History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

My Brand New Newsletter!

| January 31, 2022

I’ve just launched the sign-ups for a brand-new author newsletter that will come out monthly. In it, I’ll talk about what I’m up to, interesting history and research things I’ve found, what’s coming next, and recommendations for other books and writing you might enjoy if you like mine! If you sign up, you also get […]

Fun for Friday: February 2022 Writing Prompts

| January 28, 2022

It’s nearly February, so it’s time for some new writing prompts! This month, I’ve separated out each column to be a person, a place, and a thing, as inspired by a recent “Poetry Thunderdome” event I took place in, where those categories were sourced from the audience, and then we wrote poems very quickly based […]

Sci-Fi Reads

| January 27, 2022

If you’re a sci-fi fan, I’ve got one sci-fi collection that might appeal to you! New Moons Under Which to Sleep contains mainly previously published sci-fi short stories, flash fiction pieces, and a couple of poems, plus a couple of poems that were new to the collection. I’ve had a bunch of other very short […]

Review of The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller

| January 26, 2022

The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller (Tor Books, 2022) is a ornate and lovely Gothic tale of intrigue, mystery, and lasting trauma. With a fantastical premise and world, the gorgeous prose will keep you glued to this book all the way through. The book revolves around Charm, the Emperor’s mistress and proprietress of a […]

“Fire Bad” in Intercity Illusions

| January 25, 2022

The story “Fire Bad” in Intercity Illusions is one of my stories told from the perspective of an animal–in this case, a cat. It also shares a similarity with another of my stories, in that it espouses the idea that perhaps cats were once dragons. “Fire Bad” is a very short flash fiction piece, fairly simple […]

What A Day Looks Like

| January 24, 2022

As I mentioned previously, I’m doing a lot of work this year with productivity and scheduling. As part of this, I’ve been tracking where my time goes in fifteen-minute increments throughout the day to see when I’m working on what type of project, and how much time I’m spending on things. One of the things […]

Fun for Friday: Sci-Fi and Post-Apocalyptic Images

| January 21, 2022

This week’s Fun for Friday is sci-fi and post-apocalyptic images! The first image is an illustration from the mid-twentieth century speculating on what space travel would be like. It depicts three men, two of whom are seated at a table and one of whom is floating horizontally toward the table. They appear to be engaged […]

Unfixed Timelines 2 on Channillo

| January 20, 2022

Have you checked out Unfixed Timelines 2 on Channillo? Each Tuesday, I’m publishing a story or essay related to the historical elements of the story there. You just need a Channillo subscription to read my stories and essays, and you can read other books there as well! A Russian pilot using a bit of magic and […]

Review of The Case of the Missing Marquess (Enola Holmes Book 1) by Nancy Springer

| January 19, 2022

The Case of the Missing Marquess is the first book in the Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer (Penguin Young Readers Group, 2007), which was the inspiration for the Enola Holmes movie on Netflix in 2020. And while the basic premise between this middle grade book and the movie is similar, there are also distinct differences […]

Avatar of Freya Cover Reveal!

| January 18, 2022

I’m putting together the first of my 2022 short story collections, which means it’s time for a cover reveal! Avatar of Freya will collect four stories about Friday Jones, aka Dulcamara, a Cobalt City hero who is an avatar of the Norse goddess Freya. She’s got some awesome plant-related powers and a variety of other young […]