February 1, 2019

Tracy K Smith’s Poetry Podcast, “The Slowdown”

Tracy K Smith’s Poetry Podcast, “The Slowdown”

Like current poet laureate Tracy K Smith, we love poetry here at the Fictional Cafe! During her tenure, she is hosting a poetry podcast entitled The Slowdown.  Each installment lasts a short five minutes, but they’re powerful. The musical prelude is a lilting jazz composition which lags ever so slightly behind tempo. This subtly encourages the listener to . . . slow down. Next, the audience hears Smith’s smooth, measured lyricism, and heartfelt expressions regarding the subject of that installment’s featured poem. Three recent podcasts in particular had personal resonance for me. One delved into the legacy of Sylvia Plath, another remembered the indelible mark left by Nina Simone, and the last dwelled on 21st century gentrification. I hope you enjoy these samples, and take extra time to slow down and become a regular listener! ***

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January 19, 2019

For Your Listening Pleasure, The Saturday Night Podcast

For Your Listening Pleasure, The Saturday Night Podcast

Good evening, listeners! Tonight we welcome back to the Café another podcast from Jack J. Ward’s Electric Vicuna Productions, and a second thoughtfully curated old time radio show for your entertainment. From EVP’s Deadline Anthology Series, our first offering is “Clay Pigeon Shooting.” Don (John Bell) takes his employee Andrew (Cayenne Chris Conroy) out for a friendly weekend hunting. The game is something more elusive than deer. Something of an hommage to “The Most Dangerous Game.” Next, we offer for your listening enjoyment an episode of a rare radio show from the mid-10940s, “The Avenger.” It has two earmarks of all crime-fighting radio plays of the era: one, the message is always “crime does not pay” and two, a creaky old organ providing the musical background and scene segues. That said, this is a good…

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January 12, 2019

Tonight, Podcasts Return to FC!

Tonight, Podcasts Return to FC!

Ruby and Jack are pleased to bring you some new audio arts dramas tonight, courtesy of our friends at Electric Vicuna Productions. There are many people out there who work tirelessly, without compensation and often without praise, creating great audio content for our enjoyment. Jack J. Ward is one of those people; see his bio at the bottom of this post. But now, please enjoy the Electric Vicuna production and re-creation of one of the most famous radio dramas ever written or aired [thanks so much, Lucille Fletcher]: “Sorry, Wrong Number.” We’re also including the original version, which was broadcast on the CBS radio show “Suspense” on May 25, 1943 — then again, and again, due to its popularity. It starred Agnes Moorhead, and some years later was made into a film starring Barbara Stanwyck….

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May 2, 2018

Barista Ruby Fink’s Podcasting AMA

Barista Ruby Fink’s Podcasting AMA

A letter from our Audio Arts barista. It’s Ruby Fink’s Podcasting AMA (ask me anything)!   Greetings, beloved readers, writers, artists and friends, If you don’t know, the Fictional Café is going to be turning five years old on May 22nd… live on Facebook. This is a very special occasion, and will be celebrated with the pomp and jubilation that only a five year old website dedicated to the arts deserves. However, this day would not be possible without all of you. Without the 500+ subscribers, artists, writers, readers, visionaries and dreamers from 6 continents and over 40 countries sending in their masterpieces, Jack and the rest of us baristas would have folded our tents, separated and gone back to our random doodles, poems, sappy love stories and hermit-like, minimally social lifestyle. (Or maybe that’s…

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April 13, 2018

“The Diarist” – Your Friday Night Podcast

“The Diarist” – Your Friday Night Podcast

We welcome a new auteur and audio arts experience tonight with “The Diarist,” created by Rose Gluck, as she prefers to be known. Here’s her description of “The Diarist,” an audio story replete with a cast of characters. music and sound effects. We present the first episode here, tonight, for you Coffee Clubbers one and all. After completing Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School, Andrea Davies takes a position at a large New York Advertising firm, admittedly to find a husband and secure a life as a well-to-do country-club socialite. Andrea becomes increasingly drawn into her boss Richard Hayes’ bizarre personal life. She begins to assume the role of his wife and mother to his young daughter. However, a parallel reality continues in his apartment, where his psychotic wife moves in and out of insanity. Things are…

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January 26, 2018

“Saratoga Noir” Podcast, Episode 2

“Saratoga Noir” Podcast, Episode 2

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.”

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December 23, 2017

Just In Time For Christmas, A New Podcast!

Just In Time For Christmas, A New Podcast!

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…

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October 20, 2017

Podcast: “Steal the Stars” – A Sci-Fi Thriller

Podcast: “Steal the Stars” – A Sci-Fi Thriller

Steal the Stars is the story of Dakota Prentiss and Matt Salem, two government employees guarding the biggest secret in the world: a crashed UFO. Despite being forbidden to fraternize, Dak and Matt fall in love and decide to escape to a better life on the wings of an incredibly dangerous plan: they’re going to steal the alien body they’ve been guarding and sell the secret of its existence. Steal the Stars is a noir science fiction thriller in 14 episodes, available worldwide on all major podcast distributors through the Macmillan Podcast Network. Listen to the first episode here, and subscribe to Steal the Stars at any of the following links:  iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS Please click on the arrow below to listen to Episode 1 of “Steal the Stars.”

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September 8, 2017

Podcast: “The Ferryman” Part I

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…

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August 31, 2017

August Bonus Podcast: “King Solomon’s Mines” by H. Rider Haggard

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.  

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