December 26, 2021

“The Grudge Store,” by Richard David Bach

(Advertisement) THE GRUDGE STORE Are you holding a Grudge, but don’t know what to do with it? We can help. Grudgestore.con is the online repository for those who are carrying Grudges but don’t have the time nor space to hold their Grudges themselves. Our satisfied customers select the level at which each Grudge is to be maintained, from an intense boil to a low simmer, with an option to slowly cool to room temperature. We have a cryogenic unit for those who wish long-term cold storage, and microwave reheat capability in the event a dormant Grudge requires rekindling. Our flat-rate annual membership comes with the privilege of reviewing each Grudge once every 90 days to ensure that the Grudge is intact, valid, and worthwhile retaining. Additional visits and revisions are available at small additional fees, and we have quantity discounts for those with multiple Grudges. …

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December 24, 2021

“Tales of Christmas” by KSL Podcasts

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts

Merry Christmas Eve Fictional Cafe Listeners! In honor of the season, we’d like to present “Good-bye Christmas” by KSL Podcasts and “A Green and White Christmas” by Kiro Radio. This Christmas, Seattle Radio Theatre and KIRO Radio return with the magic of a LIVE old-timey radio drama. This holiday radio play written and directed by Seattle Radio Theatre founder Feliks Banel, finds a 1950s Seattle family trying to celebrate their Christmas Eve tradition of visiting the old Frederick & Nelson department store downtown, when an ill-timed snowstorm threatens to upend everything. But a Frederick’s doorman and department store Santa goes above and beyond to try and make it a meaningful Christmas for everyone. Starring many favorite voices from KIRO Radio, and featuring live sound effects! KIRO is a sister station to KSL NewsRadio. In this original radio play, two men who used…

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December 20, 2021

“Thousand Faces,” Poetry by Gazala Khan

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

1. Thousand Faces Ten thousand we saw in a blink, It’s not daffodils moving along with zephyr, With the bounties showered in plains. This time, it’s the migrants. The migrants, Fighting two deadliest pandemics: COVID and hunger. The latter is familiar And former is in voices everywhere. The beads of sweat rubbed by red gumcha* never evaporated, The yearning to return home is discernible. One of them named Sakina walked a thousand kilometers for days So did many others. The kaccha house** awaited her arrival But the journey never culminated. Abandonment commenced, The invisible guest reigned Bleeding toes, sunburnt faces and many empty stomachs Fastened their way to homes. Beyond every pain, the rest of us numbed still moved on. And the second harrowing journey began. * Hindi word used in India to describe cotton towel for wiping sweat. ** A kind of…

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December 16, 2021

Founder Jack’s New Novel and a Great Offer

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Book Reviews, News, Writing

Get a book and a chance to do some good at no extra cost! Fictional Cafe Members: Enjoy a great read and support cycling safety too! If you ride a bike, as I do, you might be interested to know we ride one of the most innovative machines in world history. Bikes became popular in the 1800s because of a shortage of horses caused by – whoa! would you believe a volcano eruption? – and henceforth were called “hobby horses!” Before they made the first airplane fly at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Wright Brothers had a bicycle shop where they sold (doh) bikes named “Van Cleve” and “St. Clair.” Mark Twain wrote a ludicrously humorous article about his experience riding – and falling again and again – from a “penny farthing” bicycle, pictured here. I got…

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December 15, 2021

Vera West Is Our 2022-2023 Poet-in-Residence!

Posted by Mike Rochester in News, Writing

Editor’s Note:We are excited to announce our second Poet-in-Residence, Vera West! Earlier this year, we were introduced to Vera through our all-star Poetry Barista, Yong Takahashi. Michael and Jennifer were throwing around the idea of doing a “potpourri post” of poetry. The timing worked out for it to fall on National Poetry Week, so we organized a lineup of poets for the post. I reached out to Yong to ask if she knew any poets who would want to contribute a poem and she replied with an enthusiastic request to include Vera. (You can see that National Poetry Month post here.) Over the summer, us baristas were discussing who we wanted to nominate for the next Poet-in-Residence position and again Yong came back with Vera’s name. We perused her portfolio and had a delightful Zoom…

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December 14, 2021

Announcing an FC Cento Poem Contest!

Posted by Mike Rochester in News

We’d like to announce a fun challenge for all you poets at the Café. We’re doing a Cento Poetry Challenge! For those who have never heard of centos, they are poems crafted from words and phrases found in others’ works and pasted together to form your new, unique thoughts. The best poems will be featured on FC’s site. The deadline is 12/31. To enter, email mike@fictionalcafe.com For more information on cento poems and how to create them, check out The New York Times‘ post.

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December 12, 2021

“Sang / Lait Chaud, ” A Short Story by Cathleen Davies

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

What’s good about the telly is that Susie can blather on and on and it doesn’t bother Dave at all. He’s always been pretty good at multi-tasking, keeping his mind on two things at once. It was a nice evening. Dave managed to leave work at the door. Susie was doing her knitting and the Tigers were still drawing with Stoke City. Dave sipped his beer. It was good to be home. “I think I’ll do a little hat to go with these if I have any wool leftover,” Susie said, as she held out a little booty on curved needles. “Oh, aye? Lovely.” “I hope it won’t offend your mum though. I know she got Alice that little white hat at Christmas, but she’s nearly grown out of it and she’ll need a new…

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December 10, 2021

“This Monstrous Life” by Casey Wolfe

Posted by Ruby Fink in Audio Arts

Salutations Fictional Cafe Listeners and Happy Holidays! In honor of the season of Love and Giving just around the corner, Fictional Cafe would like to present “This Monstrous Life” by Casey Wolfe. Yes, we realize that the title and… images included in this podcast might seem a little contrary for this holiday, but we can assure you, that while this is an unorthodox way to start off our Christmas season, we can also promise an entertaining evening of audio fun and enjoyment. We’re in the midst of the holiday season, right? We hear a lot of people complain about how stressful the holiday season is, but if you think you have it bad – try being a monster. Take a listen to this one, it’ll really give you a new perspective on things. Oh and…

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December 6, 2021

Announcing Our First Ever Pushcart Prize Nominees!

Posted by Mike Rochester in News

Hello Coffee Clubbers! We are excited to announce that, for the first time, The Fictional Café has nominated a handful of our members for a Pushcart Prize. For those who are unfamiliar with Pushcart, they publish an anthology of short stories, essays and poetry from small presses and literary magazines each year—they’ve been doing it since 1976! Small presses and literary magazines can nominate works they’ve published over the course of that given year. The idea to nominate FC members came to us in early 2020. With the pandemic bearing down on the writing world, we wanted to offer something else to our talented, creative members. Ruth Simon, Michael Piekny and I were throwing around ideas and this one stood out as a perfect way to show just how much we value the work we…

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November 30, 2021

“Street Close-Ups,” An Art Exhibition by Ron Hartley

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine Art

Artist’s Statement: I like to photograph things imbedded in urban asphalt or found on the sidewalks and by-ways of city streets. I love the grungy texture of street art; grunge being an inevitable by-product of the human species that speaks to the human condition like wrinkles to an elderly face. Someone tosses an empty soda can that gets crushed and rusted with time, a fallen leaf lays like a shipwreck marooned on a strange landscape, a white traffic line cracks up in a time-lapse of years, an oil slick fades in a time-lapse of minutes and I try to find my way there. Sometimes “there” can be in the middle of heavily trafficked streets where I practically risk my life trying to photograph such things like they were pieces of the Maltese Falcon. If the…

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