November 4, 2015

New Podcasts: Sample James D. Best’s “Murder at Thumb Butte”

Posted by Mike Rochester in Audio Arts, Podcasts

Editor’s Note: Back in 2014, we published an excerpt from James D. Best’s novel Jenny’s Revenge, the story of a jilted lover out for blood… literally. A seasoned writer, James has made his foray into audio books, and as big proponents of this ever-growing method of experiencing literature, we are excited to share a few chapters from another of his installments in the Steve Dancy novels: Murder at Thumb Butte. Without further ado, here are a few snippets from Best’s scoundrels and scalawags of the old west. * * * Murder at Thumb Butte Chapter 1: Chapter 13: Chapter 22: *** James D. Best is an accomplished writer of western tales, most notably his Steve Dancy novels: The Shopkeeper, Leadville, Murder at Thumb Butte, The Return and Jenny’s Revenge. He blogs about…

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November 2, 2015

Erica Nazzaro’s Technicolor World

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine Art

Editor’s Note: We met Erica Nazzaro at an art exhibition this fall. Her mixed media watercolor paintings of scenes in the forest and by the water instantly grabbed us because of the way the colors popped and played with each other. We needed to see more. If you’d like to see more, Erica has two exhibits opening this week and two more next month: November 7th and 8th at Roslindale Open Studios, 141 Aldrich St. in Roslindale, MA November 6th-29th in the “Abstracted” exhibition at Uforge Gallery, 767 Centre St. in Jamaica Plain, MA with an opening night reception at 6pm November 6th. December 4th from 6:00-10:00PM: ART 100 BOSTON at Piano Craft Gallery, 793 Tremont St, Boston December 5th and 6th from 12:00-5:00PM: Pop Up Holiday Shop at Loring Greenough House, 12 South, St. Jamaica…

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November 1, 2015

Where There’s Art, There’s Life: November Submissions

Posted by Mike Rochester in News

Sometimes, we find art in the strangest of places, like in an overturned driveway marker. Other times, we find art right where we are looking for it, like at an art exhibition. In either case, it’s in those quiet, fleeting, open-minded moments that we see the depth of beauty in the world around us. This month, we invite our readers to take a moment to acknowledge the art in their lives – whether it’s on a walk through the neighborhood or on a trip to the museum. For a little inspiration, we offer you our November Submissions. This month, we’ve got submissions from a new acquaintance, an old friend and an FC regular. First up, we have Erica Nazzaro’s hauntingly evocative mixed media art. She paints scenes that bring abstraction and reality together to create…

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October 15, 2015

Woodsybug Guitar Art

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine Art

Here at the Fictional Café we pride ourselves on publishing talented artists who create fun and unique works of art. The first time I saw Nicole Beauchaine’s guitar art, I knew we just had to get her work on the Fictional Café. Further perusal of her website revealed that she’s talented in many artistic areas including illustration and stop motion. A truly creative person, we are excited to bring you her guitar art. These violins were painted and carved into wall-mountable lamps Artistic, musical, practical: Guitar shelf Decorative guitar art Carved back of another guitar lamp Day of the Dead guitar art Like what you’ve seen so far? If so, go check out Nicole’s Halloween-inspired guitars at her current exhibit in spooky Salem, MA at the Howling Wolf Taqueria. Here are just a few…

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October 5, 2015

The Sweetly Evocative Poetry of Suman Chatterjee

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Member Writing & Art

Editor’s Note: When I first read Suman Chatterjee’s poetry, I felt swept up in the scents and sensuous evocations of Omar Khayyám, even to the similarities in the ruba’i stanzas. These are short poems, sometimes romantic, often charming, ever flowing from a kind heart and a fleeting thought which the poet took the time to remember and craft in verse. Take a few moments to savor each of them. * * * A Beautiful Mind A thousand oceans and seven seas, Among blue, green and red, Species known, Unknown traversed I, in depths unseen, Free-floating in an infinity, With stars that bear in time, Back and forth, and back, Of life, light and wisdom: The colorful canvass of Gold, The scribbles of Old, The secret they hold, leading, The way towards freedom and…

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September 30, 2015

International Podcast Day is Today!

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, News, Podcasts

If you don’t know a lot about podcasting, today is the day you can learn more at International Podcast Day! This one snuck right up on me, even though I just delivered a presentation last Saturday at the Independent Publishers of New England conference on the subject. I love podcasting. It’s a technology which gives readers a chance to listen to works of interest on their phones, in their cars, while jogging or bicycling – whenever and wherever they want. That’s why you’ll see my novels podcast right here on Fictional Café. Very soon you’ll be seeing many other podcasting offerings here from other artists as well. So jump over to learn more about podcasting at International Podcast Day, join the conversation at Blab, and check out our offerings here at the Café, too! Jack

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September 29, 2015

Harvest Time: October Submissions

Posted by Mike Rochester in News

Summer’s bounty is autumn’s benefit. Rather than pickling our harvest, we decided to throw a feast. Without further ado, we give you five courses of October Submissions. Last week, we published three novel excerpts as an appetizer for an event that featured Fictional Café members reading from their novels. We’d like to thank our authors for their work and congratulate them on their reading. We hope you will take a gander if you haven’t already and check out their books if you like what you see. For our main course, we will be featuring an artist whose unique take on art has produced some fabulous sculpture pieces. Woodsybug creates shelves, lamps and art using the guitar as the canvas. The Fictional Café is excited to showcase these guitars from an up-and-coming artist with a very…

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September 28, 2015

Announcing Our New Head Barista, Mike Mavilia

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in News

Few activities give me more pleasure than helping bring someone into the publishing business, and the story of Mike Mavilia is no exception. Mike is a Bowdoin College graduate, but more importantly a smart, literate young man with discerning thoughts and opinions about writing and publishing and, perhaps most importantly, a keen attention to detail. With a background like that, how could I not want to get him involved in Fictional Café? He took to it like a duck to water and has brought a great many improvements to this, our not-for-profit, totally for-pleasure, arts site. Mike began working at FC with Jason and me about a year ago, and has taken the reins with such gusto that I decided he needed to be acknowledged to our member audience and everyone else who reads and views…

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September 27, 2015

Novel Excerpt: “White Bike” by Jack B. Rochester

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Member Writing & Art

Editor’s Note: Jack is one of the four authors reading tonight, Monday, September 28, at an event in his home town, Lexington, Massachusetts, called “Spellbinding Stories: Four Local Authors Read From Their Novels.” Jack will be be joined by Peter David Shapiro and X.J. “Joe” Kennedy. The reading will be held at the First Parish Unitarian Church, 7 Harrington Road, Lexington, and starts at 7PM. Readings will be followed by a discussion of writing and publishing. Refreshments will be served. White Bike is a novel based upon a real incident and a growing problem in America: People on bicycles getting run over by motor vehicles. Across the country, an anonymous group that calls itself “Ghost Bike” leaves a white bike at the scene of accidents which take the life of a bicyclist. As the novel opens, four close friends and owners of…

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September 23, 2015

Novel Excerpt: “Ghosts on the Red Line” by Peter David Shapiro

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Member Writing & Art

Editor’s Note: Peter David Shapiro has entertained the Fictional Café habitués on several earlier occasions, for a simple reason: he is a prolific author with three novels to his credit. Debuting now is his first novel, Ghosts on the Red Line. It was followed by The Trail of Money and most recently Portrait of Ignatius Jones. Peter’s books are available in Boston area bookstores and on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback formats. An innovative author, Peter has made Ghosts available as an audiobook/podcast as well. Peter is an innovator in another important way. It’s sometimes said an author writes the same book over and over, but this is definitely not the case with Peter’s novels. Each is distinctly different in subject matter: ghosts in the subway tunnels; crooked financiers laundering money in Hong Kong; an ignominious psychic out to fleece old…

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