DreamForge Anvil | Issue 4
Welcome to Issue 4 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.
For Issue 4 of DreamForge Anvil, we start off with a poem by one of DreamForge’s most dedicated First Line Readers and the author of “Flight of the Brolga” in DreamForge Magazine Issue 7, Henry Gasko. We also welcome Monica Joyce Evans, returning to our pages with a wonderful vignette of acceptance. J.L. Akagi challenges us to go beyond human relationships, and from J.M. Rhineheart, David Boffa, and Floris Kleijne, we experience the chance lost in the blink of an eye, the sweetness of young love, and the enduring grief of loss. Wulf Moon returns with writing advice, and our Hope Notes explore Hope vs. The Broken World – The Population Bomb.
Our Contributors
Henry Gasko
Quantum Love
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.
Floris Kleijne
The Giant and the Thaumaturge
Floris M. Kleijne writes stories in the interstices between his family, his career in finance, and his insatiable craving for Netflix binges. His stories have appeared in publications like Daily Science Fiction, Galaxy's Edge, Factor Four Magazine, the Writers of the Future anthologies, and Little Blue Marble. Floris lives with his wonderful wife and two cheerful young sons in a 200-year-old farmhouse in the Dutch river district, but despite that inspiring environment, does most of his writing on trains. He blogs about writing, Real Life™, and atrocious customer service, on www.floriskleijne.com, where you can also find more of his fiction, a lot of it at no additional charge.
J.M. Rhineheart
Flashes of You
J.M. Rhineheart lives in Virginia with her husband and daughter, where she also teaches English and music. She has been published in several anthologies, including The Devil You Know and Rowan & Oak. When she’s not writing, she loves exploring National Parks and playing the violin. You can find her at her website or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Monica Joyce Evans
Huddle
Monica Joyce Evans is a digital game designer and researcher who began publishing speculative fiction in 2019. Her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in more than a dozen publications, including Analog, Nature: Futures, and Flash Fiction Online. She lives in North Texas with her husband, two daughters, and approximately ten million books. You can reach her at monicajoyceevans@gmail.com.

David Boffa
On the Electrodynamics of Skating Bodies
David Boffa is a writer, independent filmmaker, and dog lover currently located in Madison, Wisconsin. For several years he taught art history at Beloit College, after spending time living in Rome, Italy, and Orono, Maine (where he developed a deep appreciation for maple syrup). He is a dedicated fan of nearly all things related to Olympic weightlifting and The Legend of Zelda series of video games. You learn more about his work at www.davidboffa.com; if you’d like to see a steady stream of beagle pictures you can check out his Instagram at @dr_boffa
J.L. Akagi
Eat and be Eaten
J.L. Akagi is a queer Japanese American who writes about what scares her. Her work has appeared in Strange Horizons and is forthcoming in The Dread Machine.

I grew up in Colorado. When I was young, the death of Matthew Shepard dominated local news coverage. I realized I was queer concurrently with the aftermath. Details of his murder still bother me, even so many years later. I wrote this story as a way of reconciling that kind of cruelty for myself. I've always envisioned death as peaceful, and it soothes me to imagine a special locus of peace for those impacted by violent hate crimes.
Wulf Moon
Wulf Moon’s SUPER SECRETS: Character Agency—I Need a Hero!
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.