History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Have You Checked out Unfixed Timelines 2?

| October 15, 2020

Have you gotten a copy of Unfixed Timelines 2 yet? It’s been out for a month now, and I’m looking forward to see what people think about the stories and essays in this volume! In the coming months, I’ll talk a bit more about the various stories and histories I used to write those stories. In […]

Pirates of the Mediterranean Essay at Fantastic History!

| September 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 third post, “Pirates of the Mediterranean,” is up now! I wrote my story “Salt in Our Veins” based on a call for submissions that necessitated a Mediterranean setting and fae of […]

Out Today: Unfixed Timelines 2!

| September 15, 2020

Unfixed Timelines 2 is out today, with six short stories, one poem, and seven essays about the real history that inspired each of the stories! This volume of stories includes: “Nochnaya Serenada” (reprint) and an essay about the history of the Night Witches “Have You Seen Him?” and an essay about the historical connections between […]

Unfixed Timelines 2 Cover Art!

| September 1, 2020

Much like when I published the first Unfixed Timelines, the cover art for Unfixed Timelines 2 is also a mashup of historical images related to the stories within this collection. Astute observers might recognize a couple of the Romanov Princesses, though most of the other images are fairly obscure (and obscured). While Unfixed Timelines 2 will be, like […]

Unfixed Timelines Lineup Confirmed!

| July 23, 2020

I’ve written and revised the essays for Unfixed Timelines 2, so I now feel pretty confident telling you about what this collection will include. The order remains to be determined, but the stories and essay topics are: “Nochnaya Serenada” (reprint) and an essay about the history of the Night Witches “Have You Seen Him?” and […]

The Nineteenth Kentucky Essay at Fantastic History!

| July 14, 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 second post, “The 19th Kentucky,” is up now! The characters in my story, “The Glorious Dead,” were members of the 19th Kentucky, and one of those characters, James J. Ray, was […]

“Beer City” at Fantastic History!

| June 2, 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 first post, “Beer City,” is up now! The history of the incident I portray in “Veli tis Artemidos” is one of the weirdest things I’ve ever researched. It involved mostly looking at […]

Working on Essays for Unfixed Timelines II

| May 19, 2020

I’ve started doing some of the research for the essays to accompany my stories in Unfixed Timelines II, my second collection of short stories (and one poem) of alternate history and fantastical history. The first volume had five stories and essays, and it looks like the second volume should have a couple more than that (though […]

Cool Alternate History Resource: Historic Cities

| April 20, 2020

If you’re writing alternate history, historical fiction, or even fantastical history, check out Historic Cities as a great source of historical maps. The primary page makes it look a little Eurocentric, but if you click through to the list of city names, you’ll see maps for non-European countries as well!

Unfixed Timelines: Veli tis Artemidos

| February 25, 2020

When I was choosing stories to include in the first volume of Unfixed Timelines, “Veli tis Artemidos” was at the top of my list. Not only do I love this story, I also love the history behind it, because it’s just so WEIRD! A body so riddled with bullets that the person responsible for the death […]