History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Lady Huntsman in Cobalt City

| April 30, 2019

One of the concepts I introduce in my stories in Sparx & Arrows is that of the Lady Huntsman. In the Cobalt City Universe, Huntsman is a legacy superhero–a mantle that’s been handed down almost exclusively in the male line of one of Cobalt City’s founding families. Note the almost. Whenever I hear a qualifier like that, […]

Submissions Tetris Part 3: Reprints

| April 29, 2019

So far, I’ve talked about submission trackers and planning submissions. This week, I’m talking about reprint submissions. Most of my inspiration for selling reprints came from two posts I read some years back by Deborah Walker, who is a prolifically published author who makes the most of her reprint rights. You can read those posts […]

Fun for Friday: May 2019 Writing Prompts

| April 26, 2019

I’m not entirely sure how it’s nearly May already, especially with how slowly the first few months of this year went. But here we are, and here are my May 2019 writing prompts. This month’s prompts are randomly generated, which should lead to some fun and interesting ideas! Check back on the last Friday of each […]

Brass & Glass 3 Progress

| April 25, 2019

I’ve turned around the first batch of editorial edits for Brass & Glass 3, which means we’re one step closer to publication! There will still be at least one more round of edits to do, so we don’t have a publication date yet. But every little inch counts in this world! If you want to […]

Site Recommendation: Just Watch

| April 24, 2019

Over the weekend at Norwescon, I learned about a really useful website for people who like to consume visual media: justwatch.com. Through this site, you can look up a movie or TV show you want to watch and see which streaming sites it’s available on. This is really helpful, since so many folks have multiple […]

Norwescon Recap

| April 23, 2019

I spent the weekend at Norwescon, and for the first time in years, I was simply there as an attendee–no vendor’s room or author’s row table, not speaking on panels, and basically no obligations except as part of the Broad Universe reading. So I got to attend a bunch of panels and take some writing […]

Submissions Tetris Part 2: Planning

| April 22, 2019

Last week, I talked about using submissions trackers to keep track of the various submissions I have out at any given time. Today, I’m talking about planning for submissions. When I’ve got a new piece to put into circulation, I generally have a loosely planned out list of markets I want to submit it to. […]

Fun for Friday: Fantasy Plot Generator

| April 19, 2019

Some days, you just need something out of the ordinary to get your story moving. If you’re having one of those days, check out the Warpcore SF: Fantasy Plot Generator. Some of the things it comes up with are more ridiculous than useful, but sometimes those ridiculous elements can coalesce into something interesting! The scope […]

“Princess Last Picked” out now!

| April 18, 2019

Swords, Sorcery, & Self-Rescuing Damsels is out this week, including my story, “Princess Last Picked.” As I mentioned before, it’s a sweet middle grade story about a princess and her friends saving the day. It’s set in a quasi-Celtic fantasy world, and involves cleverness winning out over strength and magic. I had a lot of […]

Review of Gunsmoke and Dragonfire

| April 17, 2019

This week, I’ve reviewed an anthology of westerns mashed up with fantasy and sci-fi, with a hefty dose of steampunk! You can check out my review of Gunsmoke and Dragonfire, edited by Diane Morrison, and containing 25 stories, at Mad Scientist Journal!