Kids at the Café?! Yep! Next week, we are bringing you a full issue of children’s literature featuring short stories, poetry, art and narrative for and about kids. We are very excited for this issue, which was put together by some of our very own Fictional Café members. They worked hard for months on this issue, so we are happy to be putting it out just in time for summer vacation. So pull up a carpet square and grab a juice box; it’s story time! On a historical note: with this issue, we are marking a new milestone at the Fictional Café. Our purpose in running this site is to bring people together from all walks of life – whether they are on a different continent, in a different age bracket or of a different…

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Last week, I posted a teaser of our featured work for June. We continue with the idea of vulnerability this month, as our submissions focus on communication. Whether it is the basic act of trying to interact with another human being or looking to the depths of our souls and expressing who we are, communication is a fundamental component of humanity and one which we perhaps take for granted. Our fiction this month comes from William Torphy, who has written two pieces of flash fiction about telephones – our lifelines to connection and communication. What can the telephone teach us about the mystery of who is really on the other end of the call and what happens when our cell phone batteries die? Stay tuned to find out. Hannah Carmack uses her poetry to convey…

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This month we reminisce about those times – some long ago, some close in our minds – that make us smile. May takes me back to my sister’s birthday and family get togethers. It takes me back to three generations of moms on Mothers Day – my grandmother, my mom and my sister. I don’t think I’ll ever buy so many flowers and Hallmark cards as I did then. We also look ahead at what’s to come. May is the month of college graduations and the beginning of a young person’s foray into “the real world.” As a former college employee, I loved seeing their bright, wide-eyed faces as they began their next stage of life. It also marks that turning point when the last breath of winter is extinguished and spring fully envelops us…

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Good morning Café patrons! The great folks at Authors Publish magazine have written a review of our community of creative folks. You can read it here. Authors Publish is a FREE resource that connects writers to publishers, literary magazines, articles on writing craft and a litany of other resources. Please join us in thanking Caitlin Jans, Ella Peary and Jacob Jans by checking out their site and their Facebook page (they have great writing prompts there). So pour yourself a nice big mug of joe and take a look at what they have to offer. — Your Baristas  

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