DreamForge Anvil | Issue 3

Welcome to Issue 3 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 3.

For Issue 03 of DreamForge Anvil, we start off with a poem by accomplished short story writer and novelist Bruce McAllister, then bring you thought provoking works by Timons Esaias, W.T. Paterson, Peter S. Drang, Kat Heckenbach, and P.S.C. Willis. We talk about the challenge of hope when any future may disconcertingly different from our expectations, and Wulf Moon ponders the secret of story structure à la Aristotle.

Our Contributors

Bruce McAllister

We Tell Ourselves

Bruce McAllister’s short fiction and poetry have appeared over the decades in the SFF magazines, literary magazines, “year’s best” volumes, and college textbooks. His Hugo-nominee short story “Kin" was selected to launch LeVar Burton’s new podcast, LEVAR BURTON READS, and the story of the symbolism questionnaire he sent to 150 famous writers when he was sixteen (and just starting to write SF) goes viral occasionally. He grew up with his younger brother in a Navy family, lived on a lot of seas, and now resides (a little restlessly) in southern California.

Kat Heckenbach

The Clockwork Heart

Kat Heckenbach is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Tampa with a B.S. in Biology. She spent several years teaching, but never in a traditional classroom, and then homeschooled her son and daughter while writing and making art. Now that both kids have graduated, she spends her free time being entertained by her 80 lb. boxer mix. She is the author of YA fantasy series Toch Island Chronicles and urban fantasy Relent, as well as dozens of fantasy, science fiction, and horror short stories in magazines and anthologies. She paints, draws, and makes mixed media art with fantasy, sci-fi, and steampunk themes. Enter her world at www.katheckenbach.com.

Peter S. Drang

The Pluripossible Box

Peter S. Drang builds his army of 3D printed hexapod robots by day (see VorpalRobotics.com) and writes sublimely unhinged fiction by night. Someday he hopes to combine and leverage these two activities to achieve his dream job: Philosopher-King of planet Earth. His stories have spontaneously materialized in fine publications such as Flash Fiction Online, Daily Science Fiction, the FlameTree Fiction Newsletter, Andromeda Spaceways Magazine and other venues. This is his first appearance in Dreamforge, and he's mighty proud to be here. Check out his maniacal musings on writing at DrangStories.com, and be sure to like him or drop a comment at Facebook.com/PeterSDrang.

P.S.C. Willis

Skin Deep

P.S.C. Willis is a queer British writer, currently living in Shanghai. They are a graduate of both Newcastle and Reading University in the UK. Writing fits in alongside a day job as a speech and language therapist and takes many forms. Firstly, as an avid text-based role-player since the age of fifteen, creating and sharing online adventures with friends, and now also as an active member of the Shanghai Writing Workshop. Their first published short story ‘I Take Credit for Saving the World’ appeared in the anthology ‘And Lately the Sun’ published by Calyx in 2020. Other current projects include polishing several short stories and looking for homes for them, and editing a YA novel. P likes to write stories that allow others to believe in good people, in magic, or both, and aims to make the world a better place through stories. Twitter: @psc_willis

W.T. Paterson

The Teeny-Tiny Scotsman Who Lives on My Dresser

W. T. Paterson is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from the University of New Hampshire, and is a graduate of Second City Chicago. His work has appeared in over 90 publications worldwide including The Saturday Evening Post, The Forge Literary Magazine, The Dalhousie Review, Brilliant Flash Fiction, and Fresh Ink. A semi-finalist in the Aura Estra short story contest, his work has also received notable accolades from Lycan Valley, North 2 South Press, and Lumberloft. He spends most nights prying open his dog's mouth and saying, "What are you chewing?! Where did you find that?!" Visit his website at www.wtpaterson.com.

Timons Esaias

Mr. Gibson Goes to Work

Timons Esaias is a satirist, writer and poet living in Pittsburgh. His works, ranging from literary to genre, have been published in twenty-two languages. He has been a finalist for the British Science Fiction Award, and he won both the Winter Anthology Contest and the Asimov's Readers Award. His story "Norbert and the System" has appeared in a textbook, and in college curricula, so yes, he is required reading. He was shortlisted for the 2019 Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Prize. His full-length Louis-Award-winning collection of poetry — Why Elephants No Longer Communicate in Greek — was brought out by Concrete Wolf.

He teaches in Seton Hill University's MFA in Writing Popular Fiction program.

People who know him are not surprised to learn that he lived in a museum for eight years.

Wulf Moon

Wulf Moon's SUPER SECRETS: The Three-Act Structure à la Moon

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, Best of Deep Magic Anthology 2, Future Science Fiction Digest, Best of Third Flatiron , and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2 by Pocket Books. 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 http://thesupersecrets.com.

DreamForge Staff

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.