September 20, 2022

The Strong Stuff Volume 2 Coming Soon!

Posted by in News
The Strong Stuff Volume 2 Coming Soon!

Good day café patrons! We’re hard at work putting together the second volume of The Fictional Café anthology, The Strong Stuff: The Best of The Fictional Café. The response from our first book was so positive, we had to brew another. While the first covered the first five years of our best work, this one will cover three years, from 2018-2020. Our second volume of The Strong Stuff will feature about 80 contributors of short stories, novel excerpts, poetry and art. It’s going to be a beautiful coffee table book and we hope you will check it out. Stay tuned for updates on how you can get your hands on a copy, piping hot off the presses! To check out our first volume, visit our Anthology page. — Your Baristas

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September 16, 2022

Harry Strange Radio Drama

Posted by in Audio Arts
Harry Strange Radio Drama

Harry Strange is an award-winning radio drama that tells the tale of a private investigator whose beat takes him into the supernatural. Harry’s adventures bring him face-to-face with demons, succubi, vampires and all manner of ‘unnatural’ and the occasional ‘natural’ evil. Harry is asked to recover some stones by a new client. —————————————————————– Tonight’s episode, Harry Strange 101, Comes a hero, is the first episode of Harry Strange. We are introduced to Lilith and Finny and get a brief glimpse into Harry’s past. Special announcement: Own a piece of Harry Strange history and help out the show by picking up a copy of the season one script book “Harry Strange in The Stones of Solomon” Tonights episode, Harry Strange 102, Teenaged Girls Do the Darnedest Things, was written and directed by Tony Sarrecchia and produced by Breanne…

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September 2, 2022

“Dirt” by Kristopher Kaylala

Posted by in Audio Arts
“Dirt” by Kristopher Kaylala

Welcome back Fiction Cafe Listeners! This week we’re covering “Dirt” by Kristopher Kaylala. A strange letter. An impossible sender. Secrets hidden in the ground. From STUDIO5705, a scripted fiction podcast set in present-day Washington State about a man’s journey to unlock a family mystery—and find things long ago buried. This lunch has taken a weird turn. Dirt – An Audio Drama is a production of STUDIO5705 and is written, directed, and produced by Kristopher Kaiyala. Ch. 1 features Genie Leslie as Kim, Sho Ito as Kenji, Price and Parker Brooking as Kim and Kenji’s kids, and Kristopher Kaiyala as Joseph. An early Halloween gift…you must be joking. Dirt – An Audio Drama is a production of STUDIO5705 and is written, directed, and produced by Kristopher Kaiyala. Ch. 2 features Ila Das as Ila, Cindy Siler…

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August 31, 2022

Martha Clarkson Brings Urban Photography to FC

Posted by in Writing
Martha Clarkson Brings Urban Photography to FC

Artist’s Statement: I photograph in order to apprehend the world in a different way, create a story that has not been told before. It could be any number of things that compel me to take the photo, but I am driven to find the neglected vantage that will facilitate an unexpected story for the beholder, each one a little different. *** Martha Clarkson’s writing and photography can be found in F-Stop, Seattle Review, Portland Review, Black Box Gallery, Tulane Review, Hawaii Pacific Review, The Seattle Times, Feminine Rising, Nimrod, Tipton Poetry Journal, Rattle and many more. “Her Voices, Her Room” won the short story prize from Open City/Anderbo.  She has two notable short stories in Best American Short Stories. Martha attended University of Oregon’s Creative Writing Program, and was a past poetry editor for Word Riot….

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August 29, 2022

African Safari Campfire Stories by Lesley Mukwacha

Posted by in Writing
African Safari Campfire Stories by Lesley Mukwacha

“17 guides and a lioness”  Being the head ranger at a fast-growing game reserve in Zimbabwe, I was assigned the duty to take seventeen young aspiring newly recruited guides and game scouts for a seven-day intense training program in the Victoria falls national park, something I enjoyed and was very good at. Something I was passionate about. I was excited beyond measure.  The seventeen young men were also just as excited as this would be their first such experience and would certainly shape them into remarkable safari guides, tour leaders, game rangers, and anti-poaching scouts. We were all ready to get the show on the road. The company had given us two vehicles for the trip into the heart of the park, a 4×4 22-seater overland truck for the seventeen boys and a 4×4 Land…

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August 25, 2022

“Blue Ridge Autumn,” A Poem by Reed Venrick

Posted by in Writing
“Blue Ridge Autumn,” A Poem by Reed Venrick

“Blue Ridge Autumn” ONE On a cold but sunny afternoon, late autumn, Wendy hurries up a chilly, pine-shaded sidewalk. And as she hurries, she memorizes her favorite poem from that semester’s study and strife; she, sounding out dee-dum, the stresses of iambic rhythm, while inhaling the rich aroma of pine boughs hanging over her ascending walk. After another week of classes, just a few weeks more, at the university across the ridge, but now Wendy hurries on up to her waitressing job at the restaurant and hotel called “The Grove Park Inn,” where Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda dined, where Thomas Wolfe rushed to write—gazing out to Mount Pisgah. Hopkin’s “Spring and Fall,” the sounds stepping inside Wendy’s fresh-air brain, as she recites the lines on an autumn day cold enough to need a woolen sweater,…

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August 19, 2022

“Perfect Retreat” By Fiona Thraille

Posted by in Audio Arts
“Perfect Retreat” By Fiona Thraille

Happy August, presenting “Perfect Retreat” by Fiona Thraille! Dashing Onions Audio creates original audio drama miniseries and one-off plays, focusing on stories with elements of oddness, mythology and the supernatural. PERFECT RETREAT, Episode 1 – Not Here” is written and produced by Fiona ThraillePleas click here for the transcript and further credits.TRIGGER WARNING: Brief mentions of death/grief, depictions of social anxiety and a panic attackCAST In order of appearance Voiceover – Angela Ness The Operator – David AultSam – Erika SandersonSally, the journalist – Wendy LapLavender Bee – Fiona ThrailleCraig – RJ BayleyMaja – Karin HeimdahlJohn – Matthew MacLeanAndy – Robert CudmoreClaire – Wendy Lap. “PERFECT RETREAT, Episode 2 – Not There” is written and produced by Fiona ThraillePlease click here for the transcript and further credits.TRIGGER WARNING: A panic attackCAST In order of appearanceShel – Nathan BladesSam…

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