February 6, 2024

An American Family in Crete

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Interviews, Member Writing & Art, Writing

Veteran FC Barista and lifelong iconoclast Jason Brick moved his family and his writing to the Greek Island of Crete for a year to learn about another people and their culture. We were delighted to hear about his Odyssey and eager to find out what it was like, so Jack interviewed Jason recently and got these comments and photos back to share with you, our faithful Coffee Clubbers. Please share your Comments and ask Jason any questions you may have. He’ll be back. Jack: What in the heck are you doing in Crete? Jason: I’ve brought my family to Greece for a year so we can experience what it’s like to live in a country and a culture distinct from America. We’re on the island of Crete, which is off the coast of mainland Greece—the…

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February 4, 2024

“Zzzzzz….” A Short Story by Dan Brook

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Guest Posts, Writing

“Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.” Feeling a little sticky with sweat and having butterflies in his stomach, Anatta was getting anxious and slightly panicky. He realized the irony of racing to the San Francisco Zen Center, but he could not help himself. He was rushing to get there, just so he could sit still in silence to calm his mind, supposedly to see “the nature of reality” as he had read somewhere. It wasn’t the only irony, to be sure, and he got agitated thinking he was running late, though he was actually on time as usual. Exiting the MUNI station, as Anatta did each week, he was still in…

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January 28, 2024

Meet PS Conway, Our New Poetry Writer-in-Residence

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Interviews, Member Writing & Art

After a grueling quiz with poet PS Conway, administered by your Fictional Cafe poets Yong and Vera, along with me, your founder, on the six most fascinating drinking establishments in Ireland, an explanation of a potato famine, and a perfect recitation of Molly Bloom’s soliloquy in James Joyce’s Ulysses, we have anointed PS Conway our new Poetry Writer-in-Residence for 2024-25. Delighted with his perfect score we capped his nomination with this interview below, which confirmed him as an excellent choice. Another P.S.: we choose a Fiction Writer-in-Residence and a Poetry Writer-in-Residence every two alternating years. Expect to see, and read, a lot of PS’s captivating poetry in both images and words. JACK: Hello, faithful members of Fictional Café’s Coffee Club. I’m here with Vera West, our former Poetry Writer-in-Residence, to interview Vera’s successor, PS Conway,…

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January 26, 2024

Bulletproof Pt. 1-3, The Other Stories

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts

If you could never be killed, how would you use your gift? Saving lives? Making a difference to mankind? Or would you join the Callaghan Brothers Space Circus and entertain the masses by being killed over and over again for your adoring fans? Immortal Audrey and Elastic girl, Kalinda, must escape from the Callahan Brothers Carnival, but how do you escape a circus in space? Roll up, roll up, we’re going into the abyss. Bulletproof Audrey awakes from a long bloody slumber and is tasked with bringing down the mastermind behind the space carnival that imprisoned and tortured her. Will she do as she is told, or will she enact the revenge she so desperately needs? Written by Joanne Askew (https://twitter.com/j_askew_author) Narrated by Erika Ventura (https://www.facebook.com/bioartsy/) Edited by Karl Hughes (https://twitter.com/karlhughes) With music by Andrew…

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January 25, 2024

As I Make You

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Writing

A Flash Fiction by Matthew Bala Image Courtesy of Al Quino, unsplash.com Bulging my fingers into the spinning clay, I look into the rotating bottom and let my tears glisten there—the figure moves faster than my hands can shape, and I’m left with only a few touches to produce the right form. The pad of my thumb grazes the orbiting ovoid, trimming up and at its waist into some obscene shape; surrendering a chuckle, I retreat my hands, looking at this earthly bong I’ve now made. The long snout stretches for air, its bottom rounded to the sides of the hog pan. My palms now fondle the roundness of my creation, feeling the argil beard my cupped hands and cuticles of bending fingers. Deliberately, I close my two arms in on each other, shooting my…

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January 12, 2024

“Mathilde 253” by Paul Knierim

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts

It’s the year 2198. 92 years ago, the asteroid 253 Mathilde began humanity’s first interstellar mission with a crew of 200 people. Now accelerating through the Oort cloud at a millimeter per second per second, the descendants of the original crew have as yet no inkling of where the next 42 years of their lives will take them. The Asteroid 253 Mathilde is an asteroid from the main belt, discovered in 1885 and first visited by a human spacecraft in 1997. In the early 22nd century, with some help from advanced extraterrestrial technology, it was fitted with engines fueled by refined asteroid ore. Launched on humanity’s first interstellar mission, it has been accelerating ever since. Now 92 years into a 780 year journey, generations of inhabitants have come and gone in the colony built just below…

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December 22, 2023

A Fictional Cafe’s Christmas Episode! “God Rest Ye Merry Physicists”

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts

A Fictional Cafe Christmas Adventure Like Nothing You’ve Ever Heard! On Christmas eve, a team of brilliant scientists hit a major breakthrough in their portal to another universe. They can’t imagine how dearly their curiosity will cost them when they decide to go through to the other side. You’re just seconds away from full immersion in your new favorite high-concept, original, and, it must be said: bonkers, audio drama. Strap in. Sci-fi and Christmas collide in our latest audio drama podcast! Follow a team of scientists on their quest to save the holiday season from a monstrous inter-dimensional threat. ‘God Rest Ye Merry Physicists’ was written and directed by Derek Toombs Ableman – Dino DeRosa Bachus – Derek Toombs Caffrey – Shelby Reynolds Danhke – Ray Alvarez Grace/Cashier – Isabel Barbato Crystal – Alexis Jackson Ableman’s Son – Shawn Murray Mrs. Ableman…

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December 20, 2023

“Plucked,” A Novel in Verse Excerpt by FC’s Vera West

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

Seventeen-year-old Iza auditioned on a whim and got accepted (on a scholarship) to a creative arts prep school. Even with just a year left until she graduates, attending this school will give her the edge she needs to be a successful classical violinist and give her more options than what she currently has in the impoverished town where she grew up; but without the support of her mother getting there will be a challenge. After convincing her best friend to drive her to school, working extra shifts to save up money and having her granny forge her father’s signature on the application, Iza is finally ready to make the great escape to Everleigh. 1 She has pluck, they say, with optimism in spades, surely all her dreams will come true.     “Iza Jones, are…

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December 17, 2023

Fictional Cafe Collaborates with Pushcart Press

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in News

A Few Words About the Pushcart Prize FOR THE THIRD YEAR, Fictional Café’s baristas have chosen and submitted what we agreed were the best six works—three of fiction and three of poetry—we’ve published in the past year for consideration in the Pushcart Prize competition. As usual, a work from each of our Writer-in-Residence and Poet-in-Residence has been selected for the Prize. Congratulations to our six nominees! Here are their links on FC. Please check them out. Vera West, FC’s Poet-in-Residence: https://www.fictionalcafe.com/poet-in-residence-vera-west-shares-her-work-for-national-poetry-month/ Rachel Gonzalez, FC’s Writer-in-Residence: https://www.fictionalcafe.com/the-secret-society-by-rachel-gonzalez/ PS Conway, Poetry: https://www.fictionalcafe.com/coddled-by-mountains-poetry-by-ps-conway/ Levi Dodd, Fiction: https://www.fictionalcafe.com/cherry-black-a-story-by-levi-dodd/ Cori Sims, Poetry: https://www.fictionalcafe.com/poem-and-personal-essay-for-19-june-2023/ Bill Suter, Fiction: https://www.fictionalcafe.com/you-just-never-know-what-will-happen-at-the-cafe-chimera/ Just as you submit your own work for consideration on FC, Bill Henderson’s Pushcart Press asked literary publications, both print and online, for submissions to its Pushcart Prize Best of the Small Presses…

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December 9, 2023

“Witchever Path” by You and The Fans!

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts

Who hasn’t felt an emotional urge to tell a protagonist what to do at key moments in the story? “Don’t open that door!”“Take the overgrown path.”“Call for Help.” We hear you. Witchever Path is an anthology series where your decisions effect the story. Our stories are based in America’s NorthEast, featuring characters finding themselves in the thick of the unknown while tackling issues like queer identity, gender, race, and spirituality. Stories often focus on the communities not typically seen in stories taking place in New England, and giving voice to the perspectives of those communities while uniting under some universal themes. And the supernatural happens. A lot. To get a feel for what we do, start here: Witchever Path isn’t like a lot of audio dramas. We’re a fiction anthology series that allows you to help determine…

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