For Issue 02 of DreamForge Anvil, we start off with a poem by Mary Soon Lee, then bring you excellent stories by Wulf Moon, Bo Balder, Edward Ahern, Jonathan Mast, and Ville Meriläinen. We also take insightful journeys “Behind the Scenes” with an entertaining look at the development of Wulf’s new story “Shaken, Not Stirred”. And, of course, there’s much more!

Humans have been causing the extinction of other species for over 100,000 years. While the pace may be increasing, only in our modern society has awareness, technology, scientific insight, and international cooperation begun to make a difference.

With many beginning writers, it’s difficult to tell the characters apart without a score card, or more importantly, why we should care about them. Every hero doesn’t need to save the world. They may only want to find the last Twinkies after a zombie apocalypse, but whatever their crisis, it needs to be of consequence to them and feel real for the reader.

What is an inciting incident? How do you know when your character has “crossed the threshold?” And why does “driving to the story” create a 12 car pile up every time? With this essay from Wulf Moon’s SUPER SECRETS series, you learn how to start your story at the right place and keep up the pace until the conflict reaches its height!

The peoples of Earth are newcomers to the celestial order in more ways than one, just ask Cassie, our first homeworld ascendant to the Intergalactic Holistic Organization for Accumulation and Redistribution of Dynamics (HOARD).

One way to learn useful writing techniques is to have the author of a well-crafted tale walk you through the mechanics of a story from the opening scene to developing a high stakes gamble that leads to the inevitable climax. Wrap it all up with a cozy denouement and you have a professionally crafted story.

In this poem, the seven times seven kinds of beings all frequent the most exotic of book emporiums, where there is something for every interest and the most diverse of mythic characters may chance to undertake adventures beyond their own persuasions.

“You can’t cut down the tree. Or trim it,” may sound like the opening of a conservationist’s tale, but when Charles Martyn buys his own piece of heaven along the Humber river, the property comes with a Norway spruce that has a mind, and unforgiving spirit, of its own.

In “I Will Never Fly Again,” author Mast posits a world where we all have wings and flight is as natural to humans as walking, running, or even singing. For those with broken wings, can the loss of the sky ever be endured?

In this reprint, originally published at CastofWonders.org, Ville Meriläinen explores how grief can take an oppressive hold on the imagination as well as the healing power of art as we create— and by creating take control once again of our lives and meaning the universe holds for us. It’s why Ava paints the horses.

When an astronaut in an orange space suit crash lands amid the squash and zucchini plants, Zofi believes it must be a Real occurrence, or at least she can’t tell which parts of this story she may have made up and which ones are Really Real. Perhaps it’s not too late for Zofi to Write a better ending.

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