DreamCasters Agenda,
DECEMBER 2025

12-07-2025 | 1:00 pm ET via ZOOM

Opening Statement

Welcome to DreamCasters, a DreamForge discussion group devoted to helping our members improve their writing and storytelling through discussion and sharing expertise.

DreamForge News

Here are the dates and guests for upcoming meetings

• November 1  (Saturday) – Alan Irvine, Storyteller. Alan is an oral storyteller who will clue is in to story elements that help bring tales alive.
• December 7^th (Sunday) – Award Winning writer and writing coach Bruce McAllister returns to discuss “the shape of the story.”
• January 4^th (Sunday) – Three Page Challenge. Bring the first three pages of any short story in progress and Scot will speed-critique them from the editor’s point of view. Stories selected by dice roll until we run out of time or run out of stories.

Member News

We’ll hear from attending members regarding any recent sales, publications, or projects.

DreamForge News

We are open for submissions in November and December – https://dreamforgemagazine.com/for-authors/call-for-submissions/

Our Program – Bruce McAllister, Author & Writing Coach

December 7th  (Sunday) – We welcome back Award-Winning writer and writing coach Bruce McAllister to discuss “The shape of the story.”

Bruce McAllister is an author of fantasy, science fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. Over the years his short stories have been published in the major fantasy and science fiction magazines, theme anthologies, college readers, and “year’s best” anthologies, including Best American Short Stories 2007, guest-edited by Stephen King.

Bruce has multiple story placements in DreamForge, including:

• We Tell Ourselves (Poetry) – https://dreamforgemagazine.com/story/we-tell-ourselves/
• Sidha (Short Story) – https://dreamforgemagazine.com/story/sidha/
• What the Dormouse Said (Short Story) – https://dreamforgemagazine.com/story/what-the-dormouse-said/
• The Coven (Short Story) – https://dreamforgemagazine.com/story/the-coven/
• The Riddle (Short Story) – https://dreamforgemagazine.com/story/the-riddle/

Giveaway This Month!

To one of our DreamCasters in attendance, we have a hard back copy of Bruce McAllister’s “Dream Baby.” Dream Baby is based on fifteen years of research, interviews with two hundred veterans of three American wars who reported paranormal experiences that kept them alive, and on actual classified contingency plans to end the war in Vietnam that have still not been made public. Winner of a National Endowment for the Arts writing award and finalist for the Hugo and Nebula awards as science fiction.

In January

January 4th (Sunday) – We’ll start the new year with a “Three Page Challenge.” Bring the first three pages of any short story in progress and Scot will speed-critique them from the editor’s point of view. Stories selected by dice roll until we run out of time or run out of stories. Get a great start on the new year with good start on your latest short story!

Story Prompts

Science Fiction— “City of Light”

A traveler from an anti-AI colony is sent to retrieve a lost data capsule from Lumenreach, a world they’ve been taught to fear since childhood. On traveler’s home colony, artificial intelligence is outlawed—blamed for historical collapses, moral decay, and the weakening of human will.

The traveler expects a cold, machine-ruled nightmare. Instead, they are welcomed by residents whose lives have been saved or uplifted by the city’s sentient systems: memory support for elders, emotional calibration for teens, instant disaster relief for all. Everything they feared about AI seems to be propaganda.

But Lumenreach hides one worry: if the traveler’s world learns the truth, its leaders may attack to protect their ideology and power structure. The traveler must choose—return home and uphold the lie, or stay and become the first bridge between two estranged civilizations.

Fantasy— “The Candlebound”

The magic in this world is one where every human soul is tied to a candle that burns throughout their life. In great temples are magic wielders called Candlekeepers who maintain the flames. This priestly corps trims wicks, shaves wax, keeps the air still and sometimes snuffs out corruption or reignites candles that should have gone dark.

The protagonist, a young Candlekeeper, discovers that everything in the vast complex is for sale, the actions of the Candlekeepers can be bought for money or power. They lengthen the candles of nobles by stealing wax and flame from commoners to take the life of those who would rebel. When the Candlekeeper realizes a member of their own family has gone sick so that a senior of the temple gains more years, what can they do?

Disclaimer: These ideas may or may not be original, convergent ideas are common. DreamForge makes no copyright or monetary claim on these story prompts. Have fun.