History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Very Short Fiction and Poetry in Wreathed in Steam

| April 18, 2024

I included one very short piece of fiction, “Paint Pots,” in Wreathed and Steam, which is a gaslamp fantasy style piece of microfiction about a magical painter. I also have a number of poems in this collection, which vary between steampunk and gaslamp fantasy. Some of my personal favorites are two involving ghosts: “My Josephine” and […]

Kickstarter Recommendation: hortus animarum

| April 17, 2024

If you’re interested in queer plant poetry, check out Sienna Tristen’s Kickstarter for the reprinting of hortus animarum. The original printing of the book sold out, and the original publisher closed, so this Kickstarter is for a new edition. From the Kickstarter: hortus animarum is an exploration of humankind’s intense yet non-romantic relationships and the language […]

Coming in May: A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages

| April 16, 2024

I’ve got a new collection, A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages, coming out in May of this year! It collects fantasy  stories and poems along a theme of the major arcana of the tarot. The tarot provides wisdom to seekers of esoteric knowledge. In this collection of fantasy stories and poetry, the cards of the major […]

Poetry Form: Tanka

| April 1, 2024

I’ve been back in the swing of working on some form poetry, so I’ve got some new-to-me forms to talk about! This week’s form is the tanka, which is a variation on a haiku that is five lines instead of three and 31 syllables instead of 17. In general, it still follows the structure of […]

Poetry and Microfiction in Droplets from the Universe

| March 28, 2024

In addition to the short stories I’ve talked about previously, Droplets from the Universe contains a number of joyful sci-fi poems and a couple of very short fiction pieces. The fiction pieces include “Explore Savois,” a microfiction piece written as a tourism enticement for an out-of-the-way planet, and “Life on Pluto,” a very tongue-in-cheek drabble (exactly […]

Review of The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie

| February 28, 2024

The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt and Henry Herz (Blackstone Publishing, 2023), is a speculative fiction anthology that blends historical fact about Marie Curie’s life as a young woman and fantastical, science fiction, and horror elements to present new and intriguing experiments a young Marie might have undertaken. Most […]

My 2024 Goals!

| January 9, 2024

Time to look at my 2024 goals! I’m primarily focusing on shorter fiction in 2024, as I did in 2023, though I am already brainstorming a couple of of novellas that I might want to write as well. We’ll see if those pan out, though! If I do stick with my focus on shorter fiction, […]

My 2023 Awards Eligibility Post

| January 3, 2024

It’s the time of year when folks start posting lists of their stories and books from the past year that are eligible for award nominations, like the Nebulas, Hugos, and more. I’m including word count for my short stories and novelette this year, because different awards require different word counts, and it’s easy for me […]

Review of Resurrections by Ada Hoffmann

| December 20, 2023

Resurrections by Ada Hoffmann (Apex Book Company, 2023) is a wonderful collection of speculative fiction stories and poetry, ranging through a variety of themes and lengths. Many of the pieces feature neurodiverse and/or queer characters, either explicitly or implicitly. The collection as a whole is brilliantly assembled, with many of the stories arranged in such […]

My Recent(-ish) Sci-Fi Stories and Collections!

| December 19, 2023

It’s been quite a while since I did a sci-fi roundup of things I’ve published. So here goes! My poem, “Portrait Day at Zapus Zone 9 Academy,” which imagines a school attended by multiple alien species, appeared in Star*Line in October 2022. My flash fiction piece, “Senchado in Microgravity,” was podcast at Manawaker Studios Flash […]