December 13, 2019

Revisiting “The Maltese Falcon” – A Special Podcast Performance by Fake Radio

Revisiting “The Maltese Falcon” – A Special Podcast Performance by Fake Radio

This week we feature a very special story and private-eye noir mystery: “The Maltese Falcon,” performed by the cast of Fake Radio with guest Lynne Stewart! While most podcasts and audio productions posted on Fictional Café have scripted and edited content, Fake Radio is one of the brave – and few – that insist on recording all their productions LIVE! The Maltese Falcon is Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel featuring his hard-boiled private eye, Sam Spade. In “old-time radio” plays, actors often were given a script and expected to put on the show for their listeners with very little rehearsal time, often having to improvise their way out of any mistakes. “The Maltese Falcon” has been made into a motion picture four times and several radio and audio adaptations as well. The Fake Radio version is…

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October 30, 2019

“The Hound” for Halloween

“The Hound” for Halloween

Welcome . . . if one chooses to willingly enter into H.P. Lovecraft’s horrific universe . . . to an audio reimagining of “The Hound” by Micah Delhauer. Ruby Fink, FC’s Audio Arts Barista, said of it: “This is a brilliantly done audio performance which totally creeped me out even during the day! I’d recommend putting up a warning, “not for the faint of heart.” So consider yourselves warned. I recommend you turn the lights out, put on your headphones, and immerse yourself in some great audio storytelling. Featured Image credit: “The Hound” by Gou Tanabe, a talented and well known Japanese artist, and illustrator, from his manga book H.P. Lovecraft’s The Hound and Other Stories. Please click on the arrow below to listen to “The Hound.” About the Audio Auteur: Micah Delhauer is a…

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October 18, 2019

Halloween’s A-Coming, But We’re Starting Tonight!

Halloween’s A-Coming, But We’re Starting Tonight!

We’ve received a number of very cool Halloween drama submissions in anticipation of Halloween, so we decided to give you Coffee Clubbers a twofer! The first is tonight, in our regular Saturday night podcast slot, but the second will be published on October 31, Halloween night. Tonight’s story is called “Opferung,” from Lightning Bolt Theater: In the town of Earl Grove, there is a legend. No one will talk about it, except for one night, the night of a total lunar eclipse. But is it merely mass hysteria affecting the town or does she exist, this Sorceress of Blood Moon Hill. “Opferung” was written, directed, produced and stars Krystal Donahue in the roles of Natalie and the Sorceress of Blood Moon Hill. Hey, this is fun! And don’t forget, there’ll be more podcast fun right here on Halloween night at…

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September 14, 2019

“The Brass Lantern,” A Zany New Saturday Night Podcast

“The Brass Lantern,” A Zany New Saturday Night Podcast

The Time: The near future. The place: Beacon City. The Scene: A world where insurance companies own the police and the uninsured have no recourse. The Guy: Matthew Arnold, who fights as The Brass Lantern for those who cannot fight for themselves. Mortal enemy of John Countryman, the wickedest man alive. Elaina Dare, Matt’s fiancée, is the only living person who knows about his dual identity. Blazing guns. LOTS of guns. Nerves of steel. An illuminated mask of brass. Crime has nowhere to hide from this beacon [sic] of justice. Put on those headphones and . . . Click the arrow below to listen to Episode 1, “The Devil’s Diner.” If you’ve enjoyed this first episode, you can listen to all 12 on Apple Podcasts, right here. Our thanks to the multi-talented artist and creator,…

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September 7, 2019

By Popular Demand, Another Penumbra Podcast

By Popular Demand, Another Penumbra Podcast

Here’s another audio arts work from our friends at Penumbra, this one a scary, futuristic drama, Second Citadel: The Battle At World’s End. As the title implies, it’s a gripping tale: Two giants bearing broken swords Stood by a river’s bend Whose water fell straight down to Hell: They battled at World’s End. Listen here to Episode 1. If you like what you’re hearing, be sure to visit the Penumbra website for more episodes, to buy some great swag, and don’t pass up the opportunity to become a supporting member on Patreon for a mere pittance.

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August 17, 2019

“Juno Steel,” A Great New Audio Arts Adventure

“Juno Steel,” A Great New Audio Arts Adventure

We’re delighted to introduce Penumbra Podcasts to Fictional Cafe – especially upon learning we’re all more-or-less Boston creative types. Penumbra is making truly excellent podcasts, or audio arts as we like to call them because that term brings out the multiple dimensions of this work: excellent scripts, high-quality studio recording and mixing, and really delightful foley work (sound effects to you listeners). But let’s hear what the Penumbra people have to say for themselves: “We’ve always loved stories, whether they be science fiction, swashbucklers, high fantasy, horror, or mystery. We grew up passionately reading, watching movies and TV, and playing video games. But eventually we started to notice that a lot of the stories we consumed were the same ones over and over again, and we got tired of it. “Why did every boy and…

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July 13, 2019

Ruby Fink is Our New Associate Editor, Audio Arts

Ruby Fink is Our New Associate Editor, Audio Arts

We’re very pleased to announce Ruby Fink’s promotion to Associate Editor of Audio Arts. Ruby began working with Fictional Café in the fall of 2016. We published her “Mickie McKinney, Boy Detective,” podcast series, which she wrote, directed and managed to get produced by bribing the actors with pizza. “Mickie” ran serially on FC in 2017. Ruby studied Film Production at Chapman University’s Dodge College, with a minor in Narrative and Dramatic Literature. She has her own production company, Faux Fiction Audio, in L.A. We offered Ruby the podcasting baristaship shortly after running the Mickie McKinney series, and since then she has been a major FC contributor and collaborator. She has brought us – and you – audio works from Jack J. Ward’s Electric Vicuna Productions, Kennedy Phillip’s “Magus Elgar,” M. “Josh” Donnelan’s “Six Cold Feet,”…

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June 8, 2019

An Interview with Ana Clements, Voiceover Artist

An Interview with Ana Clements, Voiceover Artist

Creating an audiobook is hard work. Maybe harder than writing, but it’s similar, too, in that the work must go through several revision cycles. You can simply listen to a recording to catch errors, or you can listen and follow along in the manuscript or the book. But neither is a guarantee you’ll catch all of the audio flubs. As with a book manuscript, you’ll need to review it again and again. Believe me. So it wasn’t until I was listening to the sixth audio revision of my latest novel Anarchy that I noticed a particular character’s voiceover just wasn’t quite good enough. The character was Miss Caitlin Dugan in Chapter 7. (By the bye, that chapter is entitled “A Reading at the Fictional Cafe, a doubly fictional coffee house in New York City, which…

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March 30, 2019

“The Maltese Goddess” Part 2

“The Maltese Goddess” Part 2

Saturday Night at the Podcasts As promised, here’s the second episode of ZBS Media’s incredible noir detective opera. If you missed Part 1, you should definitely click back through the slider on our home page and listen to it first. There is one more episode, which will “air” here next week. Or, as we used to say in radio, “same time, same station.” As we did last week, we’re also posting the Introduction as a separate audio file. There’s a technical, not aesthetic, reason for this. Because “The Maltese Goddess” was produced in 3-D sound, these episodes are large files. So large, in fact, that they exceed WordPress’s size limit. But through the miracle of audio editing technology, we were able to separate the intro from the story itself and . . . Voila! Here…

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March 1, 2019

The Weekend Podcast: “Anna Schutz” by Dean Peterson

The Weekend Podcast: “Anna Schutz” by Dean Peterson

We have a terrific new audio arts program for you tonight. It’s the story of an enigmatic young German woman named Anna Schutz and an American GI named Oli, who has a really bad case of depression. Or, in the author’s words: “A white-clad phantom seen running through the woods in Germany . . . a warren of abandoned tunnels under an American base . . . a forgotten clinic once used by the Nazis . . . one soldier’s obsession to solve a fifty-year old murder before his suicidal plans go any further. Listen to the madness unfold in Anna Schutz. “It’s like Jarhead meets The Shining.” We are providing the first six chapters to whet your appetite for this strange, enchanting ghost story, narrated with great empathy by the author. And speaking of the author, please be…

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