DreamForge Anvil | Issue 2 Welcome to Issue 2 of DreamForge Anvil Our purpose here is to deliver engaging stories while also examining the craft of storytelling. We go behind the scenes to hear from several authors about their work, and even to take a look at the line edits leading to the final draft. We look forward to delivering 6 issues of DreamForge Anvil this year, one approximately every two months, and we’ll alert you as each new issue goes online. Let’s take a look at our offerings and their authors in Issue Two. For Issue 02 of DreamForge Anvil, we start off with a poem by Mary Soon Lee, then bring you excellent stories by Wulf Moon, Bo Balder, Edward Ahern, Jonathan Mast, and Ville Meriläinen. We also take insightful journeys “Behind the Scenes” with entertaining looks at the development of Wulf’s new story “Shaken, Not Stirred” and Henry Gasko’s wonderful novelette “Flight of the Brolga” from Issue 7 of DreamForge Magazine. And, of course, there’s much more! |
Wulf Moon Shaken, Not Stirred, Behind the Scenes of Shaken, Not Stirred, How Driving to the Story Creates Accidents Wulf Moon learned oral storytelling as a child when he lived with his Chippewa grandmother. He begged stories from her every night and usually got his wish—fireside tales that fired his imagination. If Moon had a time machine, those are the days he would go back to. Since he doesn’t have a time machine, he writes. Moon wrote his first science fiction story at fifteen. It won the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and became his first professional sale in Science World. He has won over forty writing awards, and thirty in public speaking. His stories have appeared in Writers of the Future Vol. 35, Deep Magic, Future Science Fiction Digest, Best of Third Flatiron, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2. Moon is a professional voice-over actor and is podcast director at Future Science Fiction Digest. Wulf Moon's award-winning SUPER SECRETS Writing Resource and Workshops have been attributed by many aspiring writers as the secret to their success in obtaining first professional sales. Two of Moon's books on writing will be published by Mark Leslie of Stark Publishing Solutions in the fall of 2021. Want in on the Secrets? JOIN THE WULF PACK at www.driftweave.com! |
Mary Soon Lee Mythic Book Emporium Mary Soon Lee was born and raised in London, but has lived in Pittsburgh for over twenty years. Her two latest books are from opposite ends of the poetry spectrum: "Elemental Haiku," containing haiku for the periodic table (Ten Speed Press, 2019) and "The Sign of the Dragon," an epic fantasy with Chinese elements (JABberwocky Literary Agency, 2020). After twenty-five years, her website has finally been updated: marysoonlee.com. |
Henry Gasko Behind the Scenes The Writing of The Flight of the Brolga, Line Edits Henry Gasko was born in a displaced persons camp in Yugoslavia after World War Two. He was raised on a vegetable farm in Canada, and emigrated to Australia more than forty years ago. He has recently retired from a career in data analysis and medical research. Henry has had stories published in the anthologies "Dreamworks", “Alternate Apocalypse”, “On Time”, in Australia's Aurealis magazine, and in the SciPhi Journal. He is a two-time semi-finalist in The Writers of the Future and he won first prize in Positive Writer's "Why I Write" essay contest. He also won the 2018 Sapiens Plurum short story competition, and came third in the 2020 competition. When he is not writing, he enjoys cycling, kayaking, swimming and playing bridge. |
Edward Ahern Tjikko Ed Ahern resumed writing after forty odd years in foreign intelligence and international sales. He’s had over three hundred stories and poems published so far, and six books. Ed works the other side of writing at Bewildering Stories, where he sits on the review board and manages a posse of six review editors. |
Jonathon Mast I Will Never Fly Again Jonathon Mast lives in Kentucky with his wife and an insanity of children. (A group of children is called an insanity. Trust me.) Many of his stories have appeared in various anthologies and magazines, including Daily Science Fiction. His first novel, The Keeper of Tales, is available from Dark Owl Publishing. You can find him at https://jonathonmastauthor.com |
Ville Meriläinen Ava Paints the Horses Ville Meriläinen writes fiction like the Finnish winter: Dark and depressing and someone probably dies. His reprint short stories are collected at CuriousFictions.com and violin/piano duets at Soundcloud.com. Find his novels "Ghost Notes" and "30 Rounds of Silver" on Amazon. |
Bo Balder Shaping the Future with a Sharpie Bo lives and works close to Amsterdam. Bo is the first Dutch author to have been published in F&SF, Clarkesworld, Analog and other places. Her sf novel "The Wan" was published by Pink Narcissus Press. When not writing, she knits, reads and gardens, preferably all three at the same time. Find her books on Amazon. |
Jane Noel Illustration, Design, Layout 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. |
Scot Noel Editor, Editorial Selections, Essays, and more. Scot Noel is a content writer for websites, blogs, social media, e-newsletters, and the like. Speculative fiction has always been his obsession, resulting in a Writers of the Future 2nd place win in 1990, a 7-year career in computer game development, and a handful of published stories, ranging from far future and zombie fiction to the tale of a fairy sheriff fighting an evil dragon. He serves as the editor and publisher of DreamForge Anvil. |
Jamie D Munro Editorial Assistant, Lead FLR Jamie D. Munro is our number one fan, first Patreon Supporter, Kickstarter supporter, and our Editorial Assistant, too! It seems Jamie found us the minute we came online and sometimes I think he understands our mission better than we do. That’s why he became our initial First Line Reader and now our official Editorial Assistant too. Jamie is an aspiring speculative fiction author from Western Australia. |