The Confabulator Cafe

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  • Gravity (Flash Fiction)

    “You’re dropping down the well?” Lisbeth asked. Glyphs fluttered in agitation around her head, broadcasting confusion and disappointment, anger and bitterness. Beneath her halo, Lisbeth further punctuated the sentiment of her glyphs with a mildly furrowed brow. The effort marred her otherwise placid expression.

    “I am,” Ji said with a smile. Glyphs of confidence and comfort blossomed above his head. He reached a tentative hand towards Lisbeth’s arm, but she flinched away from his touch.

    “Why?” she demanded. Her face returned to perfect calmness, but the agitation of her glyphs continued.

    “Aren’t you curious?”

    (more…)

  • Bad Dreams (Flash Fiction)

    “Maybe it was something I ate.” Claire said out loud, wiping sweat off the bridge of her nose with the sleeve of her t-shirt. Dan started at her, his head still on the pillow, his eyes foggy with sleep. “I’ll go spend the rest of the night on the couch.” Claire said to him.

    “You don’t have to do that.” Dan protested in a drowsy mumble. Claire took her pillow and left the bedroom. She shut the door and stuffed her pillow against the crack at the bottom of the door frame.

    Claire made her way to the kitchen, turning on every light along the way. She opened the microwave door and the refrigerator too. Their meager light doing some small part to abate the darkness of night.

    She turned on the radio and glanced back at the bedroom door. The pillow was still in its place blocking light and sound from reaching the sleeper within.

    Claire used the broadside of a chef’s knife to smash a couple cloves of garlic. She slipped open her cell phone and used one hand to dial a number while the other hand started the stove and pulled a skillet from the cabinet. Claire edged the phone into the crook of her neck and held it steady with her shoulder while she peeled the garlic and threw it into the hot oil of the pan.

    It only rang once before a man answered.

    “What made you change your mind?” He asked.

    “These damn dreams.” Claire said.

  • Cauldron of Dreams (Flash Fiction)

    Devlin was hovering around my feet. Again. He always hovered when I was working. He danced around like a child needing to relieve himself. His diminutive size did nothing to help dispel the image.

    “Do you need anything? I can get some of the ingredients for you.”

    “I have everything I need,” I told him.

    I leaned over the pot, watching the boiling contents change as I poured from my unlabeled bottles. Each one had a unique shape and color that told me what was inside. I trusted my memory more than I trusted labels. Labels could be changed. Not that I distrusted Devlin, he was loyal to a fault. But others had come and gone over the centuries, trying to change the recipe for their own reasons.

    (more…)

  • Living Memory (Flash Fiction)

    He called to ask if I was going to my mother’s funeral.  I don’t think I am.

    That he would be in a position to make the phone call at all is, I’m sure, a surprise to everyone in my family. We never imagined the old man would outlive our mother. For as long as I can remember, he’s been sick. We thought either the drink or the depression or the cancer would have gotten him by now. We all know that disease has been secretly feasting on him for years.

    We used to whisper about it behind his back, wondering when it would finally finish the job. For a reserved man with little to say, he wasn’t very good at keeping that particular secret. I guess starting every day throwing up in your sink makes discretion a little difficult.

    He asks if I’ve heard from anyone else, and I shake my head even though he can’t see me. I tell him, no, he’s the only one who’s called. Though there was an email from my youngest brother.  Short, sweet, to the point:

    Mom’s dead.

    (more…)

  • Mercury Beach (Flash Fiction)

    Surely, the shark brought Glen the angel. It wasn’t something he normally would have eaten, but there, in the Yoshi Steakhouse, Glen decided to feast on a flank of the world’s oldest predator.

    That night, lying down to sleep between handmade silk sheets, he closed his sake-weighted eyes and slept the greatest sleep of his life.

    In his dream, he walked upon a pristine, white beach. The wet sand slid slick between his toes. The crisp blue of the clear sky lit against his eyes, so bright he had to squint to see the ocean.

    There, amongst the waves, the angel walked, unlike any woman Glen had ever seen. Her feet slid over the water, unsinking. She rose and fell with the surf. Her naked skin radiated pale white, like a sun-soaked cloud on a summer day. The surf sat her gently down upon the beach, light as the ocean breeze.

    Her sunrise-gold hairs floated in the breeze, her eyes were deep blue whirlpools, pulling Glen into their depths and drowning him. Every detail was a masterwork. She smiled. Glen’s soul wept.

    (more…)

  • Cooking and Dreams (Week Ending June 2)

    Maybe we’ve been watching the Food Network too often. It’s possible it was the feta cheese and pepperoni pizza we ate before going to bed. Or it could be that we just like thinking of weird topics to torture our writers with when it’s confabulation week at the Cafe.

    This month, we’re asking our writers to give us their best flash fiction on the topics of cooking and dreams. How these are included, however, is up to each individual writer. The stories we have to offer are a collection of good dreams, bad dreams, aquatic dreams, dreams of food, dream eaters, and dream makers.

    If nothing else, this collection of flash stories is likely to give our readers the munchies. So sit back, enjoy our tales, and dream. And — as always — we appreciate hearing from you in our comments sections.

    We hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend!

    Until next week,

    The Cafe Management

  • What Are You Currently Working On?

    One of the benefits of being involved in a writing group is that it keeps us accountable to our peers. Alone, we often succumb to the doldrums of a writing slump, assuring ourselves “I’ll get to it later.” As a group, the big question is always “what are you working on?” At all of our monthly meetings, we go around the circle and ask this question of each member. Most of it is honest curiosity – what will our amazing cohorts think up next? – but it has the added bonus of motivation. Nobody likes to say “nothing” when it’s his or her turn.

    So for this week’s Ephemera, you get to hear the Confabulator answers to the question “what are you currently working on?”

    Muriel Green

    I am in the middle of re-writing my National Novel Writing Month project from 2005. It is a young adult post-apocalyptic novel about two teenage girls who are professional salespeople at a permanent flea market. Revisiting a project after it’s “cooled off” for a few years is my favorite!

     Paul Swearingen

    The correct answer to “What am I working on?” would be “Trying to get a downed tree removed when no one involved – Westar, Wright Tree Service, another tree service, and the owner of the rental property I’m managing can give me the same answer or even answer my phone calls.” However, I am three chapters into a YA mystery set somewhere not far from Lawrence which may involve the underground railroad, Civil War raiders, paranormal elements, a reluctant love entanglement, and maybe even time travel

    Sara Lundberg

    Camp NaNoWriMo! Well, I haven’t started yet, but as of June 1st, I’ll be writing like mad to try to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I’ve been brainstorming ideas and making outlines for it, though. My novel may or may not be about my secret desires to do harm to a particular management figure in my life. Resemblance to people living or dead is probably coincidence. Probably.

    Jack Campbell, Jr.

    I am going to try to write a novel in June for Camp NaNoWriMo. It’s a dystopian noir detective story. The working title is Heaven’s Edge and takes place in a domed platform risen above a smog-choked future city.

    Kevin Wohler

    I’m currently working on a short story for an upcoming anthology. The story is a guide to being a better villain, and it’s called “Ultimatums.” It’s due at the end of the month, so it’s crunch time. 🙂

    Ashley M. Poland

    I’m working on two things right now, actually. I’ve been getting my plot and outline in order for Camp NaNo in June; it’s a project I meant to start two months ago, so it’s just a matter of deal with what I already have. I’m also working on finishing the first draft of a fanfiction challenge — it’s been my breathing room project between editing.

    Nancy Cayton Myers

    I am currently revising my NaNo 2011 novel, Dreamland.  I took a retreat in early May and was able to rewrite most of the first act–over 6000 new words to replace the first draft ugliness!  I’m also working on a couple of poems and have some short story ideas brewing.  Unfortunately, the end-of-the-school-year has taken its toll with work and family activities, so writing has been hit and miss the last couple of months.  Hoping summer will be slower at home so I can keep moving on the writing.

    R.L. Naquin

    I should be getting developmental edits for Pooka in My Pantry any minute. That’ll give me about a week to get started on them before June 1st.  Don’t laugh, but I’ve signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo to help me crank out the first 50K words for book three in the series, Fairies in My Fireplace. Okay, go ahead and laugh. That’s right. I’ll be revising book two with my editor while writing book three. June will be epic. Cover me, I’m going in. Send chocolate. And energy drinks. And a psychiatric professional.

    Jason Arnett

    I’m halfway through the edits on my novel from November and hope to have that finished soon. I’m also poring over several short stories with an eye toward submission and self-publishing. There are some other things, too, like waiting for notes on the sequel to Evolver and planning the sequel to another book that hasn’t been announced yet so there are a LOT of irons in the fire right now.

  • What is your preferred point of view?

    I’ve always had a problem with separating my characters from myself when I’m writing fiction, and so more of my main characters have been female than male and the POV third-person limited. Makes the POV less connected to me that way.

    Nevertheless, I did experiment with writing one novel in first person from a male’s POV, and after some slips at the beginning, the novel took off on its own, and I finished it successfully.

    The latest trend is for YA authors to use present tense (a few even use second, at least in a few separated spots), but present tense just doesn’t fit my style.

  • Establishing Trust

    In technical writing, there is really only one useful point of view, that of Godlike Omniscience. The tech writer’s challenge is to present information that can be complicated, confusing, incomplete, and flat-out tedious to the reader in a way that supports decision making. Furthermore, the information has to be structured in a way that makes sense the first time it is read, but also allows the reader to go back and easily reference key points.

    You can’t achieve a level of trust with your reader unless you speak with a voice of authority. This is no time to play games for the sake of artistry. Simple, direct, I-know-what-I’m-talking-about language is what is needed.

  • “Two” be Avoided at All Costs

    I have a policy about finishing every (fiction) book I start to read. In my life, I can only come up with a couple of instances where I just couldn’t force myself to the end.

    Perhaps I should clarify, that policy only applies to books written in first and third person.

    If I’m reading something written in second person, it is because some sadistic professor thought it was a good idea.

    Unless it is a Pick-Your-Own-Path adventure story, I see no point in second person. Maybe that makes me a bad English major. Maybe it makes me a bad person. I don’t care. Second person aggravates me. (more…)