The Confabulator Cafe

Author: aputnam

  • Gin and Tonic, Part 1

    Gin sipped from a glass of pinot blanc and smiled politely as Liam recounted tales of his younger days when he was first breaking into real estate. His own home was perched atop his first major acquisition, a prime piece of land that overlooked most of San Francisco, and even now the ethereal glow of city lights added a kind of coziness to what was an otherwise sterile art-deco décor made of black, white, and silver.

    As he talked, her eyes slid toward the hallway where her small, black, hard leader clutch sat on a silver-trimmed side table. A fake bonsai made of coiled gold wire bark and tiny silver leaves sprouted from a shallow dish next to it. It was her own gift to the decorative monotony, but right now it seemed to mimic branching pain that had been spreading from the base of her skull since this morning. She didn’t want to drink, she didn’t want to eat, she just wanted to eat as many of the meds in her bag that wouldn’t outright kill her.

    “Are you alright?”

    Gin’s eyes snapped back to Liam. She hadn’t noticed he had moved from the living room back to the dining area. “Yes? Why do you ask?”

    “You’ve been staring off into space for a while now. The speech isn’t boring, is it? It can’t be boring.”

    “Of course not,” she lied. “You’re as intriguing as ever. I’m just… hungry, is all.” Gin waved her hand as if shooing a fly from her plate. “You know how I get. This summer salad simply isn’t doing it, I’m afraid.”

    “You should speak up then.”

    “And ruin such a riveting speech? Never.”

    “Riveting, is it? For the last few minutes you seemed quite a bit more interested in that plant on the table there.”

    “Do I have to keep my eyes glued to you every second?”

    “Pretty face like yours, I wouldn’t mind it.” He grinned.

    “Oh, you!”

    “I’ll send for the next meal now, shall I?” He touched the panel embedded in the table without waiting for her reply. A moment later, the kitchen doors slid open and several servers came in to sweep away the remains of their summer salad and bring in a platter of steaming soft-shell crab. A mix of sauces, from simple lemon and butter to tangy curry to Vietnamese garlic sauces ringed the display. Liam took a vintage bottle of Chardonnay and filled fresh crystal glasses for each of them. (more…)

  • Death by Inches

    Jack was sitting at his coffee table stripping down his double-action revolver. Gin was lounging on his couch behind him, a tablet in her hands and a leg flopped over an armrest. Apart from the blank TV set into the front wall and a small nightstand next to the door, the apartment was barren.

    Gin glanced down from her screen. “Why do you carry that old thing?” She asked. “Do they even make guns like that anymore?”

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  • Online Publishing: A Quick Overview

    Selling your writing online is only getting easier. Low overhead, cheap startup costs and fast setup time means it’s easy to make money. However, it can be just as easy to lose money, and that’s because of piracy. I’m not going to get into the debate of corporate, pirate and indie interests here, but the fact is that piracy exists and, if you want to sell on the internet, it’s something you have to deal with.

    There are many ways to publish content online, all with different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to potential profit and loss. I’ve picked out four of the most common to see what their potential risks and rewards are.

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  • The Kick-Ass Writer (Book Review)

    Every word smith needs, from time to time, a reference, a remedy for writer’s block, or a fresh perspective. The Kick-Ass Writer can do all of these things and does it in a way that is unique to its author, Chuck Wendig.

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  • The Runaways

    The rock of the train was enough to put you to sleep if not for the biting cold. Two sets of eyes watched out through the slats of the rail car, one numb and cold, the other fearful and shivering. Shaking, the hand of the younger boy clutched at the coat sleeve of the first.

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  • Review: Long Live the Queen

    Long Live the Queen (LLtQ) is a darkly cute, somewhat macabre strategy/simulation game. You are Crown Princess Elodie, fourteen and heir to the throne after the sudden death of your mother. You’ve returned home from boarding school to be trained in the ways of court before your coronation on your 15th birthday.

    Assuming, that is, you live that long. There are many others who would love to take the throne for themselves. Assassins, rebels, usurpers, monsters and other dangers abound and it’s up to you to navigate the morass and survive to coronation.

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  • Thoughts Post-NaNoWriMo 2013

    I managed to finish NaNoWriMo by November 24th, but two weeks later my muse is still a withered husk lying crumpled in the far corner. I had an easier time of it this year compared to last, due in large part to pacing myself more and a wonderfully supportive writing group, but it was still far from easy.

    Thanks to NaNo and the Lawrence writers, however, I’m slowly beginning to understand what it means to be a writer. I’ve never been the type of person who had to write. I feel like a bit of a hack to admit it, but I have none of the overflowing passion that flings me from my bed to my keyboard every day like I’ve read in so many author interviews. I wish that I did.

    I love stories and I’ve always gotten great enjoyment from writing, but I also used to wait until my muse was fit to burst before I did anything and then rode the wave for however long it lasted. I could go months and even years between writing stints that way.

    It wasn’t until early last year that I became serious about writing and I’ve found that, while still great fun, it’s also a lot of bloody work. NaNo just compresses that workload into 30 days. Even without the frantic pace, it takes continuous effort to push back distractions, sit down every night, and really write.

    I’m writing this now, with no inspiration and dead tired after a long shift at work, as a testament to that. Thanks to NaNo and thanks to the Lawrence writers who have helped me learn what real writing takes.

  • NaNoWriMo 2013: Excerpt from “Among the Savages”

    It’s the end of week two and I’m still hanging in there to get my daily word counts in, (1,667 is a much bigger number after two weeks), but it seems that in my frenzied wailing on the keyboard I’d completely forgotten to post an except last Sunday. NaNo claims yet another deadline, ah well.

    This except is from my third short story, Among the Savages, a dairy from a man sent to convert a tribe of savages to his religious order so that his country (run by said order) can use the resources of their land without resorting to killing them.

    Again, I feel obligated to warn you that this excerpt is raw from the field with nary a spell check to comfort it. You may want to turn away now if you have an uncontrollable urge to correct grammar or continuity errors.

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  • NaNoWriMo 2013 Excerpt from The Demon Within

    NaNoWriMo has come once again and many of us at the Café, myself included, are already busily typing away trying to get to that coveted 50,000 word goal. Sadly, the frenzied pace of full-time job, word counts, and daily living leaves me little time for actual, coherent writing, so instead I’ll treat you to weekly postings from the trenches. Please note that “treat” here is a subjective term. This is pure, unedited and unfiltered writing here folks. I can’t be held liable for damages caused to your psyche or personal property due to reading this material.

    I’m writing five, 10k-word short stories this year for NaNo. This excerpt is from The Demon Within (working title), about a barbarian bred for fighting demonic hoards who gets exiled for being tainted by one.

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  • Gravity (Movie Review)

    How do you survive the worst-possible scenario in space and make it back to Earth alive? Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is an engineer on special assignment to fix a prototype component her team built for the Hubble Telescope. Leading the crew is Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), who is field-testing a new Manned Maneuvering Unit on his last mission out.

    In the opening scene, they get news that a planned detonation of a Russian satellite has misfired, leaving them just minutes to abort mission before they get bombarded by shrapnel. However, they can’t even get back into the shuttle before thousands of metal shards rip through them. By the time the field passes, only Stone and Kowalski are left alive and the shuttle has been destroyed. Their only hope is to get to the escape pods on the International Space Station before the shrapnel field can complete another orbit and hit them again.

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