We welcome a new podcast to Fictional Café which can hardly be called new. The folks at the  ZBS Foundation have been producing audio/radio stories since 1970, and I’ve been listening to them since those times as well. The brave, intellectual, spiritual adventurer Jack Flanders lives in my memories.  I’ve listened to many ZBS stories and turned many others onto them as well, perhaps notably my son Josh who shares my passion for audio drama. I hope you will too, beginning with a premiere taste of some new stories from ZBS: “Tiny Dreams,” very short pieces which will appear here at the FC every Friday evening in July. I encourage you to visit the ZBS website, where you will find a treasure trove of fun listening. More about ZBS in coming weeks. A Short Introduction to…

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Editor’s Note: Earlier this year, we were delighted to run the entire first season of “Mickie McKinney, Boy Detective,” a podcast written, produced and directed by Ruby Fink and delivered by her incredible Faux Fiction Audio actors. What Ruby and her people have done is extraordinary, creating a story of our times and producing it at the professional level of classic old-time radio dramas. Ruby writes scripts with a real twist: Mickie and his sidekick Sam [Samantha] are middle-schoolers, and their nemesis is the principal. They encounter and set out to solve various mysteries around their school. The Faux Fiction voice actors are terrific, and the sound effects discerning and clever. This is good stuff. We have the first two episodes from Season 2, which we’ll publish this week and next. We’ll publish subsequent episodes…

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From left to right: Violet Faux as Samantha, Lucas Faux as Mickie, Leann Faux as Burner and Writer-Director Ruby Faux.   Here’s the news, Fictional Cafe habitués: Although this is the last episode in the story of the chemistry lab explosion, it’s not the last in the Mickie McKinney story. If you like what you’ve listened to here, please head over to Faux Fiction Audio to listen to more. The next episode is “Brain and Brawn.” This is such a unique theme in today’s podcasting, featuring a teenager in middle school who solves mysteries and problems for his classmates. A tip of the barista hats to Ruby Fink, the series creator, and to all the folks who listened to weekly episodes on her site. They have inspired her to keep going. She and her talented team…

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Mickie’s back in this third, continuing story of the boy detective who solves mysteries at Maple Ridge Middle School in exchange for anything made of sugar. In this episode, Mickie and his sidekick Samantha Hayes (pictured) begin a new investigation: there’s been an explosion in the chemistry lab. Was it a simple accident or something more? The principal  thinks it’s the former, but Mickie, of course, thinks it’s the latter. Enjoy this two-part, skillfully plotted, often humorous and always entertaining story. The second episode comes your way in two days, and more all week. Please click on the arrow below to listen to Mickie McKinney, Part III.  

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Do you remember your days in high school? Well, we do too, even though we didn’t have our own private eye running up and down the halls. This week, we continue the adventures of Mickie as he cleverly and humorously solves case after case for his fellow students. Further adventures await in the weeks to come, and next week we’ll have a very special treat for you – in addition to the latest shenanigans of our boy detective. Please click on the arrow below to listen to Episode 2 of “Mickie McKinney, Boy Detective.”   Mickie McKinney is the brainchild of Ruby Fink, who wrote the story and developed this unique, original and exceedingly well produced podcast series. Ruby studied Film Production at Chapman University’s Dodge College, with a minor in Narrative and Dramatic Literature….

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Today and throughout every Friday in March, we’re excited to present you with a new original series podcast, “Mickie McKinney, Boy Detective.” We think you’ll be delighted, listening to these episodes, which are performed by the cast of Faux Fiction Audio and directed and produced by Ruby Fink. It’s been quite a while since we’ve published podcasts with such high production values. This is a very original and entertaining series about Mickie, a high-school lad with Sherlock Holmes’ powers of deduction, and his sidekick, Samantha Hayes. You’ll learn more about how all of this came to be and who the performers are in coming weeks, but for now, let’s listen to Episode 1! Please click on the arrow below to listen to Episode 1 of “Mickie McKinney, Boy Detective.”   Faux Fiction Producer, Writer, Director and Editor Ruby…

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A long time ago, in a California far far away [OK, that’s not working so well, but…] Anyway, In 1940, the famous science-fiction author Robert A. Heinlein wrote a story about a time in the future when people stood on high-powered conveyor belts to get from place to place. This is a story about a more ecologically responsible form of transport, but Heinlein spices it up with a bit of terrorism, so he’s way ahead of the social curve on two counts. First published in John W. Campbell’s Astounding Science Fiction magazine, here is “The Roads Must Roll.” I might add this waas one of my favorite short stories to read when I was a lad. Please click on the arrow below to listen to the podcast.

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