October 11, 2024

“Where Death Comes Uninvited” by Chronosphere Fiction

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts, Featured Posts

October is always my favorite month as far as audio dramas are concerned. This is the time of the year I get to find the spookiest tales out there to send chills down your spine. First spooky podcast of the month: “Where Death Comes Uninvited, Pt. 1” by Chronosphere Fiction. Chronosphere Fiction is a story telling anthology podcast where writers’ creations come to life with sound effects and music. Former U.S Marshall, Jim Wilkes, disillusioned with life as a federal officer, but still committed to the rule of law, is more than ready to rest from the trail as he approaches his new post as Sheriff in the town of Liberty Gulch. Written Craig Robotham Cast Jason D Johnson : Narrator Jim Wilkes : Pete Lutz Ilana Labourine : Annie Deemes Paul Arbisi : Abe…

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October 4, 2024

“A Life Lesson From Jimi” by Fiona Sinclair

Posted by Malik White in Featured Posts, Writing

*Featured Image courtesy of Thomas Kelley on Unsplash.* It’s always a pleasure to see a returning writer on FC. Fiona Sinclair, an excellent writer who has published with us before, has written a new piece that is guaranteed to keep you interested from the beginning to the end. Tom first heard about it crouching over an illicit transistor built by an enterprising boy in tech class. It was breaktime, he and his mates were tucked behind the outer wall of the gym; their “secret” hiding place teachers turned a blind eye to.  Each band Radio Caroline announced was met with a choric wail by the boys, because most knew attending the festival was a fantasy.  Except for Tom. I could go, he thought to himself, tallying in his mind his not inconsiderable savings account, product…

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September 30, 2024

Introducing Our New Arts & Design Barista!

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Featured Posts, Fine Art, Member Writing & Art

We’re very pleased to introduce to you, Coffee Club members, Yucen Yao, our new Fine Arts and Graphic Design Barista. It’s hard enough finding a qualified poet, fiction writer or audio arts barista, but finding a creator with the talent and skills to curate contemporary arts has been the toughest. We’ve had to go without one for several years. Now you can meet her. Yucen was raised in Nanchang, China. She took her bachelor’s degree in visual communication at Guangzhou University. Her parents encouraged her to follow her dreams in the arts, and she came to the United States to earn her master’s degree in graphic design at the prestigious California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita. Her career has rapidly taken off: she’s been interviewed in several LA zines, one saying she is…

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September 26, 2024

“Satan’s Shadow” by Thomas J. Misuraca

Posted by Malik White in Featured Posts, Writing

*Featured image courtesy of Peter Forster on Unsplash* Today we have an excellent horror piece by Tom Misuraca. We don’t get a lot of horror, so this is a welcome treat on FC. Tom is also a prolific writer, so we hope to see more from him in the future! The decrepit station wagon sped out of town. Russell clutched the wheel, squeezing until his biceps bulged. Next to him sat his wife, Trudy, her flesh and clothes caked in mud. Her long, curly hair frizzed by the swamp humidity. Russell felt immaculate compared to her; only his boots were dirty. “It is done,” Trudy repeated over and over, rocking in her seat. They drove away from the sun and away from the evil presence that had haunted them. Russell feared they would never escape….

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September 20, 2024

“A Fairy Tale for Adults” by Crystal Storm

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts, Featured Posts

Hello, Fictional Cafe Listeners, it’s me your friendly Barista Ruby and I’m back! (The vacation was lovely, I got a marvelous tan and now I am back with plenty of vim and vigor as well as plenty of audio adventures for you to enjoy! First up, “A Fairy Tale for Adults” by Crystal Storm. Colin and Nia are two ordinary parents going through a separation. They take their kids on a family outing… and are accidentally teleported to another world. Will Colin and Nia be able to find their way back home? Colin and Nia are arrested and have to plead their case before an Angelic Judge in a courtroom full of magical creatures. Will they be able to convince Raziel to set them free? Colin and Nia begin their quest to try and find…

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September 18, 2024

Radio . . . What? RadioGAGA!

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, Featured Posts, Interviews, Member Writing & Art, Web Video, Writing

Philip Gabbard returns to Fictional Cafe with a new creative fiction project: a film treatment based upon a very popular song from the 1990s. Phil is a create-preneur of many talents and interests and we’re always interested in his work. He’s written creative nonfiction, THISday: Words for the Venerable and the Vulnerable, and Thrivation: The Everlasting Philosophy of Providence + Privilege. He penned (on his MacBook Pro) Every Saint, Every Sinner, a novel about his spiritual experiences. He produced and directed an extraordinary video based on the life and death of an archetypal Hispanic woman called La Llorona. Phil is beholden to Freddy Mercury and Queen for the inspiration to write about radio. More specifically, the rise and nowadays the fall of radio broadcasting. With the rise of television, its demise was probably inevitable. TV…

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September 16, 2024

Rachel Gonzalez’s New Story

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

Rachel is our Fiction Writer in Residence, and she has written an outstanding new story for us, “Scrappy Metal.” It takes a very contemporary – and ironic – perspective concerning technology and its ever-encroaching desire (read between the lines: AI) to take over our human lives. It’s not only current but it’s also very funny. One of the most enjoyable stories we’ve published. Please let us know what you think of it in the Comments section at the end. Scrappy Metal Photo credit: IRobot.com I crushed another Cheez-It in my hand and sprinkled it on the floor. “God. Would you stop that?” My roommate’s shrill girlfriend, Molly, screeched at me. Although she was always here she didn’t actually pay any bills, so I didn’t have to listen to her. “Hey, I’m just feeding the little…

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September 13, 2024

Two Poems by Joe Bisicchia

Posted by Malik White in Featured Posts, Writing

*Featured Image courtesy of Eric Ward on Unsplash* This week, we have some lovely poems by Joe Bisicchia. They may be short, but they pack an emotional punch. Enjoy! Venus de Milo Hold me. Don’t be a stone heart. Be real. That simple. That plain. Hold me. Even if just with your eyes. Canvas My father’s hands were calloused from his plastering tool, his hold on his trowel, his carrying of mortar board before he would be lost in a cloud, lost in a Renoir brush, as weather patterns are wont to do. He always said see art in all the blank space. My father, an immigrant, had labored so many facades, long halls and tall vestibules with plaster of Paris, smoothing over surface of every wall to get me through school. Illiterate, yet, the…

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September 7, 2024

Your Saturday Podcast: The Zany “The Coach”

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, Audio Arts, Featured Posts, Podcasts

Hello there, you faithful, loyal, intrepid, adventure-seeking audiophiles. It’s Jack, Fictional Cafe’s hosta witha mosta, pinch-hitting for Ruby who is on vacation (sure hope she comes back!). Here are the first episodes of “The Coach,” about the journey (sic) of Evan Nixon, a former performer turned Life-Coach. Aided by his husband, Kevin, his best friend, Minxy, and his mentor, Miss Erica (of Miss Erica’s Life-Coaching Institute and Cross-Dressing Academy), Evan navigates a host of zany clients, all while “life-coaching” his own journey. It’s hysterically funny and you’d better agree or we won’t play any more episodes for you.

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August 26, 2024

3 Poems by Sarah Daly

Posted by Malik White in Writing

*Featured image courtesy of Andreas Rasmussen on Unsplash* This week we have some wonderful poems by Sarah Daly. Don’t let their size fool you. They may be short, but these poems are full of emotion. Enjoy! At Day’s End Leaf after leaf drops on the autumn path. They piece a rich quilt of crimsons and golds and corals which cover the dirt; my feet crush them, obliterate them, grind them into the soft earth. But the landscape does nothing to penetrate November’s loneliness. Stars Incandescent circles weave through the night sky, their shadows traversing our tangled limbs and signifying joy, joy, joy. In the Now Don’t say it, whatever you think, don’t say the words, we are trapped in this reality TV lifestyle (go along go along) don’t open your mouth, there is no more…

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