It’s a busy time at the Fictional Café, but what else is new? Even though summer is only a few weeks old for us, here in the northern hemisphere, it already seems like it’s been an endless summer. No not that kind. We’re pumping out so much Fresh Java, we can hardly keep up! We hope you can, though. In addition to our European Penpals series, we’re sharing the great work of some folks in the industry at Dead Darlings and Authors Publish (stay tuned for this one).  We are even celebrating the genesis of our first ever Fictional Café Print Edition! We’re so excited to get our members’ work in people’s actual hands this winter. Of course, in addition to all this Café fare, we have the monthly work of our amazing creative members….

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Our first Fictional Café Writing Contest is underway. Winners will get to see their work appear in our first Fictional Café Anthology, in both a print paperback book and an e-book. And if you get your work in between now and July 4th…read on. You can click here for the long version of the rules, but here’s the short version. Use the link above to submit your story Unless it’s poetry, art, or flash fiction your tale should be from 2k to 8k words It costs $10 to submit Submissions close on Friday, July 14 Starting Monday, July 17 we run head-to-head elections to see who wins each genre category Winners of 1st through 3rd place go in a print anthology. They win glory, honor, and two free copies! As a special incentive, the first 10…

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We baristas have had many fun, innovative publishing experiences here at FC over the past four years. We thank each of you for becoming a member, and are grateful to everyone who has contributed their creativity. We can’t keep the FC going without you! I want to express my personal gratitude to Rachael and Simran for their pen pal exchange, published here in May and June. These two talented writers had never met one another, yet they both responded to our request to embark upon that old-fashioned notion of writing a pen pal – updated, of course, for the internet era. I loved reading their exchanges. They wrote from the heart, sharing many personal feelings amid their experiences – something we as a culture don’t do enough of anymore. Here is the last photo we…

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Editor’s Note: Since May, we’ve had the opportunity to read and share the fascinating and insightful correspondence between two American Study Abroad students: Rachael Allen, who attends Bowdoin College in Maine, studying in Bologna, Italy, and Simran P. Gupta, a student at Simmons College in Boston, studying in Paris, France. [Full disclosure: Simran is our poetry barista here at the Café.] Once our pen pals were both back Stateside and had a little time to recover and readjust, Mike Mavilia, our managing editor, and I invited them to dinner at Dumpling Daughter in Weston, Massachusetts. A lively conversation ensued about the three differing cultures, dining habits, driving, bicycling, the comparative pace of life…and the longing to return, to return soon, to stay longer. The photos taken at our dinner accompany this last exchange. We want…

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We are very excited to share the work of our friends at Dead Darlings (great name, huh?). Dead Darlings provides an ‘in the trenches’ perspective on the writing life from writers who are in all stages of the process. There are many literary sites where established authors share their thoughts, but Dead Darlings provides a unique blend of insights into the craft from published authors, and from those who are working toward that goal. It features posts from alumni and guest writers about the writing life, the craft of writing and the journey to publication. They also offer in-depth interviews with authors. Authors interviewed previously include Celeste Ng, Lauren Groff, Helen Phillips, and J. Ryan Stradal. You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with the latest posts and join the…

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