All posts in Interviews

June 12, 2023

Impact! A Sci-Fi Trilogy by C.K. Westbrook

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Book Reviews, Interviews

We conclude “The Impact Series” Trilogy with volume 3, “The Judgment” How we got here: We recently attended a book fair where we met the author, C.K. Westbrook, and were intrigued by “The Impact Series,” a science fiction trilogy: The Shooting, The Collision, and The Judgment. In each volume the story, told a day at a time, is that of Kate Stellute, who works for the United States Space Force in the near future and while out for a run is abducted by an alien. She becomes its media connection to the people of earth, who are warned they must change their ways or be obliterated. The first two books explore events that raise the stakes for human life on planet earth. Now, in this the book, we learn just what we have to ante…

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June 7, 2023

Our Writer in Residence Hikes the Grand Canyon

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Interviews, News

Rachel Gonzalez, Fictional Café’s Fiction Writer in Residence, recently completed an adventure known as the “Grand Canyon Rim-to-River-to-Rim” hike. In April, 2023, Rachel and three friends started at one edge, or rim, of the Grand Canyon, hiked down a vertical mile to the bottom, along the Colorado River, and then back up – about 17 miles in all. AllTrails says this hike on the South Kaibab, Phantom Ranch, and Bright Angel Trails, is “Generally considered a challenging route.” Here, in words and images, is the tale of Rachel’s adventure as told to Fictional Café. Very special thanks to Becky Armendariz for her photography. Fictional Café: Hi, Rachel. Challenging indeed! When did you hike it? Rachel: Hi, Jack! We went out April 13th. We were staying at Bright Angel Lodge, which was also our exit point from…

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March 6, 2023

An Interview with Artemisia’s Founder

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Interviews, Writing

Geoff Habiger Talks About Life As An Indie Publisher with Lorraine Martindale, FC’s Editor At Large Fictional Cafe is launching a new series, for which we don’t yet have a name . Maybe you can help? It’s a tandem publication, probably once a month, likely on a Tuesday. We’ll feaure a new novel from an indie author, the tandem aspect being an interview or a profile of the author’s indie publisher. The author’s book excerpt appears as a regular post, and the interview or feature appears in our Creative Nonfiction section (which is titled News, Reviews and Interviews on the home page). Our goal is to recognize – indeed, to celebrate – the relationship between an author and their publisher. To accomplish this, Jack and Lorraine are working as a team within Fictional Cafe. Lorraine…

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April 25, 2022

Interview with InkWell Publishing by Lorraine Martindale

Posted by Mike Rochester in Interviews

InkWell Publishing Interview Q&A With Beverly Floyd and FC Barista Lorraine Martindale Beverly Floyd’s advice to writers: You are more than the words you put on paper. Discover who you are and what you want your writing to do for yourself, your readers, and the world. The founder of InkWell, Beverly Floyd, speaks about her inspiration in starting a new press, how writers can prepare for publishing, and challenges she’s faced beginning her new venture. A true advocate for writers, she believes in writers’ visions for themselves, and works closely with each writer to help them share their unique stories with the world. InkWell is presently accepting submissions for next year, and is looking for summer interns. Fictional Café: Inkwell is a rather new indie publisher. What is your former publishing or writing experience, and what…

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August 12, 2021

Interview with Author Abigail George

Posted by Mike Rochester in Interviews

Editor’s Note: I had a chance to chat with one of our Featured Writers from 2020, Abigail George, about why she began writing and her writing life right now. She’s recently published a book about Emily Dickinson, available on Amazon. —Mike The Fictional Café: What made you choose to be an author? Abigail George: I didn’t grow up wanting to be an author. Life happened, took me down the road less travelled and kind of anchored me in a dysfunctional family life. Now I write all the time. I am inspired by many, many things. Mostly poets. Other writers. Nature, competition, psychology, science, the facts of life fascinate me endlessly so how I can ever run out of things to say, become bored or suffer from writer’s block? These days I have turned back the…

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July 17, 2020

Jarrett Mazza and Michael Piekny Q&A

Posted by Mike Rochester in Interviews

At The Fictional Café we love writers and love the written word. We want to showcase the best contemporary writing and give our subscribers innovative, thought-provoking works across a whole range of art forms. When it comes to fiction and poetry, every so often one of our Baristas really connects to a certain work and goes the extra mile to help showcase it to our global audience. This was the case with yesterday’s featured story, Knowing, by Jarrett Mazza. One of our Editorial Board members, and Fiction Barista, Michael Piekny, really connected with Jarret’s writing and reached out to see whether Jarrett would be interested in working together on a developmental edit of the story. Jarrett was on board and the two of them worked closely together over several weeks to fine-tune this story of…

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July 1, 2020

Former FC Art Barista Steve Sangapore Interview

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine Art, Interviews

Today we are sharing an interview with former Fictional Café Visual Art Barista Steve Sangapore. Fountain Street Gallery, located in SOWA the artistic hub of Boston, presents this interview in their series LIVE AT FIVE on Instagram. LIVE AT FIVE features a 30 minute interview of Boston based artist Steve Sangapore who will talk with Tatiana Flis about art, life, and his most recent painting series titled New Eden. You can follow Steve on Instagram at @stevesangapore. INFO:WEDNESDAY, JULY 01, 2020 | 5:00–5:30 PM EasternLIVE AT FIVE w/Fountain Street GalleryJOIN US ON INSTAGRAM LIVE@fountainstreetgallery

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May 8, 2020

“Atlantis: The Lost Empire” — An Audio Arts Interview

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts, Interviews

It’s been two decades since the Disney animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire first hit theaters and for twenty years, writer Tab Murphy, believed that the classic steam-punk animated film that he created was a flop. While he couldn’t deny that he had enjoyed the writing and brainstorming process, it hadn’t done as well in the box office as he would’ve liked, causing him to believe it had been a failure. . .up until now. Recently, Tab came in contact with “Atlantis: The Lost Empireposting,” a Facebook group completely dedicated to reliving and reposting their favorite scenes, lines and characters from his movie. Surrounded by so many people of different ages, from different walks of life who had all been inspired and entertained by the film he had helped create, Tab was finally able to…

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April 12, 2020

Arya F. Jenkins — An Author Interview

Posted by Mike Rochester in Interviews

Editor’s Note: We asked author and FC member/contributor, Arya F. Jenkins, a few questions about her book of short stories. Interview with Arya F. Jenkins Author of Blue Songs in an Open Key Short stories published by Fomite, 2018 When did you first get the idea to write this book? I was in the midst of a long love affair with jazz when I first started writing fiction with the idea of having it published. I decided to do something a little different and interweaved my love for that music into a story. My short story, “So What,” was inspired by the first cut in the seminal album by Miles Davis, Kinda Blue, and won first prize in a fiction contest in Jerry Jazz Musician, a jazz-based zine run by Joe Maita. That was in 2012, and subsequently I was asked to write more stories for Jerry Jazz Musician, which I did, at…

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September 30, 2019

How To Succeed In Your Writing Career

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

An Interview with Fictional Cafe Barista Jason Brick In this wide-ranging, 30-minute conversation about today’s writing and publishing environment, Jason shares his knowledge and experience as a writer, an author, and a publisher with curious Fictional Cafe writers who wish to create a sustainable business and income from their writing, rather than its being a hobby in which one indulges in his or her spare time. Jason Brick is a professional writer, martial artist, travel addict, and dad whose work has been published across multiple genres and formats. He has contributed over 3,000 articles and short stories to print magazines and online sites on topics ranging from home improvement, to health and wellness, to cocktail recipes, to small business management. Some of Jason’s top-level corporate clients include BlackBelt and Thrillist magazines, American Express, Intuit, and Mint.com. Jason has ghostwritten more…

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