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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I assure you this is a simple coincidence but as some of you know, I recently returned from a six-month writing sabbatical in France, where I wrote the complete first draft of my latest novel, Anarchy, the third Nathaniel Hawthorne Flowers novel. My head and heart are still in France, so finding a podcast by a French novelist and podcaster might seem like the dog who can’t help but walk into the path of an oncoming car…. In any event, herewith meet Alain Bezançon, a technology entrepreneur by day, a very busy writer by night, and “Call Me.” Although this is a short work – perhaps a novella in print and about 40 minutes of well produced audio – I recommend you pay close attention to the details as you begin listening, for it all comes together at…

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If you’re still hanging in there with our podcast, you’re probably thinking you’re getting close to the end. The happy news is, you are not. There are seventy – yes, 70 – chapters, plus the Prologue and Epilogue, so you have many hours of happy fun ahead of you. Would that we could drop a few clues about what’s going to happen, but we’re not spoilers, and even better, no spoiler alerts. We’re certain that’s the way Patrick would have it. Please click on the arrow below to listen to Chapters 9-12 of “How to Succeed in Evil.” Chapter 9: What Do You Want, Mr. Windsor? Chapter 10: Cassette Girl Chapter 11: Calling Home Chapter 12: Cindi with an “i” The further adventures of the Evil consultant and Excelsior, the Most Powerful Man in the…

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Patrick, the seanachai, continues his engrossing tale in the following four episodes, deepening the story of Edwin Windsor, Evil Efficiency Consultant. You think this guy is fictional? Think again. Every corporation has one, and if they don’t they want one. But as you’ll see, even an Evil Efficiency Consultant has ethics. Just listen to his philosophy of playing golf. You’ll see. And, as you listen further, you’ll get to see Edwin at work. Please click on the arrows below to listen to the four next chapters of “How to Succeed in Evil.” Chapter 5: A Par Four Life Chapter 6: There’s Money, and Then There’s Money Chapter 7: Excelsior on the Beach Chapter 8: A Giant Laser in Space “McLean’s novel is a tongue in cheek investigation of the heroes and villains’ motivations. It’s laugh out loud funny…

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Do you remember the Malaysia Air Flight 370 that disappeared a few years ago? It seems Patrick McLean was prescient – he wrote about a similar disaster-in-the-making which occurred out over the Pacific…or maybe it’s something that happens all the time and we just don’t hear about it. But what we don’t hear about is a superhero named Excelsior [go ahead, Google that word, see what it means] who flies to the plane’s rescue. Or does he? Anyway, this is how this fabulous podcast, read most excellently by the author, kicks off. Over the next three Fridays we’ll post the first twelve episodes, just to make sure you’re hooked. But you probably will be by the time you finish the first one anyway. If you listen to these and just can’t wait to listen to more, please go…

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“Ancestor” is what you might term a serious or sophisticated story. By that I mean it has character development, a complex plot, and a lot of subtlety lying just below the surface of it being an action story. These are good things for a story to have. You may have read novels, or listened to other novel podcasts, where the plot is the thing, and the only thing. Like a Dan Brown novel. So get comfortable, pay attention to Scott Sigler’s more elaborately developed story, and feel yourself become immersed in it. Because you will. And you’ll be glad you did. From Scott: President Gutierrez wants Murray Longworth to take charge of a new government agency specially designed to handle “Special Threats.” However, Murray has some conditions that he needs to have met before he will accept the…

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After that completely daft beginning, you’re probably getting real curious to see why this wacko Chinese genetic engineer is allowed to walk around without a strait jacket on. And you would be right to wonder. If we left you hanging last week, it’s because we didn’t mention something pretty important at the end of the blurb, so here’s the whole thing for you to, ahem, chew on: There’s just one problem: these ancestors turn out not to be the docile herd animals Colding’s team envisioned. Instead, Colding’s work has given birth to something big, something evil. ……AND IT’S VERY, VERY HUNGRY! Scott goes on: Galina Porischova has a clandestine meeting with Paul Fischer. She wants to blow the whistle on Genada’s research. We begin to see exactly how far Genada is willing to go to…

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Scott Sigler is The Man of Podcasting. We can thank Scott because it was he who really got it all started, podcasting novels. His first was “Earthcore,” which is as memorable as when it first came out in 2005. He has been prolific ever since. Today we introduce “Ancestor,” podcast first in 2010. Here’s Scott’s introduction: Every five minutes, a transplant candidate dies while waiting for a heart, a liver, or a kidney. Imagine a technology that could provide those life saving organs for a nominal fee…..and imagine what a company would do to monopolize that technology. On a remote island in the Canadian Arctic, P.J. Colding leads a team of scientists who have discovered this holy grail of medicine. By reverse engineering the genomes of thousands of mammals, Colding’s team has dialed back the…

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