can also use that email address if you’d like to call my attention to a book, but please know that I absolutely do not review emerging writers on Literary Kicks. I am stating this emphatically because many young writers or their publicists put a lot of effort into sending me very clever emails inviting me to read their newly published novels or short story collections. But I simply don’t have time, and I only select new works of fiction to read based on word of mouth. (I make a living as a software developer, and I never have enough time to read as many books as I wish I could.)

Please query me before sending review copies. My address is:

Literary Kicks
PO Box 751246
Forest Hills, NY 11375 USA

Now … if you’d like to hear about the ancient history of this website, and all that madman stuff, you can read my memoir of the Silicon Alley boom and crash (1993 to 2003). It’s a pretty good story and I’m still planning to publish it as a book when I can find the time for one more round of revision.

Here’s a June 2015 podcast interview at BreakThru Radio in which I talk about the history of Litkicks and lots of other things.

Here’s an interview I did at The Nervous Breakdown on the 20th birthday of Literary Kicks.

I built this site because I believe literature can change the world. It hasn’t yet, but that only means we’re not writing hard enough yet. Hope you enjoy your visit to Literary Kicks.

10 Responses

  1. Just to say how great I is
    Just to say how great I is Litkicks, specially the way you all help people to build solid critical thought. I would like to receive updates from litkicks, but I really do not know how to subscribe a feed. In case you have a mailing list, I would appreciate if my address was included.
    Thanks a lot.
    Carlos Alberto
    São Paulo/BRAZIL

  2. Hi Levi,
    Hi Levi,

    Just wanted to say thanks for this teriffic blog, the enormous amount of info on some of my favourite authors, and the thoughts you share.

    I really regret I haven’t stumbled on your site earlier! Our (literary) interests seem to correspond a great deal, and so does the fact that we both run a literary website (albeit mine is offline at the moment). It wasn’t until I truly started deepening my knowledge on the Beats that I came across your site and took to binging on your memoir. Just now I am very impressed by the Gatsby research, I love that kind of posts.

    Keep it up,

    Thanks again,

    Erik

  3. Hi Marc,
    Hi Marc,

    My name is Anuj Agarwal. I’m Founder of Feedspot.

    I would like to personally congratulate you as your blog Literary Kicks has been selected by our panelist as one of the Top 100 Literary Blogs on the web.

    http://blog.feedspot.com/literary_blogs/

    I personally give you a high-five and want to thank you for your contribution to this world. This is the most comprehensive list of Top 100 Literary Blogs on the internet and I’m honored to have you as part of this!

    Also, you have the honor of displaying the badge on your blog. Use the code to display the badge proudly on your blog.

    Best,
    Anuj

  4. Love your site!
    Love your site!
    It’s funny that it’s old as me (’94 is my birth year), it’s unbelievable that you’ve succeeded in keeping this up!
    Best of luck for the future!

  5. how can I register on your
    how can I register on your website and receive updates and newsletter and be part of the community ?

  6. Hi Bobbie – there is no email
    Hi Bobbie – there is no email newsletter for Litkicks, but you can follow us via Facebook or my own account on Twitter to get notifications and updates. Thanks!

  7. I was shocked by the media
    I was shocked by the media blackout on Feb. 4, 2018. No mention of the 50’th anniversary of the departure of Dean Moriarty. Will the same injustice befall Sal Paradise on October 21, 2019 ?

  8. THE LAST PATRIOT
    THE LAST PATRIOT

    for Lawrence Ferlinghetti
    1919-2021

    Charles Upton

    The idea called “America” passed on this year.
    “I pledge allegiance to my gang”,
    Party or generation, cadre or religion,
    But not to the common ground we walk on,
    Or to the borderless air.

    Because who really walks any more?
    Who breathes without selection or permission?

    Our rendezvous with history and our loved ones,
    Brotherhood and sisterhood under the Moon and Sun
    Is laid down to the day, the breath and the heartbeat
    In the Mother of the Book;
    In the fabric of earthly duration
    We are spun by the Spinner,
    Woven by the Weaver,
    And cut by the Cutter.
    We pass with our time.

    The idea called “Nature” too is getting old,
    Breathing on borrowed air,
    Dimming in the human mind,
    Wavering in the hearts of her guardians.
    Why else would we pray for the Asteroid to come and
    release us?
    We long to lay down the heavy Trust
    To drop the burden called Man—

    (Gary?)

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What We're Up To ...

Litkicks will turn 30 years old in the summer of 2024! We can’t believe it ourselves. We don’t run as many blog posts about books and writers as we used to, but founder Marc Eliot Stein aka Levi Asher is busy running two podcasts. Please check out our latest work!