History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

“Goblin Economics” in Conceits of Whim and Fancy

| December 22, 2022

Sometimes, my stories come from a character voice that gets stuck in my head and won’t leave me alone until I tell their story. This is how “Goblin Economics” came about. Grom, the narrator of the story, popped into my head without much of a story, other than that he was a very clever goblin. […]

Post-Apocalyptic Reads

| October 13, 2022

I have two post-apocalyptic novellas: Scenes from a Quiet Apocalypse and Barren. The former is a much more recent apocalypse, one that hits just before the book begins. The latter is an apocalypse that hit within the main character’s lifetime, but she’s lived in a post-apocalyptic world for longer than she spent in the pre-apocalyptic world. If […]

Sci-Fi Stories and Collections!

| September 22, 2022

If you’re a sci-fi fan, I’ve got a sci-fi collection that might appeal to you! New Moons Under Which to Sleep contains previously published sci-fi short stories, flash fiction pieces, and a couple of poems, plus a couple of pieces that were new to the collection. My other recent sci-fi publications are: “Slime, or Primordial […]

August (and late July) 2022 Publications!

| September 8, 2022

I had one story released at the very end of July, but I didn’t realize it was out until my copy of the magazine arrived! “The Price” appeared in the July 2022 issue of New Maps. This is a short flash story involving a bargain and its price. My story out in August is “Memento […]

New Pieces Out in July 2022

| August 4, 2022

I had two new sci-fi pieces out in July, one poem and one short story! My poem, “The Way Forward is a Maze,” appeared in the Veterans of Alien Wars issue of Eye to the Telescope. I wrote this poem for this call for submissions, and it turned out well. The poem is about how […]

February 2022 Publications!

| March 10, 2022

I had three new pieces out in February, all different sorts and lengths! “Promises Made” was accepted for the Glittery Literary Anthology Four and appeared early in the month. It’s an urban fantasy microfiction story about curses and promises related to the fae. The second one was one of the longest titled stories I’ve had […]

January 2022 Publications

| February 10, 2022

Already this year, I’ve had five things published–four stories and a poem! “Good to the Last Drop” is a microfiction piece that appeared in the January issue of The Antihumanist. It’s a darkly humorous story about coffee and space travel. My poem, “Slime, or Primordial Ooze?” was published in the January issue of Star*Line. This […]

Love in What If I’m a Merfolk?

| December 16, 2021

Some of the poetry in What If I’m a Merfolk? revolves around love among the merfolk, or love between a merfolk and a human. While merfolk and humans are often antagonistic toward each other, that isn’t always the case. My short story, “Catch,” is one example of this, telling the tale of a young woman and […]

My November 2021 Publications

| December 9, 2021

I only had a couple of new stories out in November, far fewer than the abundance of October! My flash fiction piece, “There Is No ‘I’ in Heavenly Host,” came out in Friends Journal at the beginning of the month. This was for their special speculative fiction issue, and I got the idea for it […]

New Publications in October 2021

| November 4, 2021

October was a BUSY month for new publications for me, with stories out throughout the entire month, plus one poem! “Just Smile,” a flash piece, was my first publication of the month at The Dread Machine. It’s a yokai story, this one about the hari onago. If you’ve heard of this yokai before, you’ll understand […]