History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Review of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

| October 18, 2023

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey, 2022) is a reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau, set in Mexico during a period of civil strife in the nineteenth century, and focusing on Doctor Moreau’s daughter and an overseer of his hybrid creations. Carlotta Moreau has grown up with a strange sickness, but […]

Review of The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

| October 26, 2022

The Hacienda, Isabel Cañas’s debut novel (Berkeley, 2022), is a gorgeous Gothic novel set post-Mexican War of Independence. Far removed from the typical Gothic settings of Western Europe, this novel draws upon the universal language of dread and presents a world filled with chilling horror. Beatriz is the second wife of a wealthy landowner, having […]

Review of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and Caytee by Suzanna Kanto

| October 5, 2022

I grabbed a Kindle copy of Caytee by Susanna Kanto (Caudex Books, 2022) recently because it was touted as a modern retelling of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. As I’d wanted to read Northanger Abbey for a while, but often find Jane Austen’s writing style a little difficult to dig into, I thought this would be a […]

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 […]

Review of The Atrocities by Jeremy C. Shipp

| July 21, 2021

The Atrocities by Jeremy C. Shipp (tor.com, 2018) blends a modern setting with a spooky Gothic tale. In turns, it maintains creeping dread and sustains quick action. Danna Valdez has just taken a position to educate the young daughter of a wealthy and somewhat eccentric family. But when she arrives at their unusually appointed estate, […]

Review of Into Bones Like Oil by Kaaron Warren

| November 13, 2019

My latest book review is up at Mad Scientist Journal, for a surreal Gothic-styled novella called Into Bones Like Oil. This book reminded me about the best parts of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, but geared toward adult readers rather than younger readers. The book just came out yesterday, so you can grab it right away! […]

An Interview with Author Nathan Crowder

| September 27, 2017

One of my regular writing compatriots is now also one of my compatriots in publishing. Razorgirl Press, who published Brass and Glass, will be releasing Nathan Crowder’s Of Rooks & Ravens at GeekGirlCon this weekend. Here’s Nathan’s blurb for the book: Ravensgate is a magical place, located on the edge of a vast dead lake between the […]

Gothic Literature

| August 23, 2017

One of the panels I spoke on at Spocon, with Rosemary Jones, Fallon Jones, and Kaye Thornbrugh, was about Gothic literature. At one point in time, I was thinking about going back to school for a Ph.D. in Literature, with a specialty in sexuality in Victorian literature. So this panel was just my cup of tea! […]