September 22, 2020

“Counseling” — A Short Story by Yash Seyedbagheri

Go see a counselor, classmates proclaim, when I ask for company. Friendship. “It’ll help,” the ringleader of the pro-counseling legion proclaims. Her name is Betty Brown, she wears huge glasses, and I suspect she has a few fucking issues of her own. “It’ll help you get balance. You’ll find peace in your life, Nick.” Balance? What the fuck? I want a friend. I want a fucking friend. As if counselors can compensate for the vast spaces between me and people, the empty rooms at night, the excessive time spent with Netflix and its soothing red glow. Can counselors make people respond to the emails I send? Are they punishing me for bluntness unmasked? Counselors are just as fucked up, truth be told. They’re people who disguise sorrows beneath diagnoses and cold recommendations. Take this pill. Get more exercise. I’d like a friend. That’s what every email I send…

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September 20, 2020

“Frank Olson” — The Poetry of Charles Rammelkamp

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

Frank Olson “Webber,” my editor barked when I walked into the office that day just after Thanksgiving, 1953. “I want you to look into this story about the CIA guy who jumped out of the tenth floor window at the Statler, on Seventh Avenue. Why did he do it? Could he have been he pushed?” My beat? CIA, MK-ULTRA, “mind-control” drugs. Brainwashing. I knew about Frank Olson already; worked at Camp Dietrich in Maryland, Special Ops, an aerosol expert, his specialty “airborne distribution of biological germs.” Worked on Operation Sea Spray a couple year earlier, where they released a dust that floated like anthrax, near San Francisco. At Dietrich, he directed experiments that involved gassing and poisoning lab animals. “I’ll look right into it, sir,” already booking a flight and hotel in my mind, thinking,…

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September 18, 2020

“Juno Steel and the Prince of Mars”

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts

Hello, Fictional Cafe Listeners! Penumbra Podcast is back again! Because you all seemed to enjoy it so much last time, we’re bringing you another story of that eccentric man from the future…who also seems stuck in the past. This time: Juno Steel and the Prince of Mars. If everyone is ready, we’re going to follow Juno Steel, a brooding, sharp-witted private eye on Mars, as he tangles with an elusive homme fatale, tracks dangerous artifacts of an ancient alien civilization, and faces his three greatest fears: heights, blood, and relationships. Juno Steel and the Prince of Mars (Pt. 1) http://www.thepenumbrapodcast.com/s1e4-juno-steel-and-the-prince-of-mars-p1 After an explosive murder case gone wrong, Detective Juno Steel is in the market for some slower work. His next client promises something quiet: a routine find-the-cheating-husband job. Well… it should be routine. Should be, being…

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September 15, 2020

“On Waking Up and Strong Desires,” by Kelly Burke

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

It is Saturday morning. I woke up with a strong desire to get a haircut. On my laptop I look up local salons to read reviews and compare ratings. I find one that looks promising. It has 4.9 stars and a recent client named Beatrice wrote that the stylists are warm and helpful people. Everything on the website is written in a romantic cursive font like a wedding invitation. I book an appointment for noon. I type out my name, email address, and phone number. Before submitting the form, it asks me to select the length of my hair, long or short. There is no option for medium or other. It makes me wince a bit. Then I begin contemplating the most accurate way to describe the length of my hair. I think about how…

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September 13, 2020

“Leap of Faith” — An Ekphrasis Poem by Mark Blickley

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

Image by Mark Blickley Leap of Faith I’m a dead frog and I don’t say this with any pity or understanding or shame, it’s just an observation that people seem to like us, like us a bit too much because they like to push hooks through our jaws and cast us out to sea, as well as amputate us for fine dining and draw us as a cartoon shuffling cigar smoking smart ass, and they like to blame us when they choke on the phlegm in their throats, and they swear that some of us give them hideous skin infections while the evil ones enjoy tossing us into their steamy potions as the younger ones imitate us with a game of leaps and crashes, perhaps because we abandon our young and we larger ones like to…

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September 10, 2020

What “God” Is: A Philosophical-Scientific Essay by Steve Sangapore

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine Art

Pictured Above:LIBERATION72″ x 48″ x 1.5″Oil, mirror, and 24k gold leaf on canvas2020 What God Is (WITHOUT THE WOO WOO) Why God is the Pursuit of Meaning The evolution of the concept of God is one of the oldest, deepest and most important developments to ever have risen out of the human psyche. Throughout almost every culture on Earth we have seen evidence of belief in the divine. The idea of God or a creating force has evolved from the earliest known manifestations represented as human-animal hybrids, to pantheons of intervening superhuman gods, to God as man made flesh on Earth, to more contemporary notions of God as the totality of the universe and its contents. Humans in their desire for answers to life’s most pressing questions have creatively reimagined and transformed God over the…

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September 8, 2020

“Danger in Plain Sight,” a Novel by Burt Weissbourd

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Writing

Editor’s Note: We’re pleased to be publishing an excerpt from Burt Weissbourd’s fifth novel here at the Café. Burt is a strong writer with a background in Hollywood movies, and it shows in Danger in Plain Sight. It’s tough, it’s suspenseful and it has strong forward movement like a good Mickey Spillane novel. This is Burt’s first Callie James thriller, which climbs aboard the Weissbourd novel train behind three Corey Logan works and one non-serial novel set in Wyoming’s Yellowstone Park. In this opening scene, we find Callie James working in her restaurant when her ex-husband Daniel shows up unexpectedly. If you like Danger in Plain Sight, you’ll probably be clicking away to get some more on Amazon. The following excerpt is drawn from the first two chapters, so let’s get to it! Chapter One…

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September 6, 2020

“Yodeling in the City” A Short Story by Marc Littman

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

“No more yodeling, John, I can’t stand it!” Joan clutched her ears like she was clinging to a stout tree in a hurricane. I peered at my wife’s pained visage, a face that after 40 years I no longer tried to spare any torment, and shrugged. “Maybe I’m calling out to you, if only you could hear.” “Like I’m a fat cow in the Alps and you’re a shepherd?!” Joan cried. “We live in New York, John. People don’t yodel in the city.” Peering through our expansive windows at a Matterhorn of concrete, I started to warble but stifled the urge. Taking a different tack, I pivoted to confront Joan. “Elmer does.” “Elmer’s a peasant, he belongs in the Alps. He and Julie Andrews can sing their hearts out!” Joan volleyed back. I took a hit but stood my ground. “Yodeling is more than singing, Joan. The subtle pitches and measured breathing, it calms me, and it reminds me of our younger days. Remember when we used to…

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September 4, 2020

“Another Shade of Crime” A Podcast by James Hayes

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts

How does a man survive 80 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit? What’s the true story about Hurricane Katrina? Why did 9-year-old Asha Degree pack a bag in the middle of a stormy night and disappear? And how did serial killer Samuel Little kill 80 people without the police finding out? These are the stories you won’t find on other podcasts. The stories that often go unnoticed. The victims that are lost to time. Producer and Writer James Hayes, Sound Engineer and Co-Producer Liam O’Brien, and Host Carl Ellis Grant will answer these questions in Another Shade of Crime. A monthly true-crime podcast about crimes committed to and by people of color. Because crime does not discriminate. Episode 1: This is a story about the 1976 trial of Ronnie Long for burglary…

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September 1, 2020

Bill Wolak — Collage Art as a Mirror Image

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine Art

Image Pictured Above: “When Summer Unlocked All the Doors” The joy of collage is finding the endless connections between seemingly unrelated things. In some collages, the juxtaposition of ordinary with the delirious diversity of dream imagery forces the mind to make contact with the marvelous. Each collage is an invitation to view the world differently. What is most unexpected suddenly becomes as familiar as an old friend’s favorite song. I make collages out of all kinds of materials. Most are made out of paper engravings. Many collages are digitally generated or enhanced. To begin a piece, I select some sources—either color or black and white. If I’m using magazines or prints or old books, I cut out some images or parts of images that interest me. Then I start working on a background or some other sort of chance construction. Much is left to fleeting insights. …

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