522 posts by Jack B. Rochester

February 16, 2016

Podcast: “The Leviathan Chronicles” Episode 2, by Christof Laputka

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, Podcasts

As promised, here is episode 2 a three-part excerpt from “The Leviathan Chronicles,” a full blown media extravaganza of a podcast. You really won’t believe your ears. We’re posting the first three episodes this week, Monday through Wednesday. If you find yourself hooked, as we did, you’ll want to go to Podiobooks.com to get the rest of the episodes. Here’s an overview from the podcaast website: “The Leviathan Chronicles is a revolutionary science fiction audio drama podcast featuring the voices of over 60 actors, professional sound effects and an original music soundtrack. Think of it as a blockbuster movie for your ears! There are 25 episodes in Season 1, and 13 episodes in Season 2 as well as several Special Edition Episodes – all available for FREE. You can download each episode here on the website or on iTunes….

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February 14, 2016

Podcast: “The Leviathan Chronicles” Episode 1, by Christof Laputka

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, Podcasts

As promised, today we begin a three-part excerpt from “The Leviathan Chronicles,” a full blown media extravaganza of a podcast. You really won’t believe your ears. We’ll put up the first three episodes this week, Monday through Wednesday. If you find yourself hooked, as we did, you’ll want to go to Podiobooks.com to get the rest of the episodes. Here’s an overview from the podcast website: “The Leviathan Chronicles is a revolutionary science fiction audio drama podcast featuring the voices of over 60 actors, professional sound effects and an original music soundtrack. Think of it as a blockbuster movie for your ears! There are 25 episodes in Season 1, and 13 episodes in Season 2 as well as several Special Edition Episodes – all available for FREE. You can download each episode here on the website or on…

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February 12, 2016

The New World of Podcasting

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, News, Podcasts

As we conclude the podcasts of my two novels, Wild Blue Yonder and its sequel, Madrone, we enter into a brave new world: a podcast with extraordinary production values. By that I mean what we call in the business “FX” or special effects. A multi-faceted soundtrack to accompany voices, possessing all the sounds you’d expect to accompany a movie but in a sound-only broadcast: in other words, a podcast. What you’re about to hear, beginning next Monday, February 15, is “The Leviathan Chronicles,” a podcast with the most sophisticated soundtrack I’ve yet to hear in all my days and years of listening to podcasts. Nothing even comes close. I would love to share with you all kinds of details about the many people in the cast, the sound engineering, the energy of the script itself, but the creator,…

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January 21, 2016

“Who Done Me In?” by John Martinson – The Complete Novella

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Member Writing & Art

John, the narrator of this funny, fascinating, futuristic story, is dead. As he spins his tale of what it’s like on the other side, he’s also trying to figure out why he’s dead and who got him that way – hence the title. We’re swept up in a Machiavellian mystery tale that takes us into the world of wisps and preeps, to the Burj Khalifa, to Fameland as John tries to figure out who done him in. We published “Who Done Me In” in five parts earlier, but now offer it to you in one complete post. Who Done Me In? How Dick Cheney, Grace Hopper, Ada Lovelace, Gilgamesh, and A Few Others Solved My Afterlife Mystery by John Martinson Part I It was a while before I figured out I was dead. Days, weeks, or whatever passes…

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December 24, 2015

For Our Coffee Club, A Christmas Story by Lloyd R. Prentice

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Member Writing & Art

Your baristas, Caitlin, Jack, Jason and Mike, would like to wish you, the members of our Fictional Café Coffee Club, a Happy Holidays season. Hey, even if you’re reading this but not yet a member, we still wish you the best of the season. [Maybe it’s time for you to join us?] In any event, here’s a very short but very charming story from our friend and contributor, Lloyd R. Prentice, author of The Gospel of Ashes, a thriller we excerpted here at the FC last month [“titled “Carmichael“], Freein’ Pancho, and the three-volume manga Aya Takeo. Catch up with Lloyd and his books at his Amazon site. Santa Has Second Thoughts: A PG13 Christmas story When Santa on his yearly round narrowly dodged a shoulder-fired missile, he proclaimed, “Enough is enough!” This went far beyond marking up…

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November 15, 2015

Why Podcasting Matters

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, News, Podcasts

Here at the Fictional Café, you will only find fiction podcasts. These are original productions, whereas a lot of podcasts you listen to are likely to be rebroadcasts of radio shows, or portions thereof. And they are primarily nonfiction, for example almost anything you hear from NPR [no disparagement intended]. Creating a podcast is a collaborative process. Someone with a good voice must be enlisted or hired to read the novel. He or she is going to read the novel at least three times while making the recording. We’re very fortunate to have Leonard Mailloux reading my two novels, he of the mellifluous voice who understands how to read the nuances in. Next, there must be an engineer to take the raw digital recording and polish it up like a shining apple. This means taking out…

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November 11, 2015

Our Barista Jason Brick Interviewed on the Author’s Academy Today!

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in News

Calling All Authors – you don’t want to miss this opportunity to hear wise and experienced author-consultant Jason Brick today! He’s being interviewed on the Author’s Academy, a service of Wheatmark Publishing. Last month, two Wheatmark pros brought listeners up to speed on the basics of social media. Now it’s time to take it up a notch, and discover how to use social media to sell more books! The featured guest will be Jason Brick, top-shelf business writer, writing coach, speaker, ghostwriter, and business writing coach extraordinaire. Jason owes the success of his series of self-published books to a strong social media presence and his use of Tactical Social Engagement. Jason will explain how to identify the three kinds of people who can help you sell your books, as well as how to develop three levels of strategy…

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October 5, 2015

The Sweetly Evocative Poetry of Suman Chatterjee

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Member Writing & Art

Editor’s Note: When I first read Suman Chatterjee’s poetry, I felt swept up in the scents and sensuous evocations of Omar Khayyám, even to the similarities in the ruba’i stanzas. These are short poems, sometimes romantic, often charming, ever flowing from a kind heart and a fleeting thought which the poet took the time to remember and craft in verse. Take a few moments to savor each of them. * * * A Beautiful Mind A thousand oceans and seven seas, Among blue, green and red, Species known, Unknown traversed I, in depths unseen, Free-floating in an infinity, With stars that bear in time, Back and forth, and back, Of life, light and wisdom: The colorful canvass of Gold, The scribbles of Old, The secret they hold, leading, The way towards freedom and…

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September 30, 2015

International Podcast Day is Today!

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Audio Arts, News, Podcasts

If you don’t know a lot about podcasting, today is the day you can learn more at International Podcast Day! This one snuck right up on me, even though I just delivered a presentation last Saturday at the Independent Publishers of New England conference on the subject. I love podcasting. It’s a technology which gives readers a chance to listen to works of interest on their phones, in their cars, while jogging or bicycling – whenever and wherever they want. That’s why you’ll see my novels podcast right here on Fictional Café. Very soon you’ll be seeing many other podcasting offerings here from other artists as well. So jump over to learn more about podcasting at International Podcast Day, join the conversation at Blab, and check out our offerings here at the Café, too! Jack

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September 28, 2015

Announcing Our New Head Barista, Mike Mavilia

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in News

Few activities give me more pleasure than helping bring someone into the publishing business, and the story of Mike Mavilia is no exception. Mike is a Bowdoin College graduate, but more importantly a smart, literate young man with discerning thoughts and opinions about writing and publishing and, perhaps most importantly, a keen attention to detail. With a background like that, how could I not want to get him involved in Fictional Café? He took to it like a duck to water and has brought a great many improvements to this, our not-for-profit, totally for-pleasure, arts site. Mike began working at FC with Jason and me about a year ago, and has taken the reins with such gusto that I decided he needed to be acknowledged to our member audience and everyone else who reads and views…

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