March 6, 2023

“The Painter’s Butterfly” – A Novel

“The Painter’s Butterfly” – A Novel

A mystical adventure by Rebecca Weber I love butterflies. My mother-in-law absolutely adored butterflies, so when we published the 2-disc CD of her musical works, a butterfly was the cover image. We have a big hand-painted Talavera pottery butterfly adorning our home. Last year, we published an excerpt from Sara Dykman’s book, Bicycling with Butterflies adventure with the monarch butterfly migration here at FC. So yeah, we like butterflies, including those in this youth novel, and we hope you will, too. This is Rebecca’s first novel! ** from Chapter 3 Chapter Three First Impressions Nova swiftly opened the white wooden door and a happy silver bell chimed out to say hello. Inside the place was cozy and welcoming, and her head pivoted around like a swivel chair as she took it all in. There were…

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February 16, 2023

“The Sixty-Five Percent”

“The Sixty-Five Percent”

An Excerpt From Derrick Lafayette’s Kaleidoscope: Dark Tales We continue to celebrate the publication this new collection of stories by Derrick R. Lafayette, published this week by Fictional Cafe Press. It’s five short works and a novella, each as different and original and evocative as can be. You’ve never read anything quite like these – well, a close perhaps if you’ve read Robert Coover. Here is an excerpt from Derrick’s story, “The Sixty-Five Percent” to tantalize you into buying a copy of his book – which we’ll be announcing at any moment. Come on, Ingram, Come on, Amazon, let’s go! “It’s filthy down here,” Abbot complained, hunching his body into the sewer pipe. A rivulet of brown water soaked his socks. Insects of unknown origin slithered above him. He adjusted his lab coat, pulled up…

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February 14, 2023

“Kaleidoscope: Dark Tales” by Derrick R. Lafayette

“Kaleidoscope: Dark Tales” by Derrick R. Lafayette

Just Published: A Provocative Short Story Collection by Our Own Writer-in-Residence It’s Valentine’s Day and Publication Day for Kaleidoscope: Dark Tales, Derrick R. Lafayette’s newest book. AND we’re excited to anounce Kaleidoscope as our first Fictional Café Press book of 2023. Derrick is a prolific writer who was our Fiction Writer-in-Residence for 2021-2022. He’s had several works published here at the Café, which you can read here. (Several are included in his collection but others are exclusive FC publications.) As the French author Marcel Proust once remarked, the mind evokes endlessly changing thought patterns, much like a kaleidoscope. And so reading Derrick R. Lafayette’s Kaleidoscope: Dark Tales, a genuinely extraordinary collection of five short stories and a novella, is like seeing the world anew through bits of colored glass. Here’s a preview. What if . ….

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January 10, 2023

Writer-in-Residence Rachel Gonzalez

Writer-in-Residence Rachel Gonzalez

I’m thrilled and proud to be the latest Writer-in-Residence for The Fictional Café. Writing is how I process the world, it’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. And I’ve done everything I can to make sure that my life is absolutely saturated in stories. My publications include “The Baptism of an Atheist” for The Bitchin’ Kitsch and winner of the Samuel LaRue Finley Humorous Writing contest; “Hey, You Know What We Should Do?” for The Tunnels; and “Little Black Dress” and “Collegiate Correspondents” for Fictional Café. “Collegiate Correspondents” once again won the Samuel LaRue Finley Humorous Writing contest. Today I work in a public library and am pursuing a Masters in English Lit to become a professor and engage with young adults who were just like me in college. When I’m not writing and…

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November 10, 2022

FC Sponsors IPNE Conference and Offers a Deal

FC Sponsors IPNE Conference and Offers a Deal

The Fictional Café is sponsoring the annual Independent Publishers of New England Publishers & Authors Conference. In its 11th year, the conference will boast many familiar names from the publishing industry. As a sponsor, we are exited to offer our members free access to this virtual conference (via Zoom). If you are already a member of IPNE, that’s a savings of $75 and for everyone else, a savings of $100. We hope you take advantage of this opportunity to learn from experts in the field over the course of two days, November 18th and 19th. To register, click this link. Choose the “VIP Conference Access” option and enter the code VIP2022. We just ask that you not share this code beyond FC members. Details about the conference can be found on the IPNE website, including…

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