As promised, here is the “Magus Elgar” contest with real prizes you can win! It’s a simple contest which only requires your having listened – or listening once again – to identify a character’s name. And that character is . . . [drum roll] . . . THE DRAGON! The first Coffee Club member to correctly identify the dragon’s name will win an advance copy of the “Magus Elgar” soundtrack CD <<< and a Fictional Café baseball hat >>> plus some other swag we haven’t quite worked out yet. But it’ll be good stuff, and you’ll want it! This contest is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. If you loved the first three episodes of “Magus Elgar,” and you love Fictional Café, you definitely want to get into this contest! …
Congratulations to Artist Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord!
Fictional Cafe member and former featured artist Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord has an exhibition in Boston at the beautiful Arnold Arboretum Hunnewell Building Visitor Center through July 22nd. Her Spirit Books combine the aesthetics of the natural world with the art of bookmaking. Susan displays these beautifully and spiritually powerful books all across the country. Susan was also recently interviewed on WGBH, the local PBS station in Boston, about her work and its meaning to her. Listen to her on the WGBH “Arts This Week” feature to learn more. You can follow Susan’s work on her website as well on Instagram.
Barista Rachael Allen Moves on to The Atlantic
Our congratulations to Rachael Allen on her graduation from Bowdoin College and her new job as an Editorial Fellow at The Atlantic, one of the best, most respected American magazines. The Atlantic Monthly was co-founded by Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson in Boston in 1857. Rachael will be hanging up her barista hat to take this great stepping-stone into her burgeoning writing career, moving to Washington, D.C., to work on The Atlantic print magazine, fact checking, copy editing, pitching stories, and more. We are going to miss her smiling countenance, superb writing, and knowing we would get every assignment from her on deadline. Rachael has been a Fictional Café contributor since her sophomore year in college, writing engaging pieces on the challenging world of English majors in college, the difficulty finding creative time in this busy…
Philip Roth, 1933-2018
“No two words are more precious to a writer than, ‘You’re free.’” – Philip Roth The Ghost Writer (1979) Zuckerman Unbound (1981) The Anatomy Lesson (1983) The Prague Orgy (1985) The Counterlife (1986) American Pastoral (1997) I Married a Communist (1998) The Human Stain (2000) Exit Ghost (2007) Novotny’s Pain (1980), published by Sylvester & Orphanos The Facts: A Novelist’s Autobiography (1988) Deception: A Novel (1990) Patrimony: A True Story (1991) Operation Shylock: A Confession (1993) The Plot Against America (2004) The Breast (1972) The Professor of Desire (1977) The Dying Animal (2001) Everyman (2006) Indignation (2008) The Humbling (2009) Nemesis (2010) Goodbye, Columbus (1959) Letting Go (1962) When She Was Good (1967) Portnoy’s Complaint (1969) Our Gang (1971) The Great American Novel (1973) My Life as a Man (1974) Sabbath’s Theater (1995)
An Interview with Author Mark Greenside
Mark Greenside is the author of an intense short-story collection, a forthcoming novella, and two funny and fascinating works of creative nonfiction about an American living in France. This interview was conducted for Fictional Cafe’s 5th birthday party on May 22, 2018.