March 11, 2016

Podcast: “Captain Blackwell’s Prize” by V.E. Ulett, Episode 2

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, Podcasts

Thanks, Fictional Cafe coffeeheads, for your words of appreciation for “Captain Blackwell’s Prize” this past week. We even got a shout-out from the founder of Podiobooks, who is currently in Bangkok! So without further adieu, here is Episode 2; next week, Episode 3, and the week after our interview with the author. If you just can’t wait to continue, please visit Podiobooks to download the entire novel [and please be sure to show your enjoyment by tipping Ms. Ulett]. Please click on the arrow below to listen to Episode 2 of “Captain Blackwell’s Prize.”

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March 11, 2016

“Rattlesnakes” by Kathryn Holzman

Posted by Mike Rochester in Member Writing & Art

“We also spent entire nights in bed and I told her my dreams. I told her about the big snake of the world that was coiled in the earth like a worm in an apple and would someday nudge up a hill to be thereafter known as Snake Hill and fold out upon the plain, a hundred miles long and devouring as it went along. I told her this snake was Satan. “What’s going to happen?” she squealed; meanwhile she held me tight.” – Jack Kerouac * * * “Rattlesnakes can swim.” Valerie grabbed the nun’s wrist, desperate to get her attention. Thirty demonstrators walked down the highway median with children and dogs in tow. Despite the chilly January wind, the ragged line of walkers was determined to show support for a proposed rattle snake…

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March 7, 2016

Allison Whittenberg’s Politically-Charged Poetry

Posted by Mike Rochester in Member Writing & Art

“Don’t use the phone. People are never ready to answer it. Use poetry.” ― Jack Kerouac The Quickening Because I believe in perfection I believe in abortion Babies are asymmetrical They/she/he/it squander The silken grammar of routine But, a fetus can be edited Its absence assures a lacy indefectibility In the vacuum, I can breathe It’s not right It’s not the right time I don’t want to hunker down in Staten Island Or be on bed rest Or buy big clothes Or rush to alter with a gown and a groom and a promise With rice raining on me like fallout. I don’t want to be folk like my mother was folk. Children growing out of her hairdo. Dull eyes and unpainted nails. Waking on the hour to feed. Feeding. Always feeding the hungry….

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March 4, 2016

Podcast: “Captain Blackwell’s Prize” by V.E. Ulett

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, Podcasts

With the beautiful, haunting notes of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello”, author V. E. Ulett introduces the podcast of her novel, Captain Blackwell’s Prize. Set around the turn of the 18th century, it’s the story of an English wooden fighting ship during a period when England, France and Spain were often at war with each other. The author has done a magisterial job of capturing the nuances of speech and sailor slang, as well as the sights and smells and drama and danger from days over 200 years ago. The title is a double entendre: in those times, the word “prize” was used to describe the booty captured during warfare. In Ulett’s story, it refers to a shipment of gold captured from a Spanish ship, but also the capture of a beautiful Spanish lady….

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March 1, 2016

Steve Sangapore’s SciArt Series

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine Art

“The fact that everybody in the world dreams every night ties all mankind together.” – Jack Kerouac Editor’s Note: I met Steve Sangapore at an art opening last year when he was showing one of his pieces (Virtuality) below. What struck me about his work was the complexity of ideas being communicated all at once. My eye would focus on one aspect of it, only to be drawn away a moment later to another section, forcing me to visually zoom in while I pondered its significance. The interconnectedness of all these seemingly disparate parts – some instantly recognizable, others more abstract – was one of the reasons I put a check next to his name on my exhibition notepad. I’d like to mention that two of the pieces – Virtuality and Omneity – are painted…

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February 29, 2016

“Live, Travel, Adventure, Bless, and Don’t Be Sorry” – March Submissions

Posted by Mike Rochester in News

I wanted to quote Jack Kerouac in celebration of his birthday later this month and recalled the photo above (in true Kerouacian form, I wasn’t even standing still long enough for the photo to finish taking). Four years ago, at the Harvard Coop bookstore, I stumbled upon this curious sign. I inquired about it as I purchased a copy of “The Sun Also Rises.” The cashier told me that they had this placard made because so many people were stealing these authors’ books as a tip of the cap to the jobless, anti-capitalism, beat generation writers. The staff had to start keeping those books behind the counter a-la cigarettes and scratch tickets. It seems other bookstores have done the same. Maybe Kerouac’s quote should read: “Live, travel, adventure, bless and don’t pay for books.” *…

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February 28, 2016

“We Have a Particular Relationship with Vowels” The BreakBeat Poets Experience

Posted by Mike Rochester in News

I had no idea what to expect when I decided to attend a poetry reading called “The BreakBeat Poets” at an art gallery. So even though everything that followed was, by definition, “not what I’d expected,” that phrase did little justice to my actual experience. As I entered Uforge Gallery on a balmy Thursday night, I was greeted with the aroma of wine and the sounds of hip-hop music echoing off paintings of men without faces and photographs of women sitting on the floor. A panorama of bodies in motion, buzzing, stretched from wall to wall. The organizers of the event, Papercuts J.P., had a table with the anthology of poems by The BreakBeat Poets and the poets’ individual books for purchase along with tote bags, bookmarks and free wine. I found a singular seat along…

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February 22, 2016

“To Write, To Grow Up” by Rachael Allen

Posted by Mike Rochester in Guest Posts, News

Editor’s Note: Guest Blogger Rachael Allen talks about her experience in Creative Writing Classes. * * * A good creative writing class feels a bit like growing up. You arrive eager and breathy, whipping out efforts that while earnest are lacking. You listen and admire and emulate. You judge and then learn to empathize. You make friends and feel vulnerable and must continually prove yourself. Through these efforts, if you write and write and write, you hopefully come out with a better sense of yourself and a fat folder of writing on your desktop. I started taking creative writing classes in high school, my school luckily being one with the funds and interest to have an arts program. That class didn’t feel like an academic space; rather, it was a space for me and…

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February 22, 2016

50 Ways to Sell Your Writing — #5: Anthologies

Posted by Caitlin in News

Part 5 of a multi-blog series on how many ways there are for writers of all stripes to make a living doing what they love. Check out #1 here on Fictional Cafe, and #4 on my own blog. Anthologies Anthologies are collections of short stories by several authors, compiled by everybody from major publishing houses to simple Kickstarted projects leveraging the fundraising power of multiple authors. As a reader, chances are you’ve discovered at least one of your favorite writers by encountering her first in an anthology of one kind or another. In a lot of ways, writing a story for an anthology is a lot like writing for a magazine. You find out it exists, you pitch the project, and if they accept you they publish your story in a volume along with several…

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February 16, 2016

Podcast: “The Leviathan Chronicles” Episode 3, by Christof Laputka

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, Podcasts

This is the third and last excerpt episode of “The Leviathan Chronicles.” If you like what you’ve heard so far [and we’ve been getting rave reviews from other listeners already!], we encourage you to go to Podiobooks and download the entire podcast. The story [so far] is a total of 26 episodes. It’s an easy download to iTunes, with one caveat: the episodes may download for play in reverse order. This is a shortcoming of iTunes – we’re still trying to find the workaround for this. If you do, please let us know so we can share it with other listeners! A final word: The author, Christof Laputka, clearly spent an immense amount of his own money producing “The Leviathan Chronicles.” Please, please tip him. You’ll be hard pressed getting more enjoyment from your five bucks. And…

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