August 4, 2022

“I’ll Have Water Overnice,” by Kaeli Dinh

I’ll have water overnice Freedom was getting to sleep over at our uncle’s. Fridays consisted of squirting ketchup into our waters and Saturdays with blankets over our eyes from the late-night horror films. We were three spoiled children that slept with sugar running through our veins and nightmares we didn’t tell our mother. Then the pencil marks on the wall got higher and our hands started to grab more. But uncle was still squirting ketchup into his water. Freedom was forgetting to answer his calls and taking cash out of the birthday cards he made. Keeping us healthy costs more than his insulin shots. But his hand kept feeding until he lost his sight. He was fooled humbling himself a Giving Tree. We took his only good apples and now his eyes. When he wanted…

Continue reading →

August 2, 2022

“Art as Comic Expression,” by David Meyers

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine Art

Artist’s Statement:In my artwork I am interested in the boundary between lowbrow and highbrow culture, the semiotics of visual language and revisionist mythology. Emerging from a sardonic mire of humor, I look toward finding wonder in the mundane surroundings, a created narrative and a hair-brained idea somewhere between smart, silly and stupid. I love the visual language, the history and conversation that art creates, silly jokes, overthinking, under thinking and the dialogue in-between. I make the work that I want to see in the world. Art isn’t always about high notions of beauty and what ails the world, it can be about the screws in your pocket, about drinking a beer, about sitting in your underwear, about a piece of trash at the beach. Art’s power is its endurance, and I find it best fitting…

Continue reading →

July 28, 2022

“Algorithms and Lies,” A Short Story by Dave Swan

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

Mick Sanford stared at the screen, blinked, and shook his head, thinking his editor had lost her millennial mind. She’d just sent an email telling him to submit his new manuscript, “Murder By Desire,” for review—not by her, but by some artificial intelligence bot. Unbelievable. Muttering about the young punks wrecking the business, he started his video meeting app. “Good afternoon, Mick,” Lindsey Parrish said pleasantly a minute later. “I thought I might hear from you today.” She was going to hear plenty. “You’ve got to be kidding me. What the hell is this?” “The principle is really no different from spellcheck,” Lindsey said, unruffled. “It gives us metrics that affect the quality of the story. I’m not saying I’ll accept all of Max’s advice—” “Who?” “That’s what the bot is called. A lot of…

Continue reading →

July 26, 2022

“Spare Parts,” Poetry PLAGIARIZED by John Kucera

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

Editor’s Note, January 26, 2024: We published this post in July of 2022. It has recently come to our attention that at least one of the poems was plagiarized. Thank you to Tara Campbell for alerting us to this literary swindler. We are leaving this post up, minus the poetry, so Google searches will still lead here and people can learn the truth. Our apologies to John Compton, who is the original author of the plagiarized work. Check out his poems here. John Kucera (a pen name for John Siepkes) has made a name for himself by stealing others’ poems and it is well documented. Below are just a few links for anyone who wants to hear more about his shameful acts of passing off stolen work as his own. We hope that you will…

Continue reading →

July 22, 2022

“Poirot Investigates”by Sleep Cove

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts

Good Evening, Fictional Cafe Listeners, In an effort to find stories to help me fall asleep, I ran into “Poirot Investigates” by Sleep Cove. I have always been a huge fan of Agatha Christie, while the soothing music and voice of the narrator, Christopher Fitton, is very helpful for slipping into the arms of Morpheus. (Not the guy from The Matrix, the god of Sleep.) Warning: Please make sure you are comfortably seated or lying down before you listen! First Up, is Poirot and the Adventure of the Flat. Hastings is at a friend’s house with several other people when the talk turns to flats and houses. Mrs Robinson tells the party how she and her husband have managed to obtain a flat in Knightsbridge for a very attractive price. Poirot is interested and decides to investigate. …

Continue reading →

July 14, 2022

“What You Said About Me,” Poetry by Eric Forsbergh

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

What You Said About Me The first two sips of beer are the best, you tease good-naturedly as we huddle on a second date -the dark eddy of a railway station bar. First, foam annoys the upper lip. Then bubbles bristle in the throat. On brew, the stomach bloats. But, oh, those first two draughts. A river of passengers flows past, head-on toward destinations, delays, side-tracks, cancellations. How we like to overlay our futures onto those of passersby, guessing at their plunges into rapids, cascades, often jutting rocks, hoping for a pool of calm. How are they a match? you laugh. A season on, and now you banter with me smilingly. Maybe this is more like wine, slow to unfold complexity in the us we’re tasting every day. ** Pursuit of Food The sea breathes…

Continue reading →

July 11, 2022

“Beauty and the Gym” by Colton Vandermade

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

The gym is for the apartment complex. A majority of the gym’s population includes moms reaching back towards their fitter past and young childless men who will one day give up on fitness altogether once they begin their own child rearing. On a given Wednesday afternoon, the random assortment of moms and bros fills the small space. Moms on ellipticals and bros on the weights. Everyone has headphones in, everyone in the same room, but everyone’s individual music tastes transport them to immensely varying experiences. That is, until a mother of three and soon to be four cries out in alarm. A small puddle forms at her feet and she knows immediately that she is going to be a mother of four a whole lot sooner than she expected. The cry draws the attention of…

Continue reading →

July 8, 2022

Chilling Tales for Dark Nights Audio Tales

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts

Good Afternoon Fictional Cafe Listeners! While looking for new audio content, I came across these little gems hiding with the rest of its creepy campfire stories. Little Danny Watkin’s curiosity is not satisfied about a strange forest adjacent to his house. On Christmas day, he ventures in at his own doing to see what is lurking in it. He is in for two surprises. He stumbles in. Will he return? Chilling Tales for Dark Nights produces all-original horror audio content. Everything we produce features custom professional voice acting, music and/or sound effects. All stories featured are either written by our staff writing team or performed and adapted with the kind permission of their respective authors. This video features disturbing true scary stories to tell in the dark, or creepy fictional horror stories. People listen for…

Continue reading →

July 6, 2022

Student Poetry by Anai Gonzalez

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

my hoodie reeks of depression it has food stains and maybe tear stains too my scalp flakes from excessive stress regardless of how often i shower my hair isn’t even as beautiful as it used to be it doesn’t shine anymore and i’m losing handfuls of it and of course, my mother is right beside me to remind me of all this my smile is shadowed by my saddened eyes needless to say, it’s faker than ever these days my body isn’t anywhere as fit as it was just months ago i’m losing all my muscle fat, i don’t love my body anymore my skin consists of red dots spread across my cheeks exposing my imperfections, embarrassing me to tears my mind is way too troubled to develop concrete thoughts and translate them into decent…

Continue reading →

July 1, 2022

“Art as Creative Synergy,” by Hank Keneally

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine Art

Artist’s Statement: I am very fortunate. I have always been in the arts. Learning the notes on the piano from my grandmother who was a piano teacher. Listening to classical music that my brother brought before me. Playing instruments. Becoming a photographer. Practicing counseling and social work for 42 years, which I see as another artistic process. Becoming a painter. I create every day. I start with compassionate observation. I always have a camera with me. For me, great things happen where arts merge. I use paint, cameras and digital technologies. I aim for reciprocity between myself and my media. I love to be surprised in the act of creation. My artworks are all a result of these processes. *** Hank Keneally studied music and photography at Arizona State University, often staying in the dark room overnight…

Continue reading →