History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Have You Read Cross & Circle?

| August 13, 2019

Have you read my paranormal suspense novella, Cross & Circle yet? If you like delving into mysteries with a little bit of magic, you might enjoy this book. It’s a very quick read, too, perfect for a short bit of downtime. If you have read Cross & Circle, I’d love it if you left a review for […]

Inspirations for Cross and Circle

| May 21, 2019

Cross and Circle grew out of a strange note I found about a circle and cross inscribed on the roof of a car. It rustled around in my ideas folder for quite a while until I made the connection between this symbol and pecked crosses. Once I dug further into pecked crosses and realized that […]

Shades of Academia in Cross and Circle

| February 28, 2019

A chunk of the story in Cross and Circle takes place in the halls of academia, at least tangentially. Of all the aspects of this book, that was the portion I felt most comfortable writing. Evie’s campus and office are definitely based off my own experiences of many years spent on college campuses. Additionally, the house […]

Winter Reads: Cross & Circle

| November 22, 2018

Cross & Circle isn’t just a great winter read, it’s also set during the winter months! It’s an exciting paranormal mystery novella with elements of anthropology and comparative cultural studies. In a lot of ways, it’s my love letter to academia bundled up in a slightly weird package. If this sounds up your alley, you […]

Light Reading: Cross and Circle

| April 24, 2018

As a reader, sometimes I want a book to read that won’t take me too long. Novellas and novelettes are great for that sort of light reading. I can spend an hour or two enjoying a story, and then I’m done, back to whatever else I need to do. If you like light reads, check […]

When the Heroine Isn’t 18, Blonde, and a Size 3

| January 25, 2018

One of the panels I was on at Rustycon was called “When the Heroine Isn’t 18, Blonde, and a Size 3.” The topics we talked about were wide ranging, from books to TV to movies, but the primary idea was about writing non-Hollywood style women protagonists. This is a topic near and dear to my […]

Holiday Reading: Cross and Circle

| December 26, 2017

If the weather outside is making you want to curl up under a blanket and read, might I recommend my novelette Cross and Circle? It’s a contemporary fantasy story set around the winter holidays, making it a good, short, post-Christmas read. Here’s the summary: Evie and Carlotta are expecting the imminent arrival of their first child when […]

Holiday Reading: Cross and Circle

| November 21, 2017

If you’re looking for something to read after your Thanksgiving dinner, why not check out Cross and Circle? Though the story itself is set closer to Christmas than Thanksgiving, it’s still a lovely holiday read, as it navigates questions of blood relations vs. chosen family, all in the scope of a contemporary fantasy setting. You can […]

Now available on Channillo: Cross and Circle

| September 12, 2017

I’ve added Cross and Circle to Channillo. If you’re already a subscriber, you can subscribe to it here. If you’re not a Channillo subscriber, you should check it out. For as low as $5 per month, you can read up to 10 different books by a variety of authors. Jeremy and I both have multiple books you can […]

Writing with A Kernel of What You Know

| August 29, 2017

There’s a lot of advice for writers that says “write what you know.” For speculative fiction authors, that can be difficult–few of us have ever fought a dragon, piloted a spaceship, or escaped from certain doom at the hands of a horrific monster. (Your mileage may vary. I never have.) I think that perhaps the […]