History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

“Muss” in Conceits of Whim and Fancy

| June 22, 2023

My story “Muss” is the story of a girl and her familiar, but it’s also a story about growing up and responsibility, like a number of my stories with younger protagonists are. It’s both sweet and bittersweet, and it presents the protagonist with multiple overt challenges, along with one less obvious challenge. And it’s the […]

Have You Checked Out C. and M. Marsh, Girl Detectives?

| June 16, 2022

Have you checked out C. and M. Marsh, Girl Detectives yet? Chrysanthemum and Marigold Marsh live in a mechanical garden with their family. But when strange things happen, these two girl detectives are on the case! Follow them through their adventures with rose thieves, a misbehaving monkey, and someone sneaking around the garden at night! C. […]

C. and M. Marsh, Girl Detectives Out Today!

| May 31, 2022

Today, the follow up to my middle grade book, The Trouble with the Tick-Tock Tabby, is out! It’s called C. and M. Marsh, Girl Detectives, and it’s jam packed with short story adventures of Chrysanthemum and Marigold Marsh, inhabitants of the mechanical garden! This includes the first story I wrote for publication, “The Recondite Riddle […]

C. and M. Marsh, Girl Detectives Coming Soon!

| May 12, 2022

The very first story I wrote as an adult, with an intent of publication was a sweet little story about two young girls living in a mechanical garden. Because I was very lucky, I sold that story, and then sold it several more times as reprint. It wound up inspiring me to write more, and […]

Writing Tools: Reckless Deck Apprentice Pack

| October 11, 2021

I’ve accumulated a large collection of card-based writing tools, each of which is useful to different parts of my writing process. So I’ve decided to do a series of posts about the various decks I own and how I use them in my writing. I’ve talked previously about the core Reckless Deck and Reckless Deck Worlds, […]

“Fixer-Upper” now out! (Plus a haiku!)

| December 17, 2019

My latest story in the Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide series of anthologies is out now. This year, I’ve got another sci-fi story in the anthology, called “Fixer-Upper.” It’s a post-apocalyptic story about sisters trying to follow their dreams. In spite of the post-apocalyptic setting, it’s a fairly upbeat story with people making the best out of […]

2018 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide now available!

| December 12, 2017

The 2018 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide is now available, including my story, “Far From Home.” This is my second year with a story in this fantastic anthology of short stories for younger readers, and I’m so excited to be sharing the table of contents with a number of other writers who are also returning for […]

Young Readers

| July 25, 2017

I read a lot of books that fall into the middle grade or young adult categories. I really love the middle grade books, because they’re the sort of fantasy books I remember from my childhood. I also write a lot of middle grade stories. The first story I published, “The Recondite Riddle of the Rose […]