It’s Friday and just in time for all you crazed, imploring fans of ZBS Media’s “Saratoga Noir” we present five – count ’em, five, as in 5, new episodes of the this great story, replete with Genevieve Shapiro’s cartoon strips. We pick up the story with Episode 3, so if you need to refresh your memory of the first two, click here and here. So be sure to log in to FC after 6PM EST tonight to continue this great tale!
Sometimes you just get lucky. I don’t mean the “good luck!” kind of lucky, I mean the fortunate kind where you do something unanticipated while you’re in a certain time-space continuum and it produces unexpected and quite beneficial results. That’s what happened to me recently. Charlotte Pierce and I were having coffee at Caffè Nero, chatting about our mutual love of all things publishing. I said something – not sure of the exact words – but it had to do with Fictional Café. Charlotte immediately said how cool FC was and how much she would enjoy being a part of it. And now she is. Charlotte has worked in nearly every aspect of the publishing business. Her first position was as a regional editor for Outdoor Empire Publishing in Seattle from 1980-1985. She went on to serve as managing…
Addie Voss’s Michael was the one with asthma, but she learned to share it with him. He wheezed and hacked and she complained about his clogged-up tubes like they were her own. Looking for relief, the two fled Illinois and headed for sunny Albuquerque, but the desert air gave Michael nosebleeds. In Redding and Denver, it was the heat or the altitude. That had been the go-around since they got married in the early ‘90s, nomading it here and there, looking, hoping. Now today, an ordinary Tuesday, Addie was waiting in confusion at San Francisco International for a plane back to Minneapolis, their latest city, where she had left Michael and their four kids a couple days earlier. For Michael, jobs were plentiful in Minnesota, even if breathing remained a chore. She guessed other things…
Barista Rachael Allen meets the novelist everyone will be talking about. Whitney Scharer and her fierce protagonist are set to take the literary world by storm! At this time next year, Whitney Scharer’s debut novel, The Age of Light, will stare up at you from your nightstand. The book will not stare at you so much as, potentially, display a woman staring into the distance, anonymously cropped at the neck, with scenic Paris blurred behind her. As much as she hopes for something different, Scharer says wryly, audiences are familiar with this kind of book jacket (think Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife). And, following its million-dollar deal widely covered in the media, the book is banking on this commercial success. Perhaps a dreamy woman will attract an audience, but the book—and its personable, expressive author—aims…
It’s Friday night again and we present another podcast, this week the second episode of “Saratoga Noir” from our friends at ZBS Media. Be sure to follow along in the accompanying comic strip created by Genevieve Shapiro, whose splendid art has appeared here at the Café a few times in the past. We love her illustrations! This is the second of 20 episodes. If you like what you hear – and see – let us know and we’ll post some more episodes. If you scream really loud, maybe we’ll post them all! But if you just can’t wait for more, hop over ZBS where you can download the entire work, and many, many others, for chump change. Please click on the arrow to listen to Episode 2 of “Saratoga Noir.”
Welcome back to Friday night podcasts here at Fictional Café, except for the new year we’re renaming this popular feature audiobooks. Reason being, podcasting has really evolved a lot, and since we concentrate on fiction, anything you listen to here is a story – and that makes a podcast, to our way of thinking, an audiobook. If that makes any sense. If it doesn’t, you could always fall back on the Firesign Theater’s David Ossman’s handle, radio movies. This week, we welcome back our friends at ZBS Media and one of their very best works, “Saratoga Noir.” Not only is the audio great, but just check out the comic book that accompanies it! This is just the first of 20 episodes. If you like what you hear – and see – let us know and…
Editor’s Note: Please see Simran’s review of Chimezie’s – “Mr. Ben’s” – collected works in the Reviews section. Be Inspired When you’re down, you tend to be close to your feet and consequently, close to defeat. But for the sake of success, please rise to your feet. That’s the feat! Succeeding The Race Success is the race, So, you should to move at your pace After all, it’s your lane So don’t let your strength wane It’s about completing your journey Don’t let anyone take you funny There are no competitions Because you know your onions Reaching the finish line is its own accomplishment Then you will appreciate the beauty of your commitment Talking Thoughts Talking can be cheap But its consequence might be difficult to keep Its seeds can be weak…
The Fictional Café has recently been treated to a drop of sunshine in the form of Chimezie Ihekuna’s poetry collection, “Poured Out Thoughts.” We happened upon news of his forthcoming chapbook of collected poems as a happy accident, through corresponding about his submission to our virtual ‘zine. Affectionately known as Mr. Ben, he is based in Lagos, Nigeria, and is a poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, speaker, and voice-over artist. He says his “love for humanity has inspired him to thirst for knowledge towards its advancement.” Though this review is centered on his upcoming book, you can get a taste for his work through the five poems published here on the Fictional Café. Mr. Ben’s poetry collection is titled “The P.O.T.- Poured Out Thoughts.” His poems are organized around themes that anyone, regardless of background, with…
You know you’re often going to be surprised by our creative offerings, and this month’s podcast is no exception. It’s a Christmas story, but likely not one you might be thinking of. If you ever enjoyed Mystery Science Theater 3000, you’re going to enjoy the heck out of this. Many thanks to Anthony, Garrett and Bobby, our new friends and colleagues at The Story Cauldron, for this offering. The Story Cauldron is a weekly podcast that finds the folktales, fables, and philosophies behind your favorite films. Join us every Wednesday as we dive into what Tolkien called the “Cauldron of Story” or the final result of imagination + art, to see where our movies come from. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night! Please click on the link below to listen to the podcast. https://www.thestorycauldron.com/listen/diehard…
Editor’s Note: From time to time, fiction and real life converge like a solar eclipse. The “ME TOO” movement and a short story by Kristen Roupenian entitled “Cat Person,” published recently in The New Yorker, have crossed paths and set the world on its ear. It’s a timely story, to be sure, but it’s also something of a literary fete: the author’s first short story, controversial as hell, accepted by the country’s most prestigious magazine (and one of the few still publishing fiction), which immediately landed Roupenian a book contract with Scout Press, reports the New York Times. Like Roupenian, Rachael Allen is a college student who found herself able to relate to the short story and draw some shared experiences into a complex skein of perception, emotion and experience that reaches out beyond the…