History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

October 2017 recap

| October 31, 2017

By the numbers: Stories out at the beginning of the month: 25 Acceptances received: 1 Rejections received: 21 Stories withdrawn: 0 Resubmissions: 23 New Submissions: 2 Stories out at the end of the month: 27 October has been a very productive month. On top of doing a lot of work on Brass and Glass Book 2, I’ve […]

Maintaining a Blog Presence

| October 30, 2017

For many writers, maintaining a blog presence is a scary prospect. But if you’re a writer, you’ve likely got plenty to say, and a blog can be a great way to attract potential new readers. The tricks are providing interesting content and maintaining a schedule. You might have noticed that I’ve got a bit of […]

Fun for Friday: More Spooky Writing Prompts!

| October 27, 2017

Since my last batch of spooky writing prompts had quite a few on the darker side of things, I decided to lighten it up this week with 7 Quick Halloween Writing Prompts that are designed for younger writers. This batch has plenty with a good Halloween theme, and they only need to be dark and […]

An Offer for New Patreon Backers

| October 26, 2017

Have you checked out my Patreon recently? No? What’s keeping you? If it sweetens the pot, here’s a little deal for you! Any new backers who pledge at the $3 a month or higher level before October 31st will get a copy of my latest collection, Volatile Figments. This already went out to my existing backers, […]

Spooky Reads: Utter Fabrication

| October 25, 2017

Have you checked out Utter Fabrication yet? I may be biased, as one of the editors, but I think this is a great collection of slightly spooky stories, perfect for a little pre-Halloween reading. There are also light-hearted pieces mixed in with the spooky, so you won’t be completely scared while reading it. You can buy Utter […]

“The Glorious Dead” reprinted in The Misbehaving Dead

| October 24, 2017

My story of Civil War soldiers and zombies, “The Glorious Dead,” has been reprinted in The Misbehaving Dead, an anthology of stories about dead things that won’t stay dead and buried. My story involves a little bit of voodoo gone wrong, along with a fragment from an actual soldier’s diary while he was at Vicksburg. If […]

The Dreaded Fight Scenes

| October 23, 2017

AKA Why can’t we all just get along? I admit it. I hate writing fight scenes. Dread them, even. I don’t like reading them, either. My mind sort of glazes over, waiting to get back to the “good stuff,” also known as the part where they aren’t fighting any more. But I write action and […]

Fun for Friday: Spooky Etymologies

| October 20, 2017

English words come from all sorts of interesting places, but here’s a list of words with “spooky” etymologies. While some of these words may have spookier origins than others, it’s interesting to see the way words have shifted from their original roots to their modern meanings. I was particularly interested in the origins of “cobalt,” […]

Day Job + Writing = Story Ideas?

| October 19, 2017

Before I moved to Seattle, I was pretty sure that archaeology was EXACTLY like it looks in the movies, all digging up ancient civilizations and running around lost temples. No, wait, maybe that’s just how Indiana Jones makes archaeology look cool in the movies. When I moved here, I started working with archaeologists, and though […]

Spooky Reads Recommendation: Nocturals by Dan Brereton

| October 18, 2017

I’m working on more reviews to post, but in the meantime, here’s a mini-comic book review from the depths of our collections. Nocturnals was a comic that came out in 1995, but somehow, I missed it until recently. Looking at this book (which we have in hardcover), it’s everything that 90s goth girl me would […]