June 20, 2024

4 Poems by Glen Armstrong

Posted by in Featured Posts, Writing
4 Poems by Glen Armstrong

*Featured image courtesy of Pexels on Pixabay* Glen Armstrong has a unique voice and style that leads to some magical lines in his poetry. Check out his four poems down below. Antonyms for “Blue Grass”  Has the violin been over-repaired?  It doesn’t sound   hillbilly enough.  And what about my singing voice?  There are worse ways to earn a dollar.  I holler   at my sweetheart the way I holler   at an animal  that it’s time to eat.  Rich folk leave the Met pretending   their feet do not exist,  pretending that a God   they don’t believe in has chosen them  with a magnet   tied to a string   tied to a bamboo fishing pole.  We invite them to pull up a chair,  but they are statues  broken from their bases.  We offer them bread,  but their bellies are…

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May 7, 2024

“Complete Stop” by Frank Diamond

Posted by in Member Writing & Art, Writing
“Complete Stop” by Frank Diamond

*Image courtesy of Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash* Frequent contributor Frank Diamond honors us again with another one of his amazing pieces. Take a look at “Complete Stop,” where our elderly protagonist is faced with making a very important life decision. Margaret Johnson should know better. She’s driving through Lakelock Manor Borough, after all. Infamous suburban speed trap. But at 10 in the morning? She comes to an intersection, stops (a “rolling stop” the cop would contend), sees nothing in any direction except a parked SUV. Margaret continues on her way, and suddenly the SUV U-turns and tailgates her, headlights flashing the way undercover police cars do. She pulls over. “I am going to meet my husband, officer,” Margaret explains to this kid who’s about as old as her eldest grandchild. “He’s in Grantmyer Groves.” In…

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May 1, 2024

The New FC Anthology is Now Published!

Posted by in Member Writing & Art, The Fictional Café Anthology, Writing
The New FC Anthology is Now Published!

The Strong Stuff, Volume 2, presents the best creative work we published from 2018-2020 500 full-color pages of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and art from our members This is one handsome book, and it’s big – 8″ wide by 10″ tall, just a few pages shy of 500 pages of stimulating writing and art. The cover art is an original design by one of our former baristas, Amanda Grafe. Using Amanda’s original painting, Barista Melanie Marston prepared the book’s front and back covers. The interior design and page layout was designed by Sophie Hanks, who has worked with us on several books now. FC Partner Antony Woooten guided it through publishing and printing with Ingram/Spark.  The back cover. Each contributor’s color photo and bio appear in the book. This contributor’s poetry, accompanied by their art….

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February 16, 2023

“The Sixty-Five Percent”

Posted by in News
“The Sixty-Five Percent”

An Excerpt From Derrick Lafayette’s Kaleidoscope: Dark Tales We continue to celebrate the publication this new collection of stories by Derrick R. Lafayette, published this week by Fictional Cafe Press. It’s five short works and a novella, each as different and original and evocative as can be. You’ve never read anything quite like these – well, a close perhaps if you’ve read Robert Coover. Here is an excerpt from Derrick’s story, “The Sixty-Five Percent” to tantalize you into buying a copy of his book – which we’ll be announcing at any moment. Come on, Ingram, Come on, Amazon, let’s go! “It’s filthy down here,” Abbot complained, hunching his body into the sewer pipe. A rivulet of brown water soaked his socks. Insects of unknown origin slithered above him. He adjusted his lab coat, pulled up…

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February 10, 2023

“The Man Who Was Thursday” by G.K. Chesterton

Posted by in Audio Arts
“The Man Who Was Thursday” by G.K. Chesterton

“The Man Who Was Thursday” is a 1906 detective thriller masterpiece by G.K. Chesterton is brought to life in this fully dramatized radio play adaptation. Poet Gabriel Syme goes undercover in the nightmare world of terrorist anarchists set to destroy humanity. He must infiltrate and dismantle the dreadful Council of Days led by the all-powerful President Sunday. Gabriel Syme confronts anarchist Lucien Gregory giving a speech. After an argument, Gregory tempts Gabriel to join him in an underground meeting of anarchists and the election to select a new Thursday on the council of Days. Our detective goes undercover as Thursday in the anarchist Council of Days. He is introduced to their leader, the powerful and frightening President Sunday. Barely escaping the council meeting unscathed, Gabriel is followed through the streets of London by a decrepit…

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December 31, 2020

Derrick R. Lafayette Is Our First Writer-in-Residence

Posted by in News
Derrick R. Lafayette Is Our First Writer-in-Residence

Announcing the newest position on The Fictional Café: the Writer-in-Residence. Our Editorial Team has awarded this role to longtime FC contributor Derrick R. Lafayette. Following a wonderful year of our first Poet-in-Residence, awarded to Mbizo Chirasha, we decided to expand upon this idea by adding a prose writer. Each Residency lasts two years. This staggering allows our members to greet a new face each year and allows us two full years of sharing each Resident’s work. As our Writer-in-Residence for 2021-2022, we will be publishing some of Derrick’s short stories, novel excerpts and perhaps some essays as well. He’s been featured on our site several times over the last three years. Each time, we’ve been impressed by his growth as well as his ability to create engrossing tales using both unique storylines and moments from…

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June 18, 2020

Poetry and Prose to Honor Juneteenth

Posted by in Writing
Poetry and Prose to Honor Juneteenth

We at The Fictional Cafe are shocked, dismayed and angered by American policemen gunning down American men of color. We assume you feel similarly. Times of great stress, like the COVID-19 pandemic, bring out both the best and the worst in people. It is a time in which we must be patient, calm, understanding, even forgiving, even while we protest for change. We have no way of knowing what strife and pain, or growth and joy, await us in the endless days of this pandemic. All we have is today to be the very best humans we can possibly be, and that today, today, is Juneteenth when the world bows its head to remember the end of slavery in America, circa 1865. Of course, we know it wasn’t the end and that racism still runs…

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November 2, 2019

“In Thought, Word and Deed,” by Jose Oseguera

Posted by in Member Writing & Art, Writing
“In Thought, Word and Deed,” by Jose Oseguera

By the time Paul and Ariela reached the Caravaggio exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, they decided to stop avoiding the urge to hold hands, and finally interlaced fingers. The tingling sensation first came to him when he handed her the red LACMA sticker, she needed to wear in order to be allowed in all the special exhibits. Paul squeezed her hand as if it would fall out of his if he didn’t. She blushed. He smiled, showing more teeth than he’d intended. Paul was born in Mexico, but was adopted as an infant by white evangelical Christian missionaries who decided to bring him home to Rialto, California along with all the goat’s milk candy they could fit in their luggage. Although his parents had tried to instill as much Hispanic culture in him…

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October 12, 2019

“Confession of an Accidental Theocrat,” by Montgomery Tufts

Posted by in Member Writing & Art, Writing
“Confession of an Accidental Theocrat,” by Montgomery Tufts

The door to Carol’s bedroom swung shut behind her with a bang. The late-afternoon light streaming in through her window highlighted every wrinkle and mote of dust that had accumulated on her pantsuit over the course of her walk home from work, but she wouldn’t be dealing with that now. She had come to a decision. It was one that she had been slowly working her way towards not just since she’d woken up that morning, or since the week had begun, but for one full calendar month — and it wasn’t a February either. It was one of the respectable months.  “Okay, listen,” she said to the figure sitting on top of the table beside her bed. “I didn’t know all this would happen between us. But it did, and I love you, and…

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October 9, 2019

“Construction Season,” a Short Story by Brian Moore

Posted by in Member Writing & Art, Writing
“Construction Season,” a Short Story by Brian Moore

Shelley and Celine were halfway across the Rockies when they passed a sign beside the highway that blinked BLASTING AHEAD in angry orange letters three feet high. Blasting what? She imagined dynamite and geysers of rock cracking holes through the hearts of mountains. This was the Trans-Canada. Weren’t they done with all that in the sixties? The traffic oozed to a stop at the chin of a long valley. Campers and minivans glittered a mile down the road, around the toe of a cliff, and out of sight. No town, no stores, no houses, no exits. Not even a signalman flashing a STOP / SLOW triangle. They could be waiting a minute or an hour. She shifted to park and turned off the ignition. The July sun puddled over the fenders. The car smelled of…

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