October 14, 2016

Podcast: A Father Reads His Stories to His Daughter

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, Podcasts

Michael Larrain is a poet and novelist whose poetry has appeared before in the Fictional Café. We welcome him back, this time as a storyteller in the Podcast section of the Café. Our October offerings are devoted to three of Michael’s stories, created especially for his darling daughter Wilder Kathleen The Rage of Paris Larrain – yes, that is her real name – which he not only wrote but which he has recorded for her, and our, listening pleasure. The first is entitled “The Girl With The Loom In Her Room.” Click on the arrow to listen. * Michael Larrain was born in Los Angeles in 1947. He is the author of four collections of poems: The Promises Kept in Sleep, Just One Drink for the Diamond Cutter, For One Moment There Was No Queen, and How…

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October 13, 2016

Galerie ZonZon Presents The Fine Art of Isabelle Zutter

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Fine Art

We’re delighted to have Daniele Maguet and her wonderful Galerie ZonZon in Brest, France, as an art partner with the Fictional Café. Every so often, Dany will suggest an artist whose work is going on display at her gallery for us to present here in the Café, and it is our pleasure this month to welcome Isabelle Zutter. She lives and paints in Montpellier, France, which is 10 kilometers inland from the Mediterranean Sea. Although the city has roots back to the 1300s, it is a very hip place, home to three universities and a vibrant community of the arts. Isabelle has shared her artist’s statement with us: “My Mediterranean is in Montpellier, but it might as well be in Athens, Casablanca and Barcelona. The light and contrasts I play with rely on odors, sounds that we share…

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October 12, 2016

The Mystifying Photography of Alyce Underhill

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine Art

Editor’s Note: Alyce shares a little bit about her art. “Art is not just an object… a painting or a sculpture. It is a culmination of human energy, human emotions… joy, grief, hope or hunger… all things that connect us as humans. When these emotions and energy come together as a piece of art or music the ordinary is made special. That is why art becomes an experience between the “creator” and the “experiencer”. A connection is made. We are joined through our humanness. Always striving to infuse my images and music with a quiet power, I invite the experiencer to contemplate, to feel… to make a connection. The act of making something that never existed before is mystifying.” Crow Dance Restless Waters Water Lillies Water Reeds Fox Phantom *…

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October 10, 2016

“Theory of Evolution” by Bob Mustin

Posted by Mike Rochester in Member Writing & Art

“Can you believe how pissed he was?” says Lenore. She holds up a thumb and forefinger. “He came this close to telling us we’d never work in Atlanta again.” It’s opening night, half past midnight, and Morris Champion has just closed Titans. Lenore, Alicia and I are commiserating over coffee and doughnuts in the Buckhead Diner. There’s a clatter from the kitchen, the crowd is loud and boozy, and I’m uncomfortable that we’re shouting. A finger to my lips, I nod in commiseration. “He’ll get over it,” says Alicia, in a surly sotto voce. Her black curls are aquiver, the muscles in her prominent jaw tense. “He’ll remember refunding two weeks of advance tickets, that the Concord is sitting empty. Common sense will strike him dumb, and we’ll be on again.” “I don’t know,” I…

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October 9, 2016

The Poetry of John Grey – A Look at the Modern Male Psyche

Posted by Mike Rochester in Member Writing & Art

DEAD MAN PLUS INDIFFERENCE In the fading light of a city block, a soul’s stretched out on the bed of a second floor tenement, smeared with goo that attracts insects, shiny black things mostly: one that crawls across his lips as if testing his breath for takeoff, another with a wobbly gait like a drunk on a spree that finally drops into his earhole. On all sides – percussive indifference – staircase trampled by incessant feet, room above a cacophony of chair scrapes, apartment below, an interminable coughing fit, outside, traffic noise and the usual sidewalk hoodlums, loud veterans of their own impatience to be richer than their friends in jail. Dead man’s unmoved by the world around him as he is by the tiny creatures clinging to his skin. In better days, he would…

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October 7, 2016

A Ghastly Deluge: October Submissions

Posted by Mike Rochester in News

The month of apple cider donuts and kids in costumes roaming the streets is always a fun time for me. From scary movies to crisp cool air, October is filled with signs, omens, of the impending darkness of winter. Our member contributions this month all have something a little eerie, even sinister, in them. We hope you enjoy our overflowing cornucopia of fiction, poetry, art, photography and video this month. Our first piece of fiction is a short story about a play. Bobby Mustin’s Theory of Evolution follows three people from the fictional play Titans taking heat from a couple who think their production is garbage. John Grey is our featured poet this month, bringing us poems about hell and dead men. You know, in case October wasn’t already Stephen King-y enough for you. Our…

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September 29, 2016

Win Real Coffee in the Fictional Cafe Sticker Contest!!

Posted by Mike Rochester in News

The Fictional Café (not a real café) is teaming up with Café Monte Alto (a real café) for a brand new contest. You may recall we recently came into some very real Fictional Café stickers. Well, you can win real coffee from Café Monte Alto by putting your very real Fictional Café sticker in the most creative place and sending us a picture of it. The person with the best sticker placement will receive an 8oz bag of any blend of coffee from Café Monte Alto and their winning photo will be featured on our website. Four more creative sticker affixers will each receive a 2oz bag of any blend of coffee from Café Monte Alto. To Enter: Simply email us and say you’d like to participate in the FC Sticker Contest and we’ll send you…

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September 16, 2016

Podcast: “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sinclair Lewis, Episode 2

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Book Reviews, Podcasts

Here we continue our September podcast of the Amazon/Audible audiobook, “It Can’t Happen Here,” with thanks to Amazon, Blackstone Audio, Inc. and the excellent narration by Grover Gardner. In this segment we see how Senator “Buzz” Windrip insidiously works toward becoming president from the perspective of Doremus Jessup, editor of a small-town Vermont newspaper. In case you missed last Friday’s first episode, it’s here. If you have any concerns about the sentiment of the American people or their feelings about the current presidential candidates, you owe it to yourself to listen to, or read, this novel. The Audiobooks version is available here on Amazon for a very reasonable price, or free if you take a one-month subscription.

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September 14, 2016

When Ghosts of the City’s Past Linger: A Review of “The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen,” by Simran P. Gupta

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Book Reviews

Editor’s Note: With this book review, we take great pleasure in introducing Simran P. Gupta, a new and talented contributor to Fictional Café. Learn more about Simran at the end of her review. We hope to be seeing a lot more of her writing here at the Café! When Ghosts of the City’s Past Linger: A Review of “The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen,” by Simran P. Gupta Katherine Howe’s YA novel, The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen, is a perfect combination of spooky and romantic. The result is an equally enthralling and chilling story. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that Howe has written a love story in which one half of the equation is a ghost– yet she never says the word. As summer eases into autumn, this is a perfect book to…

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September 13, 2016

Jessica Edouard’s Inspirational Artwork

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine Art

* * * Jessica Edouard is a historical romance novelist from the Pacific Northwest. She created her website, Send Sunshine to “touch as many people as possible with a vision of positivity and squelch our acceptance of negative influence.” You can find more of her writing on her website or at her Etsy shop.

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