DreamCasters Agenda, August 2023
06-06-2023
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
Remaining Dates for 2023
Sept 2 (Saturday) | Oct 8 | Nov 5 | Dec 3
DreamCaster Member News
News from David Hankins
“I have my Kickstarter for Death and the Taxman which launches on August 8th. I also have a story publishing August 21st in Third Flatiron’s Rhapsody of the Spheres anthology called “The United Flamemakers of Ravalli”; a story publishing in Amazing Stories Patreon on August 26th (for free on their website on October 2nd) called “The Devil’s Footlocker”; and a story in Flame Tree’s Lost Atlantis Short Stories called “Where the Lost Things Are” which has already published in the UK and will be available in the US on September 26th.
Candice Lisle, myself, and K.Z. Richards all have stories coming in Murderbugs, which launches on Kickstarter September 8th. My story is called “The Rise and Fall of Frankie’s Patisserie”.
Plus, Moon and I both have stories that just published in ZNB’s Game On! Anthology. Mine was “The Grim Reaper’s Game” and Moon’s was “The Saltmarsh”.
Our Program
Our Guest this month is Hugo and Nebula Nominee Bruce McAllister. Bruce’s literary and genre fiction has appeared in national magazines, literary quarterlies, college textbooks and ‘year’s best’ anthologies. His second novel, Dream Baby, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship winner, was called a “stunning tour de force” by Publishers Weekly.
In 2022, Bruce published a new short story “Sidha” in DreamForge Magazine. This story was quickly picked up as a reprint in “Stealing God and Other Stories,” an anthology Paul Di Filippo called “A bold, brilliant new collection, full of marvelous gems.”
At Bruce McAllister Coaching, Bruce has been a writing coach and consultant on a wide range of popular books for major and smaller publishers and scientific books published by scholarly presses, including Pulitzer and National Book Award nominees; and a facilitator of autobiography and memoir workshops.
The Faces Outside
Something for us to talk about with Bruce McAllister on Sunday. He sent me the link for this story and suggested the general approach in taking a look at it.
Bruce’s first short story, written at 16, published at 17 (in Fred Pohl’s magazine for newcomers, IF, June 1963), was “The Faces Outside.” The story received a lot of attention then and over the next few years. Judith Merrill reprinted it in her “year’s best” sf volume that year, and a few years later Asimov and Greenberg included it in their series, THE GREAT SF STORIES—in their 1963 volume, which was, in Asimov’s views, the last year of the Golden Age of SF.
All that said, if you read it today, you will see how much sensibilities and cultural preconceptions have changed. The first sentence is obviously one that came from a 16-year-old male writing in 1963. There is a female character whose only purpose is to have babies. It’s a male-centered universe. While the story is upbeat in the sense of humanity surviving against all odds, why would this not be a Great SF story today?
Has society grown for the better, or are we just unconsciously in our own cultural moment which future generations will find just as gauche as we find the world as it is reflected in Bruce’s first story from 60 years ago.
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/61397/pg61397-images.html
SciFidea Award – Dyson Spheres
How fast can you write! We’ll take a moment and see how people are progressing with about the Singapore based writing contest.
Reminder, there are ten $20,000 prizes. Deadline is August 31st, and you can submit entries to scifidea_contest@col.com. | https://contest.scifidea.org/
Judges include Neil Clarke, Patrick Neilsen Hayden, Robert J. Sawyer, and Michael Swanwick.
Giveaway This Month!
One lucky attendee chosen at random will receive a copy of the Bruce McAllister short story collection Stealing God and Other Stories.
In September
With so many DreamCasters regularly placing on the Writers of the Future Silver Honorable Mention and Honorable Mention lists, let’s spend a meeting talking about how to write a short story for the contest. What story qualities should you be paying attention to? What should you be sending their way.
Scot has read every story in WoTF Volume 39, and he’ll share some of his observations. DreamCasters can ask questions, pitch ideas, and voice concerns.
Attend the meeting for some cool Story Prompts!
Now Available in PRINT! Order DreamForge Magazine, Issue 12 on Amazon today.
Now Available in PRINT! Order DreamForge Magazine, Issue 11 on Amazon today.
