October 29, 2018

Another Night of Halloween PodioFun

Posted by in Audio Arts, Audio Arts, Podcasts
Another Night of Halloween PodioFun

Following last night’s premier podcast, here are eight more Halloween treats from ZBS Media’s “90-Second Cellphone Chillin’ Theater.”  You podcast lovers might recall “Saratoga Noir,” which we re-podcasted here a few months ago. Tomorrow night, Halloween, we’ll present the final eight episodes, for a total of 24. Do we deliver great content or what? “Zombie Al’s Big Night Out”   “Dixie Doodle, Girl Geek, in ‘Totally Flat Busted’”   “When the Wolfling Learns to Whistle”   “Eating Crackers in a Crypt”   “Dixie Doodle, Girl Geek, in ‘My Boyfriend’s Back’”   “Drooling Doreen”   “Revenge of the Tooth Fairy”   “Loathsome Sally Under the Texas Moon”   That’s all, folks! We hope you enjoyed and if you did, check in tomorrow night for the final eight episodes of “90-second Cellphone Chillin’ Theater.”    

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October 28, 2018

Trick or Treat? Three Nights of Halloween Goodies for You

Posted by in Audio Arts, Audio Arts, Podcasts
Trick or Treat? Three Nights of Halloween Goodies for You

Thanks to our friends at ZBS Media, we present three nights of Halloween audio fun: “The 90-Second Cellphone Chillin’ Theater!” These are ghoulishly fun little podio stories created to get you in the mood for Halloween. Tonight we offer you the first eight, plus eight more tomorrow night, and eight again the Halloween night. We hope you enjoy them, and if you do, please write a Comment for us the share with ZBS. If you love audio stories, we encourage you to visit the ZBS Media website. It’s an audio treasure trove! “The Okie Dokie Swamp Thingie”   “Hotel Catatonia”   “Don’t Eat on Twilight Street”   “The Monkey”s Magic Eyeball”   “Don’t Eat at Igor’s”   “The Sweet Scent of a Succubus”   “Frankenstein’s Finger”   “The X-Filings Dental Case”  

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October 21, 2018

“The Radio’s On,” a Short Story by Kevin White

Posted by in Member Writing & Art, Writing
“The Radio’s On,” a Short Story by Kevin White

He said he was going into the den to pay some bills. He took his beer with him and kissed his girlfriend on the head and said he would back in time to go to bed. She did not say anything but she probably smiled. He went into his den and shut the door and went to his desk. It included pencils, paper clips, an old transistor radio he never used, tissues, a phone book. He sat for a while, sorting out all the paperwork, when his cellphone rang. It was her again. He had to answer. “Hello?” “Hey, Kevin.” “Hey.” “I’m…surprised you picked up. I’ve been trying to get you.” “I’ve just been busy.” “Doing what?” “Just…things. Nothing, really.” They were treading worlds of the past and they were doing it too lightly to…

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October 17, 2018

Ghostographs: An Album by Maria Romasco Moore

Posted by in Book Reviews, Writing
Ghostographs: An Album by Maria Romasco Moore

NOTE: Ghostographs is a chapbook of short fictions inspired by old photographs by Maria Romasco Moore. It will be published November 1 by Rose Metal Press. The following review was written by Simran P. Gupta, Fictional Café’s Poetry Barista. Ghostographs: An Album by Maria Romasco Moore   The Perfect Book to Welcome Fall Reviewed by Simran P. Gupta The sun is setting earlier and earlier, the temperature is dropping steadily, and it’s time to pull out our long sleeves and warm socks. If you’re like me, you’ll switch from your favorite sweet iced coffee at Starbucks to all the drinks that symbolize fall and its accompanying chill: hot apple cider, cocoa, herbal teas, all things pumpkin. And of course the return of hot coffee! I’ve always been fond of dedicating October to books that make…

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October 15, 2018

The Jane Friedman Interview: Writing Because You Can’t Imagine Doing Anything Else

Posted by in Interviews
The Jane Friedman Interview: Writing Because You Can’t Imagine Doing Anything Else

Jane Friedman is quite possibly the most influential voice for the writer today. Her career spans over 20 years as a writer, editor, consultant, professor and speaker. “I sit at the intersection of several communities, which gives me a 360-degree view of the changes now shaping writing and publishing,” she says. “People working inside the industry see me as as an expert in digital and self-publishing, while independent authors see me as a traditional publishing figure. The university and MFA community see me as very commercially minded, while the business people see me as literary and academic. I would have it no other way; I prefer to serve as a bridge.” Jane granted Fictional Cafe the following interview, focusing primarily on how a committed individual can build a career as a writer by taking a businesslike…

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October 8, 2018

“Rearguard,” A Short Story by Robert Perron

Posted by in Member Writing & Art, Writing
“Rearguard,” A Short Story by Robert Perron

Jana backed off from Barry’s fart. No odor but a blast, a massive rip that blossomed the seat of his Royal Robbins convoy shorts before undulating out a leg hole. Okay, maybe she imagined the blossoming and undulating, but not the acoustics. Barry, a meter ahead, uphill, his left boot perched on a stone set in the trail for that purpose, twisted his body and said, “Sorry.” A wide tan hat protected his balding pate and shadowed the mien of sincerity on his salt and pepper face. “Quite all right,” said Jana. “Some things can’t be helped. I suppose.” Barry turned, applied hiking poles to path, and lifted his right foot. Jana let him gain several steps, and several steps later he ripped another, his head making a half turn and his shoulders shrugging. Oh,…

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October 4, 2018

Mia Cross’s Painting: Color, Form and Narrative

Posted by in Fine Art
Mia Cross’s Painting: Color, Form and Narrative

Mia Cross is a Boston-based artist who in a very short time has gained a great deal of interest and attention from the community. Mia launched her career in 2014, following her graduation from Boston University with a double major in Painting and Sculpture.  In 2016 she received the “Emerging Artist Award” presented by the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA. Cross has been the recipient of multiple grants, including the Blanche Colman Grant and a Mass MoCa Match Grant.  Her most recent residency stints include spending two weeks in 2017 at the Vermont Studio Center through a Boston University alumni grant, and a month in 2016 as an artist in residence at the Goetteman Residency at the Rocky Neck Art Colony in Gloucester, MA.  Her work has been featured in numerous galleries and exhibits throughout New…

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September 27, 2018

In a Stone Garden: Masayaki Koorida’s Sculpture

Posted by in Fine Art
In a Stone Garden: Masayaki Koorida’s Sculpture

Japanese sculptor Masayaki Koorida was born in 1960 in Kyoto, Japan and today lives in Shanghai. He is considered a major talent and dedicated figure in contemporary sculpture. Celebrated for partially carved and polished boulders like “Existence” (seen below and permanently sited in The Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden), Koorida has broadened his stonework repertoire with highly polished geometric pieces in a variety of materials and exquisite, large-scale drawings. This year, for the first time, he staged two exhibitions in the United States, one at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the other at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey, which is ongoing until February 24, 2019.     “Existence” Working with a small group of assistants from his studio in Shanghai, China, Masayaki Koorida uses stone as his primary medium to…

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September 7, 2018

Friday Night is Gumshoe Night Again: “Saratoga Noir”

Posted by in Audio Arts, Audio Arts
Friday Night is Gumshoe Night Again: “Saratoga Noir”

Ruby Fink, our Audio Arts Barista, and I were talking recently about great detective podcasts and we both agreed that “Saratoga Noir” was one of the best ever. And since it’s Friday night, our traditional audio arts/podcast evening, we’re rolling that tape again. Here’s the first episode of ZBS’s “Saratoga Noir,” featuring one of the world’s greatest, most humorously cynical and yet endearing gumshoes, Danny Boyee. Please click on the arrow below to listen to Episode 1 of “Saratoga Noir.” If you want to listen to the entire story, they’re all here at the Café: https://www.fictionalcafe.com/saratoga-noir-2018s-first-audiobook/ https://www.fictionalcafe.com/saratoga-noir-podcast-episode-2/ https://www.fictionalcafe.com/saratoga-noir-five-new-episodes-tonight/ https://www.fictionalcafe.com/5-audiobook-episodes-saratoga-noir/ https://www.fictionalcafe.com/saratoga-noir-episodes-8-14/ https://www.fictionalcafe.com/saratoga-noir-thrilling-conclusion/ Enjoy, with another big thank-you to our friends at the ZBS Foundation! Please visit their site. It’s a treasure trove of audio delights.

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September 3, 2018

“Deluge,” A New Novel by James D. Best

Posted by in Book Reviews, Writing
“Deluge,” A New Novel by James D. Best

Jim Best lives in Kansas, where lately raging rain has caused rivers to rise and towns to be flooded in epic proportions. So perhaps his latest novel, Deluge, is prescient. Taking a break from his phenomenally successful Steve Dancy westerns, Deluge is set in the present, but its antecedents are in 1862, when a sixty-five-day downpour pummeled the western United States. California suffered the brunt of the storm. Almost a third of the state was under water, roads were impassible, telegraph lines down, rivers overflowed, hundreds of people died, and hundreds of thousands of animals drowned. Sacramento remained under water for six months, forcing the state government to move to San Francisco. Geological evidence shows that a flood of this magnitude hits the western United States every one to two hundred years. Well, it’s been a…

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