A Summer at Amazon Books by Rachael Allen You walk into a bookstore. Something is different, you think. You pay for a cold brew from Peet’s Coffee & Tea, located in the rear of the store, then walk around, assessing. Perhaps it’s the orientation of the books: they all face out, squared shoulders, as if presenting their best selves to a potential new owner. Perhaps it’s the black review cards tacked below each book, giving you booklover22’s opinion on why All the Light We Cannot See was so moving. Perhaps it’s the devices zone in the middle of the store. A couple pokes at a tablet, while a little boy dances to Ed Sheeran, whose music is now spouting from the voice-activated speaker, per his request. Perhaps, too, it’s your awareness of the store name…
A Quartet of Poems about Coffee by Jake Aller
Editor’s Note: What could be better suited to the Fictional Café than some coffee poesies? Author Jake Cosmos Aller delivers four steaming, rich cups of his today. Pour yourself a cup and enjoy them! Ode to Coffee Mistress of sacred love Sacred Lady of desire You start my day Setting my heart on fire With your dark delicious brew And throughout the day Whenever the mean old blues come by You chase them away With your bittersweet ambrosia brew Every time I inhale your wicked brew I am filled with power, light, and love And everything is all right Jack It is all good If only for a few fleeting minutes I love you oh coffee goddess In all your magical forms In the dark coffee of the dawning day In the sizzling coffee in…
Breaking News: The Fictional Cafe Anthology Contest Begins!
Great news from Jason Brick, our Anthology Barista, who’s been working hand over fist to get this incredible Fictional Cafe Anthology Contest going for your favorite authors and artists. It begins tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 26! Here’s a brief intro, with more details tomorrow. Greetings! At long last, the Fictional Café writing contest is launching! Here’s how it works. For the next month and a half, each weekday will feature a contest between two submissions: fiction, poetry, and art. When it a contestant’s day to compete, they will receive a link in an email. Contestants click that link and are taken to a website with their story and another contestant’s story. FC Coffee Club members, FC visitors and just about anybody else you can think of gets to vote for which work they like the best….
Catching a Witch, A Novel by Heidi Eljarbo
Editor’s Note: We met up with Tom Corson-Knowles, founder of TCK Publishing, at the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, Oregon, and got to talking about new fiction he’s been publishing. Tom recommended we share Heidi Eljarbo’s novel with our readers. After reading, we agreed. It’s a fascinating, well written look into the 17th century’s profound fear of women who were deemed witches. While American readers may only be familiar with the witch-hunting Salem, Massachusetts, is known for, this tale is set in Norway – demonstrating that Salem was hardly an isolated event. If you enjoy this prologue, you’ll want to head over to Amazon to get your own copy by clicking here. Catching a Witch Prologue Toomber’s Cottage, Rossby, Norway Summer 1658 I was not there the day the gravedigger injured his foot, but the…
Guest Blogger Mike Squatrito – “From Writing to Teaching”
From Writing to Teaching: How Did THAT Happen? By J. Michael Squatrito, Jr. As a young writer I had a great idea for a storyline and, after years of turmoil and struggle, I eventually wrote the first book in my Overlords fantasy series. As of today, I have three self-published novels and I’m working on the fourth and final(?) installment. My literary journey has taken me to places I never dreamed that I would go – from individual book signings and mass author events, to local library and school visits, regional conferences and Comic Cons, and more than enough radio and TV appearances. I’m even the Vice-President of the Association of Rhode Island Authors! However, all of this started with an idea for a book and blossomed into a business. Why am I telling you…
Podcast: “The Ferryman” Part I
Last month, Ruby Fink and I presented a 90–minute workshop on podcasting at the Willamette Writers Conference to keenly interested authors. Ruby heads Faux Fiction Audio, a podcast production company, and is my partner in podcasting my fiction. She’s also developing podcasts for other authors and publishers because podcasting, or audiobooks, is becoming a Pretty Big Deal in Media Land. Which is why I love finding podcasts for you to listen to each month. In my endless search for ever more interesting audio I came across “The Ferryman,” our offering this month. It’s one of the more bizarre listening experiences in the genre and I wish I could tell you more about it, but whoever created it – and I suspect the name “Nic Antoine” is a nom de plume [a nom de mic??] – remains…
David Morton Meyers – Art
Editor’s Note: Playful, witty and expressive in color, David Meyers’s work appears to draw from a strong interest in history and humor. His bold and gestural brushwork often depicts subjects from history with a strong fascination and focus on the American Wild West. Meyers’s work take a unique and bold approach to composition and structure with an unencumbered palette. His academic skill and disciplined technique work simultaneously with a playfully adolescent perspective of his subjects. -Steve Sangapore, contributor David Meyers is an artist based in Iowa City, Iowa. Though born and bred in Boston, Massachusetts, his adventures have lead him a seven year sojourn in Philadelphia, Pa where he received his B.F.A. in Painting/Drawing and minor in Art History from…
“Princess Olivia” – A Short Story by Joy Son
Princess Olivia by Joy Son Once upon a time there lived a lonely princess. She had a strong, wealthy king as a father but he paid little attention to his daughter and didn’t care if people starved in the village. In fact, he mostly only cared about money. Although Olivia’s father didn’t pay much attention to Olivia, he still loved her and cared for her. The one thing he was doing wrong was keeping Olivia away from the village that was once a happy place, full of laughter and singing. Olivia longed to go to the village and make sure the villagers were warm before the cold fell and winter moved in. Whenever Olivia tried to ask her dad a question, he would interrupt her right in the middle of a word. One Tuesday afternoon,…
A Hope in the Unseen – September Submissions
This month’s issue is about hope for the future. Wherever you are, whatever is going on, two things are certain: there will be strife and amidst that strife there will be hope. We can’t always see it right away, but it comes in many forms. We think this month’s member work will fuel some hope for a better tomorrow, whatever that may look like for you. Whether it is the wide-eyed optimism of a child’s writing, the reflective joy of a long-time love affair, the realism of a budding artist, the coming-of-age perceptiveness of a young writer or the commitment to servitude that one’s work can inspire within one’s own community, we believe these works of creative expression can give our members a little hope in the unseen. Fiction A big welcome to our youngest…
August Bonus Podcast: “King Solomon’s Mines” by H. Rider Haggard
As we bid adieu to August and prepare to surrender to September, one last LibriVox audiobook to treat your ears, one of the great adventure stories of all time: King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard. The notion of finding a long-lost treasure is a literary archetype which found itself reborn in the “Indiana Jones” movies, and it’s a powerful and captivating story – whether on page or screen. Sir Henry Rider Haggard [British; 1856-1925] was a major proponent of the “discovery of a lost world” genre, and is best known for King Solomon’s Mines and She, both of which have been made into movies several times. This LibriVox recording was done by a terrific narrator, John Nicholson. Here are the first 5 chapters. Be sure to visit LibriVox and download the entire novel.