DreamCasters Agenda,
February 2024

02-03-2024 | 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

DreamCaster Dates for 2024

Special Note: Our Meeting in February is on a Saturday. We want to see if that better serves more of our membership. In March, we return to Sunday for a previously scheduled guest: Scott Andrews, Editor of Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

Member Accomplishments

DreamCaster Joshua Dyer signed a traditional book deal. According to Joshua:

“The big news is now official. I’m happy to say that my science fiction/cyberpunk novel, Avitron: Ephemeris, will be published traditionally by Book Forge Press a bit later this year. There is still lot of work to do to get it ready.

We’ll be looking to put together a street team of readers to read and review Advance Reader Copies, spread the word, etc. If anyone is interested in helping me out in this regard, let me know. You’ll get a free copy of the book ahead of release for your time.”

Our Program – Guest Author Bret Nelson on his Career, Character Development, and More!

Bret Nelson is an Emmy Award-winning creator. When he’s not writing stories, he directs TV shows and makes games. Over the years, he’s worked with Kermit the Frog, Buzz Lightyear, and Conan the Cimmerian. He worked on Farscape: The Peacekeeper wars in 2004.

Bret authored the novelization of the 2011 cult movie Manborg, where a soldier, brought back to life as a cyborg, fights alongside a band of adventurers against demon hordes in a dystopian future.

In June, Bret’s story “Thread” appeared in DreamForge Magazine. The tale can be read free online at https://bit.ly/DF12-Thread. This year Bret will make a repeat performance in DF with a wonderfully upbeat piece of humans being their best in an automated world, called “Flow.”

Bret has been published in The Encyclopocalypse of Legends and Lore: Volume One, a collection of macabre myths and lurid legends feature tales of Perchta and watchers, sirens and Squonks from some of the most exciting and diverse voices in modern horror.

A work Bret wishes more readers knew about is Gabba Gabba Hey: An anthology of fiction inspired by the music of The Ramones.

His latest work came out in December: Murder Garden / Bog Fiends: An Encyclopocalypse Double Tap. Inspired by the classic and highly collectable Ace Double books, this is the first in a new series of Encyclopocalypse Double Tap Editions!

Today, in addition to taking us on a journey through his career and works, Bret will help us talk about the Hospitium Anthology challenge from last month, show us how to focus on character, and possibly join in with reviewing story openings you are working on.

He gave us one of his character based flash pieces “Salt,” published in Bards and Sages Quarterly last year.  It is available for a short time to read here. I think this story is a tour-de-force on the drawing of characters in a very short space, with the flash twist at the end based on how the characters have been defined.  I know I’ll be studying it for help with my Hospitium story.

Giveaway This Month!

One lucky attendee chosen at random will receive Bret Nelson’s latest work: Murder Garden / Bog Fiends: An Encyclopocalypse Double Tap. Inspired by the classic and highly collectable Ace Double books, this is the first in a new series of Encyclopocalypse Double Tap Editions!

Author Bret Nelson mashes up dime novels and drive-in double features to bring you two killer books in one!

In March

In March, our guest will be Scott Andrews, the editor in chief of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Literary Adventure Fantasy.

Scott H. Andrews is a chemistry lecturer, editor, musician, and writer. He was co-Fiction Editor of The William and Mary Review for two years. His literary short fiction won a $1000 prize from the Briar Cliff Review; his genre short fiction has appeared in venues such as Ann VanderMeer’s Weird Tales, Space and Time, and On Spec. He has been a guest instructor at the Odyssey Writing Workshop and he is a five-time finalist for the World Fantasy Award for his editing and publishing of Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

Scott lives in Virginia with his wife, two cats, nine guitars, a dozen overflowing bookcases, and hundreds of beer bottles from all over the world.

Story Prompts

Science Fiction— Imagine an offshoot of an advanced gaming environment, one which provides a completely immersive sensory experience and in which you can build your own avatar. The technology quickly becomes adopted by huge numbers of ‘players’ not just for its immersive experience, but because they can try on any gender, age, build, weight, or condition – from switching sexes to learning what it’s like for their friend who is paraplegic. Focus on a small number of ‘resisters’ who think the game is evil and what conflict or experience it will take to make them realize that empathy is worthwhile.

Fantasy— The Day Without the Dead. Imagine a society where there is a day of social catharsis where people are freed from the constraints of previous generations and the expectations of their ancestors and gods. A little like the “Purge” idea, but the concept isn’t to commit crimes but to be free of the oversight of dead ancestors, spirits, and gods. The day of relaxed expectations is dependent on a set of magical rituals that blind the spiritual world to what happens in the physical. But a troublemaker finds a way to glitch the ritual and the spirit world is not happy with what it sees.

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.