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 […]

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 […]

Unfixed Timelines 2 Launching on Channillo!

| December 14, 2021

It’s been a little while since I’ve launched a book on Channillo, but as of today, you can read the first story in Unfixed Timelines 2, “Nochnaya Serenada,” on Channillo with a subscription! Each Tuesday through the middle of March, I’ll post a new story or essay on some of the historical elements of the stories, […]

Guest Post: Arturo Serrano Talks Historical Figures

| November 22, 2021

Today, I’ve invited Arturo Serrano to talk a little bit about how he chose the historical figures he included in his upcoming book, To Climates Unknown. (Available this Thursday!) One of my first steps when I was preparing the overarching storyline of To Climates Unknown was to do a sweeping search for historical events coinciding with the Mayflower. […]

Review of To Climates Unknown by Arturo Serrano

| November 17, 2021

To Climates Unknown by Arturo Serrano (2021) is a masterful and epic novel spanning centuries and continents. Envisioning an alternate world in which the Mayflower did not reach North America, and the events that both led to that effect and the myriad changes that rippled out from that cause, Serrano has created a stunning portrayal of […]

Review of The Awakening by Dusk Peterson

| October 27, 2021

The Awakening by Dusk Peterson (Love in Dark Settings Press, 2021) is the first book in their Dungeon Guards series. An alternate history story, it consists of four interconnected novellas about guards who work in the Eternal Dungeon and their lives both within and out of the dungeon. The alternate history aspect of this book […]

Question: How Much Historical Research?

| July 26, 2021

I was talking to a newer author of historical fiction recently, and one of the questions they had for me was how much historical research do you need to do before writing historical fiction? My terribly unhelpful answer is, of course, it varies. If I’m writing a short story that’s tied to historical events in […]

“A Balance of Power” in Unfixed Timelines 2

| June 29, 2021

I feel like I’ve always had an interest in Jack the Ripper, and I have no idea what started it, though it’s likely the mystery of who he was that has kept me interested over the years. When I finally decided to write a Jack the Ripper story of my own, however, I didn’t want […]

A Series of Small Walls at Fantastic History!

| December 24, 2020

Catherine Schaff-Stump is hosting some of my articles about the real history behind my stories from Unfixed Timelines at her Fantastic History blog. The fifth post, and the last one of my guest posts for 2020, “A Series of Small Walls,” is up now! There’s an old Eddie Izzard bit about how archaeologists are always […]

Veiled Prophet Essay at Fantastic History!

| October 27, 2020

Catherine Schaff-Stump is hosting some of my articles about the real history behind my stories from Unfixed Timelines at her Fantastic History blog. The fourth post, “The Veiled Prophet,” is up now! One year at Christmas, while flipping through a book about St. Louis at my mom’s house with Jeremy, Mom and I had to […]