All posts in Member Writing & Art

February 6, 2025

8 Art Pieces by QQ Yi

Posted by Malik White in Featured Posts, Fine Art, Member Writing & Art

*Curated by Fine Arts Barista, Yucen Yao* We have another set of art pieces this week, this time featuring QQ Yi. It is clear that QQ is a talented artist in many of its mediums: from painting, to writing, and music as well. I hope she shares her work with us again in the future as she continues to grow as a person and an artist. Artist Statement: I enjoy smearing words on your face, just like spreading paint on a canvas. What is medium, truly? It is the essence of mountains, kiwis, books, melodies, winds, birds, dried fragments of skin, dumplings, Sichuan peppercorns, the passing of three birthdays, nocturnal pathways, the inexplicable affection for another, stones, Pat Martino’s guitar riffs, chairs, a light bulb cradled in a pillowcase, the hummingbird outside my window, the…

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January 24, 2025

10 Collage Pieces by Joe Suh

Posted by Malik White in Featured Posts, Fine Art, Member Writing & Art

We have something special for you all on FC this week. Our Arts and Design barista, Yucen Yao, has been working hard since she joined, and we finally have a chance to show some of the work she has curated for us. First up, we have a set of collage pieces by Joe Suh. I especially resonated with Joe’s artist statement because I feel like it embodies what Fictional Café stands to be – a creative space for artists to express and share their passions. I’m happy Joe decided to share his work with us, and I hope he shares more of his creations with us in the future. Artist Statement: My personal practice focuses on the physical and meditative exploration that comes from creating physical collages in a digitally dominated profession. As a contrast…

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January 7, 2025

8 Poems by John Grey

Posted by Malik White in Featured Posts, Member Writing & Art, Writing

*Featured image courtesy of Tama66 on Pixabay* Happy New Year! Let’s kick it off with a wonderful set of poems from longtime FC contributor, John Grey. CAR NERD On his wall, he’s hung a poster of an automobile cutaway. It’s his version of Miss August in a swim-suit. The poster’s so detailed you can see the ball joint, the bushings, tie rod, disc brake rotor, universal joint. The tiny boxes with the arrows are unnecessary. He knows each part by name and function. I’m a book worm. I accept that. But he’s this other kind of worm, hatched in floor pans, fed on exhaust, dressed in STP. And, on his dresser, there’s this photograph of a bright red mustang circa 1965. One loving glance at it and he’s on the highway, foot to the floor, …

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December 9, 2024

“Ashes to Ashes” by Brian O’Dea

Posted by Malik White in Member Writing & Art, Writing

*Featured image courtesy of MiVargof on Pixabay* We start off strong this week with a very unique piece from Brian O’Dea. “Ashes to Ashes” is Brian’s first work on FC, and I sincerely hope he creates another great piece for us to read in the future. Ashley Fetterman When she checked ‘yes’ on the note I slid into her locker, I knew I’d finally found the feeling all the songs and movies promised. Before Christmas break, we were married behind the swing sets in sacred preteen ritual before our teary eyed classmates. Her blue eyes watered as we swore to one another to always share our snacks, to always sit by one another in assembly, and to never let a teacher, principal, or any power pry our hands apart. After just one semester of elementary…

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December 1, 2024

Does Not Want the Hill to Die

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Member Writing & Art, Writing

Featured Image photo courtesy of Mandana-r at en.wikipedia A Short Story by Fereshteh Rostami We’re pleased to introduce a new voice from Iran to our international Coffee Club membership. Fereshteh Rostami’s native language is Persian, but she wrote this transcendent story in English . . . with a little editorial help from her husband. “Does Not Want the Hill to Die” is a very contemporary narrative, yet one which explores some of the oldest and most fundamental issues humans confront: the nature of life, the delicacy of our relationships with other people, and our responsibility to the land on which we live. Does Not Want the Hill to Die Forestgirl knows that she is gnawed bit by bit; not just her, everything, from the time she was a little girl, she knew. That time things…

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November 3, 2024

COUNTRY, CURATORS & CONSTABLE: Political Thoughts & the Fitzwilliam Museum – By Steve Sangapore

Posted by Malik White in Member Writing & Art, Writing

Hampstead Heath | John Constable | 1820 | On Display at the Fitzwilliam Museum Steve Sangapore was recently featured on FC not too long ago, but with Election Day on the horizon for Americans, we felt like we needed to share this excellent piece as well. Like all of Steve’s previous pieces, he sparks a very insightful discussion on an incredibly complex topic. Take a look, and remember to vote if you haven’t already! I am a firm believer in the fundamental message of Dr. Martin Luther King. An individual’s character is the true measure of a human being, not our superficial branding that is a matter of the universe’s roll-of-dice like ethnicity, gender or place of birth. Our virtue, character and morality are what we have the power and freedom to control. Equally, I…

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October 23, 2024

“The Morality of Having Children”

Posted by Malik White in Member Writing & Art, Writing

My Responsibility as a Not-Yet Father, by Steve Sangapore *Featured Image courtesy of Ricky Turner on Unsplash* Steve Sangapore has returned! Steve always comes in with interesting and thought provoking pieces, but I think this is his best one yet. Don’t just take my word for it though, take a look and see for yourself! Birth, school, work, children, death. It’s just… what we do. Or at least what society expects of the average person. I was born, I went to school, and I have a career. So the next giant life milestone in this five-part existence is having children. Over the years I have done a great deal of thinking about the ethics of having children and how I can personally justify it. The central concept I’ve wrestled with most is whether or not…

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September 30, 2024

Introducing Our New Arts & Design Barista!

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Fine Art, Member Writing & Art

We’re very pleased to introduce to you, Coffee Club members, Yucen Yao, our new Fine Arts and Graphic Design Barista. It’s hard enough finding a qualified poet, fiction writer or audio arts barista, but finding a creator with the talent and skills to curate contemporary arts has been the toughest. We’ve had to go without one for several years. Now you can meet her. Yucen was raised in Nanchang, China. She took her bachelor’s degree in visual communication at Guangzhou University. Her parents encouraged her to follow her dreams in the arts, and she came to the United States to earn her master’s degree in graphic design at the prestigious California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita. Her career has rapidly taken off: she’s been interviewed in several LA zines, one saying she is…

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September 18, 2024

Radio . . . What? RadioGAGA!

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, Featured Posts, Interviews, Member Writing & Art, Web Video, Writing

Philip Gabbard returns to Fictional Cafe with a new creative fiction project: a film treatment based upon a very popular song from the 1990s. Phil is a create-preneur of many talents and interests and we’re always interested in his work. He’s written creative nonfiction, THISday: Words for the Venerable and the Vulnerable, and Thrivation: The Everlasting Philosophy of Providence + Privilege. He penned (on his MacBook Pro) Every Saint, Every Sinner, a novel about his spiritual experiences. He produced and directed an extraordinary video based on the life and death of an archetypal Hispanic woman called La Llorona. Phil is beholden to Freddy Mercury and Queen for the inspiration to write about radio. More specifically, the rise and nowadays the fall of radio broadcasting. With the rise of television, its demise was probably inevitable. TV…

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September 16, 2024

Rachel Gonzalez’s New Story

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Member Writing & Art, Writing

Rachel is our Fiction Writer in Residence, and she has written an outstanding new story for us, “Scrappy Metal.” It takes a very contemporary – and ironic – perspective concerning technology and its ever-encroaching desire (read between the lines: AI) to take over our human lives. It’s not only current but it’s also very funny. One of the most enjoyable stories we’ve published. Please let us know what you think of it in the Comments section at the end. Scrappy Metal Photo credit: IRobot.com I crushed another Cheez-It in my hand and sprinkled it on the floor. “God. Would you stop that?” My roommate’s shrill girlfriend, Molly, screeched at me. Although she was always here she didn’t actually pay any bills, so I didn’t have to listen to her. “Hey, I’m just feeding the little…

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