DreamCasters Agenda,
October 2023

10-08-2023

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

Nov 5 | Dec 3

DreamCaster Member News

Angelique Fawns has been awarded the new Wulf Pack scholarship to LTUE, Life, The Universe, & Everything: The Marion K. “Doc” Smith Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy “I am so dang excited and grateful. I get to leave the Canadian tundra in Feb to go to the Utah snow!!!!!”  https://ltue.net/

Angelique also has a Kickstarter going right now. Introducing the Horror Lite Series

It’s the hour of the evening when you want to curl up with a book of scary short stories. But not too scary… because you want to sleep, right? Stories that will send a chill down your spine while leaving a smile on your face. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1629319559/the-horror-lite-series-by-angelique-fawns

Pete Lead

Pete Lead’s workshop “Improvisation for Creative Writing” has been approved to run at Fyrecon later this year. The workshop adapts stage improvisation techniques to help writers get out of their heads and back in the playful joy of writing.

Pete tested the activities with some fellow Dreamcasters and is excited to start teaching it at conventions.

Wulf Moon

My new writing book HOW TO WRITE A HOWLING GOOD STORY has been selected for NYT bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson’s Storybundle! The 2023 Novel Writing Tools Storybundle is a cutting-edge collection of books curated by Kevin Anderson to help writers achieve superior results with their writing craft, output, motivation, and novel creation. This bundle coincides with NaNoWriMo each year, and it’s wildly successful because it has a proven track record of providing the best for your writing success!

Fourteen awesome books are included for an unbelievable price—you actually set your price—but only for a limited time! Here’s the link to unlock this bundle of great titles, including my new Super Secrets of Writing book ahead of the public release! https://storybundle.com/writing

Writers of the Future Honorable Mentions

Writers of the Future 3rd Quarter Winners Announced for Volume 40 was recently announced and a bunch of you are on the Silver Honorable Mentions List and Honorable Mentions.

Congratulations to:

• Jenny Perry Carr     Silver Honorable Mention
• Brandon Case         Silver Honorable Mention
• Alex Harford  Silver Honorable Mention
• Jan Nerenberg         Silver Honorable Mention
• Darren Lipman        Silver Honorable Mention
• K. Z.  Richards          Silver Honorable Mention

• Annmarie SanSevero         Honorable Mention
• Angelique Fawns     Honorable Mention
• Victoria L Dixon       Honorable Mention
• Joshua Dyer Honorable Mention
• Devin Miller   Honorable Mention
• R.J.K. Lee     Honorable Mention
• Akis Linardos          Honorable Mention
• Jarrod K. Williams   Honorable Mention

Our Program

Today our guest is Herb Kauderer.

Herb Kauderer is an associate professor of English at Hilbert College near Buffalo, NY. He holds a PhD in Popular Literature from the University at Buffalo (2018), an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College (2007), and five other college degrees. He is the author of four books and fifteen chapbooks of poetry. He was the main screenwriter for the super low-budget indie film ‘BEYOND THE MAINSTREAM’ (2013), and has also written drama and short fiction.

Herb’s poem “Frozen Hurricanes” received third place in the Dwarf Stars Award in 2021, and “After” won the 2016 ASIMOV’S Readers’ Award. His collaborative poem “Soft Collision” was a finalist for the ANALOG AnLab Readers’ Award. His 2014 chapbook ‘THE BOOK OF ANSWERS’ was a two time nominee for the Elgin Award, and his 2019 chapbook ‘FRAGMENTS FROM THE BOOK OF THE AFTER-DEAD’ received third place in the 2020 Elgins. In 2021 Herb’s non-fiction essay “Names: SF’s Influence on Name Freedom” won the Critters Readers Award. His poem “A Twisted Certainty” won the Ewaipanoma Sonnet contest (2008), and other poems have been finalists or nominees for the Pushcart Prize, The Rhysling Award, The Dwarf Star Award, and the Dragon Soup contest.

As the featured poet in SCIFAIKUEST #55 for February 2017 Herb had 28 poems and an interview in the issue. That is longer than many chapbooks. He was featured again in SCIFAIKUEST #87 for February 2021 and contributed 29 poems, an interview, and an essay. Herb’s book THE SNOWSTORM OF ’14: POEMS FROM THE FRONT LINES (2016) recounts the experience of living at the epicenter of two of the worst snowstorms in the lower 48 states.

In looking over your website, I found this page https://www.herbkauderer.com/short-fiction-bibliography.html  and the topic of “The First Battle of the Puffer War” with an exploration of the line between poetry and story.  As a group we tend to focus a lot on structure (because it’s one of the biggest weaknesses we see in submissions), but this seems like a great place to get away from that and start a discussion talking about fusionist forms, intent, and the power of language.

More information is available at https://www.herbkauderer.com/

Giveaway This Month!

One lucky attendee chosen at random will receive a copy of “Beneath the Misty Surface,” which includes work from today’s guest, Herb Kauderer. Mysteries are hidden in plain sight within this book. This collection of 20+ stories and poems transport readers across landscapes both mental and natural, exploring boundaries between life and death, and the known and unknowable.

In November

In November, we plan on having Sarena Ulibarri, publisher and writer of solarpunk. Sarena will put together a presentation with some of her strategies for approaching writing solarpunk, as well as some of the most common tropes I see in slush piles, and then leave enough time for questions and discussions at the end.

Attend the meeting for some cool Story Prompts!