Gregg Rochester is a very successful painter of large canvases depicting nature scenes that are an amalgam of reality and his imagination. People have bought his work in galleries from coast to coast. He lives in Wisconsin and like me, loves to cycle through the farm country where he lives. While out for a ride one afternoon, the idea of painting bicycles struck him. He began buying bicycle parts and building the bikes he would paint upon. The idea was a huge success, and before long he had enough bikes for a gallery showing: Gregg’s “Le Tour d’Art” was born and began exhibiting in a number of Midwest galleries. He began painting canvases with bicycle themes, too. “My original concept was to encourage my patrons to use the painted bicycle as a sculptural piece, hanging it on the wall…
Three Things I Learned Last Summer, by Jason Brick
I learned three things last summer. The first thing I learned was: don’t get drunk on margaritas with your best friend’s wife when it’s just the two of you alone on the deck looking out at a once-in-a-lifetime drop-dead perfect June sunset and the air is warm and clean with a caressing wind coming in off the desert with the scent of spice and the promise of your heart’s desire. It wasn’t as if we hadn’t been drunk together before. Or alone together. Or even drunk together all alone. When it’s your best friend’s wife, and she’s been married to him eight years, you wind up doing most things together at one time or another. The four of us had gotten hammered together with fair regularity, and to say we were comfortable with one another…
What are you reading this summer?
To hear the book marketers, books and beaches go together. Never much thought so myself; lots more fun to people-watch and play in the water. Besides, it’s dangerous; I was reading a book on a beach in Puerto Rico – fell asleep and woke up with the worst sunburn I’ve ever had. But all that aside, we usually get a raft [sic] of new books for summer. I’m reading Joshua Ferris’ new epic, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour. It’s not light reading, but the premise is interesting: someone is stalking a dentist by creating a phony website for him. What are you reading? Drop us a comment and let us know. Tell us a little of your reading experience with it. And grab a cuppa creativity while you’re here over in Member Writing.
Reading, Writing and Reviewing
Zounds! I’ve been reading like crazy but haven’t written a review in quite a while. Here are some capsule reviews, highlights from the past two months. All links are to Amazon. Alex Berenson’s The Night Ranger I discovered Alex Berenson a few years ago with his debut novel, The Faithful Spy and then The Silent Man. I think he’s taken a top slot in international espionage thrillers with his compelling character, John Wells, who is far more interesting than the stick-figure Jason Bourne character in the post-Ludlum series. Berenson creates scenes you can see in your mind’s eye and believable characters and situations. I also respect the fact that he answers every single email he receives. Sleep Donation by Karen Russell Breakout novelist Karen Russell knocked our literary socks off a few years back with…
F. Scott’s Fitzgerald’s Famously Unknown Story
Few readers have ever read Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s short story, “The Diamond As Big as The Ritz.” Even fewer know it was broadcast on an old-time radio show called “Escape” which ran for several years in the latter 1940s and early 1950s. And even fewer know it was broadcast three times, with three different casts, on “Escape” in 1947, ’48, and ’49. Sam Edwards stars as John T. Unger and Nina Columb as Kismine. Enjoy a light-hearted fantasy thriller by an author from whom you would not expect such a tale! Please click the arrow below to listen.
Fictional Cafe Members Wearing Their New FC Hats!
Here’s a photo of Atilla Vekony and Grael Norton at Wheatmark Publishing, sporting their new Fictional Café headgear! You can get one too! Be sure to Join the Fictional Café here to become eligible to win a FC baseball cap, then watch your email for our forthcoming contests and giveaways! Becoming a member also entitles you to submit your own creative work: poetry, short stories, novel excerpts and art. P.S. Wheatmark is publishing my latest novel, Madrone. Stay tuned for news about it!
Google’s Street Art, Across the Universe
A few years ago, Shepard Fairy, a well-known street artist, was arrested in Boston by an overzealous, graffiti-art-hating cop, for postering a portrait of Obama named “Hope” on a public wall. That strikes me as arresting someone for self-publishing their writing. Now, Google has raised street art and its cousin [or are they the same?] to new heights in its growing art portfolio. There is some wonderful art being created by artists who can’t or won’t be seen in a formal art gallery. Visit here to see more wonderful art.
Fissure Free, a Novel by Shari J. Ryan
Editor’s Note: The following excerpt is from Fissure Free, Book Two in the Schasm Series by Shari J. Ryan. This romantic, suspenseful, and engaging sequel reunites the colorful cast of friends and family with a powerful tribute to the power of the mind and heart. After nineteen years of suffering with a psychological condition, ethereal Chloe has finally come close to finding her ultimate escape—or so she thinks as she walks the vibrant streets of Paris. Finally in a relationship with Alex, the man she fell in love with in Schasm, Chloe thinks life is finally coming together. As she battles her own demons, she attempts to repair the damaged man she’s grown to love. But as his clouded past abruptly crashes into their lives and falls heavily upon their budding romance, Chloe must fight to maintain her…
“Balancing Act” by Jane Ward
8:45 AM Wednesday, July 15th, 2006 It’s a delicate balance, really. I want to be here early enough to beat the crowds of summer people. Early enough that all I can hear are the waves slapping against the shore instead of the screams of small children resisting sun screen applications. Early enough that all I can see when I look over the top of my John Grisham paperback are the water, the buoys that signal how far out you’re allowed to swim, and way out, across the miles, the faint, mist-enveloped outline of Long Island. But I also want to be here late enough that the sun is shining in full force so that it has a fighting chance at blending the horrendous tan lines I’ve incurred this summer. There’s the obvious “farmer tan” or…
Flash Gordon, A Radio Classic
A few weeks ago, we played a re-creation of a classic short story by Stephen Crane, “The Blue Hotel.” What you’re about to hear is another adaptation: an early radio serial, “Flash Gordon.” This is the debut episode from an original – although bootlegged – script, adapted from the original comic book. The radio program debuted on April 27, 1935, with this episode, “Flash Gordon on the Planet Mongo.” The cast is an ad hoc group of faculty and staff, The Lotsa Luck Players of the Fat Chance Radio Theatre, at the New England Institute of Art, circa 2007. The producer is Larry Miller; the production was directed by Jerry Goodwin. Larry and Jerry created and engineered the sound effects. The music is from Franz Liszt’s “Les Preludes,” a piece used again and again in old time radio…