465 posts by Mike Rochester

May 21, 2018

Fictional Cafe Turns 5 Birthday Update

Hello everyone, here’s a quick birthday update. We are so excited for our Facebook event today, Fictional Cafe Turns 5, and we wanted to make sure everyone has an opportunity to join in the fun. Please visit the event page and wish The Fictional Cafe happy birthday and share a photo of the scenery near you, a historical landmark nearby or simply your smiling face, then tag your location by clicking the “Check In” button so we all can see just how geographically diverse our members are. We hope you all can drop by our event as we serve “Fresh Java” all day long from contributors that span the globe. Here’s a preview of just some of what you’ll see: The kickoff event at Galerie ZonZon in Brest, France with our dear friend Danièle Maguet…

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May 8, 2018

“Seismometers Feverish & Blue” and “My Truth” by Joanne W. James

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

SEISMOMETERS FEVERISH & BLUE the clock is black and ticking gold-flecked velvet insidethis mystery earth fringed-edged mycelium push out for miles undergroundone mushroom the entrance to our world mycelium not fragileattuned like seismometerslacey fungalveil holding strong over molten core the core where I live there’s so much difficultyin burning I always took it for grantedthat your heart I’d melt those years my heart was lavain the time of the roosterin the time of the coconutwhen we couldn’t make itto the bed we’d take iton the kitchen floor when the ground moves in incrementsour hearts seismometers feverish and blueI learned that what burns with such intensityhas fragility your mouth my delicacy root hairs that push us out of ourselvesinto another’s arms push us cross country or into outer space given wingsin the time of acacia…

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May 3, 2018

“I am not a criminal” a poem by Lizzi Lewis

Posted by Mike Rochester in Writing

I am not a criminal I am ducking my responsibility Before it comes To telling my grandchildren (For I shall have none) That I am the one who did these things; I am the one who choked the sea With plastic, wrapped conveniently Around everything I could ever need (And some things I didn’t) To keep them sanitary, clean Never mind the lungs and eyes The breaking hearts of those unseen, Never mind the damaged soil Pits of poison, smoke’s toxic roil, Death dripping from the very pores Of those I never knew, never heard of before. It was me. I am the one who chained the men The women, and the children when I bought the things which owned their lives Paid their captors, swallowed the lies, Ignored the truths I didn’t…

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May 2, 2018

Barista Ruby Fink’s Podcasting AMA

Posted by Mike Rochester in Audio Arts, Audio Arts, News

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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March 28, 2018

Birthday Announcement – The Fictional Café Turns 5!

Posted by Mike Rochester in News

We know going to a birthday party can be a chore. Putting the time aside, getting a gift, mingling with people you may or may not know. Well, you can attend the Fictional Cafe birthday right from the comfort of your own home, office, car or outdoor location that gets cell phone reception because the party’s happening on our Facebook Page on May 22nd! Join us for live readings from members, videos from the baristas, fun facts and memories about the Fictional Cafe and more! We invite you to join in the fun too by sharing birthday wishes via video or sharing a picture from where you live and tagging your location. As part of the Fictional Cafe community we invite you all to share this link via social media using the hashtag #FictionalCafeTurns5 on…

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September 12, 2017

Guest Blogger Mike Squatrito – “From Writing to Teaching”

Posted by Mike Rochester in Guest Posts, News

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…

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September 5, 2017

David Morton Meyers – Art

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine 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…

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September 2, 2017

A Hope in the Unseen – September Submissions

Posted by Mike Rochester in News

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…

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August 18, 2017

Diego Velez – A Colombian Perspective

Posted by Mike Rochester in Fine Art

Editor’s Note: Diego Velez tells stories through his paintings. I got a chance to talk with him about his perspectives on art and life recently. He told me that being an artist is something that keeps him humble and grateful of what he has. There is so much beauty in the process of creating that he does not even need to drink when he’s working; the painting quenches his thirst. He believes an artist spiritually ingests coals made from different trees to get the essence of these different colors and after creating, the art is a way to let people experience these images for years to come. But his passion goes beyond art, as he tells me his thoughts on the universe and humanity, “The earth doesn’t ask permission to reshape itself.” We present to…

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July 25, 2017

Understanding Reading Biases and My Mission to Fix Them

Posted by Mike Rochester in Book Reviews, News

I still have all my summer reading lists from high school. The eternal optimist in me thought that someday I’d run down that list and read each one. Years later, I still haven’t read more than a few of those books, but that collection spawned a very important way of thinking for me. As a student, I treated these reading lists like they were the word of God – that to be a writer or English major in college, these were the texts I should be reading. Still, there was a quietly blasphemous part of me that questioned that belief and as I grew older, I realized that even these holy lists were imperfect. Fast forward to last year, when I was studying my Goodreads “to read” and “previously read” lists. I noticed biases reflected…

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