DreamForge Magazine Authors & Illustrators | Issue 4
It takes a lot of talent from a wide range of people to put together a magazine. Here's a bio of all of the authors and illustrators from Issue 4.
Authors
Donald S. Crankshaw
Dreamforger
Donald S. Crankshaw has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from MIT, which was more useful for writing fantasy than he had expected, though less helpful for writing science fiction than he had hoped. He has previously published stories in Nature: Futures, Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, and Black Gate, among others.

Together with his wife and fellow writer, Kristin Janz, Donald publishes the online magazine Mysterion. While he lives at www.donaldscrankshaw.com online, he can be found in and around Boston in the waking world.

Marie Croke 
Cessation of Civilization  
Marie Croke went to bed with a miniature dictionary (she still has it) before she was school aged and began writing stories in first grade. She is now a first place winner in the Writers of the Future Contest (Vol. 28) and has since gone on to have stories published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Daily Science Fiction. She lives in Maryland with her fiancé, son and daughter, all of whom like to scribble messages in her notebooks when she’s not looking. You can find her online at mariecroke.com.


Sally Wiener Grotta 
Beyond Our Hidden Stars

Sally Wiener Grotta is the author of numerous books including The Winter Boy (a 2015 Locus Magazine Recommended Read) and Jo Joe (a Jewish Book Council Network Book), and a recipient of a 2019 Health Odyssey Award for her short story One Widow’s Healing. A member of The Authors Guild and SFWA, and a fulltime freelancer, she's also written hundreds of stories, articles, features and essays published in glossy magazines, newspapers and journals. 
 
Her website is at www.SallyWienerGrotta.com.
Robert E. Harpold
Extremophile

In previous jobs, Robert worked in Greenland and Antarctica for weeks at a time or operated spacecraft. In his current job, he designs trajectories for the upcoming Orion flights to return people to the Moon. He hopes these experiences have textured this story, his first in print.
Gary Kloster
Hot Times at Shady Pines
Gary Kloster is a writer, a stay-at-home father, a librarian and a martial artist. Sometimes all on the same day, seldom all at the same time. His work has appeared in Analog, Apex, Clarkesworld, Escape Pod, and with many other magazines and anthologies. His full bibliography can be found at garykloster.com.
Anna Madden
The Last Petal 
Anna Madden is a fantasy writer living in Fort Worth, Texas. She graduated from the University of Missouri–Kansas City with a Bachelor of Arts: English Creative Writing Emphasis in 2013. A few of her favorite authors include Ursula K. Le Guin, Judith Tarr, and Jane Lindskold. The Last Petal is her first sale, though we found her remarkably professional to work with as well as a delight to read.
John Jos. Miller 
The Ghost of a Smile 

John Jos. Miller is a science fiction author known for his work in the long-running Wild Cards shared universe series of original anthologies and novels, edited by George R. R. Martin. He has also published nine novels, and nearly 30 short stories and eight comic book scripts. “The Ghost of a Smile” was written for two friends of John’s and appeared in a chapbook that was offered to the guests at their wedding, a fact which makes the tale all the sweeter.
Kurt Pankau 
Autoimmune 

Kurt Pankau is a computer engineer in St. Louis. He has a weakness for board games, dad-jokes, and stories about time travel. His fiction has appeared various and sundry places around the web, including Nature Magazine, Escape Pod, Daily Science Fiction, and Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.
Space Heater  
 Angela Yuriko Smith 

Angela Yuriko Smith is an American poet, publisher and author. Her first collection of poetry, In Favor of Pain, was nominated for a 2017 Elgin Award. Her latest novella, Bitter Suites, is a 2018 Bram Stoker Awards® Finalist. She co-publishes Space and Time magazine, a 53-year-old publication dedicated to fantasy, horror and science fiction. For more information visit SpaceandTimeMagazine.com or AngelaYSmith.com. 
 For more information visit SpaceandTimeMagazine.com or  AngelaYSmith.com.
Illustrators
Cheryl Ceol
Illustrator for Hot Times at Shady Pines
Cheryl Ceol is a native Pennsylvanian artist who passionately expresses nature through her art. An Art Institute of Pittsburgh graduate, she’s acquired experience in the printing and sign industry, illustration work in science fiction and fantasy, portraiture and graphic design.

A growing desire to contribute to the children’s book field. Cheryl created “Can You Picture This”, a self-published book of short stories, Find It Pictures and ideas for children and family and friends to have fun and create together.

But if asked what her favorite type of art is, it would be plein air sketching and painting.
The practice of just being thankful for what God has put right in front of her by putting it to paper. We walk by magnificence every day. It’s astounding to create something today and notice
the pattern of beauty that’s inherent in its design tomorrow.
Elizabeth Leggett
Illustrator for A Ghost of a Smile

Elizabeth Leggett is a Hugo award-winning illustrator whose work focuses on soulful, human moments-in-time that combine ambiguous interpretation and curiosity with realism. In 2012, she ended a long fallow period by creating a full seventy-eight card tarot in a single year.  From there, she transitioned into freelance illustration.  Her clients represent a broad range of outlets, from multiple Hugo award-winning Lightspeed Magazine to multiple Lambda Literary winner, Lethe Press. She was honored to be chosen to art direct both Women Destroy Fantasy and Queers Destroy Science Fiction , both under the Lightspeed banner. She has been working for Lightspeed Magazine since 2014.
Fiona Jayde
Illustrator for Autoimmune
Fiona Jayde is a space pilot, a ninth-degree black belt in three styles of martial arts, a computer hacker, a mountain climber, a jazz singer, a superspy with a talent for languages, and an evil genius. All in her own head.

Winner for Best Fantasy and Best Contemporary Romance covers (RONE Awards, 2013). Four-time nominee (Best Fantasy, Best Young Adult, Best Sci Fi and Best Paranormal cover) at RONE Awards, 2014. Finalist for Best Fantasy cover at Ariana Awards, and Mutli-time “cover of the month” winner at Cover Love. 
Frank Schurter
 Illustrator for Extremophile

As a boy growing up in Columbus, Ohio, Frank Schurter read a lot of Ray Bradbury short stories, watched a lot of Star Trek and Twilight Zone , and wanted desperately to draw comic books. He discovered the joys of digital illustration while earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts with a Major in Illustration at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Against considerable odds, he found employment doing illustration, animation, and game design, including many years at DreamForge Intertainment in Greensburg, PA with Scot and Jane Noel (later to become founders of DreamForge Magazine). 

Nowadays, Frank is a Web Design and Development instructor at Pittsburgh Technical College. A lifelong student of comedy, he also leads and performs with the Amish Monkeys comedy improv troupe.
Jane Noel
 Graphic Design, The Last Petal, Cessation of Civilization, and Beyond our Hidden Stars

Jane is the Founder of Chroma Marketing Essentials, a digital marketing agency located in Jeannette PA.  She holds a degree in Visual Communications from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and more years of experience than she cares to count.

Before founding CME, Jane worked as an Artist, Art Lead, Art Director, and Project Manager for the computer game developer DreamForge Intertainment, where she worked on a number of early computer games, including Roger Zelazny’s Chronomaster .
John Blumen
 Illustrator for Dreamforger

John Blumen is a freelance illustrator based in Pittsburgh, PA. His images grace the covers of books published by The penguin Group, Tor, Harcourt Publishing and Llewellyn Worldwide and a myriad of other publications and periodicals. His work also appears in the fantasy art showcases Spectrum, Fantasy Art Now, Aphrodisia and Erotic Fantasy Art, Now .