History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

“Áftharto Sóma” in Unfixed Timelines 3

| May 23, 2024

My story “Áftharto Sóma” was inspired by a theme of “dissection” for a monthly flash fiction writing prompt. It involved research into the historical practice of dissection in the British colonies in North America and the early United States (among other locations and time periods, as I searched for the right one). After coming across […]

Books and Stories for Younger Readers

| May 16, 2024

I’ve got some recent story publications that are suitable for younger readers, along with several books, including steampunk and fantasy titles! My flash fiction story “Dinosaur Seeds” is written for an adult audience, but kids would very likely enjoy this story, which involves a child planting “dinosaur” seeds and the surprising results! This story can […]

A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages Out Today!

| May 14, 2024

My latest fantasy collection, containing stories and poetry and themed around the Major Arcana of the tarot, is out today! A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages has 44 pieces included, two for each card of the Major Arcana. Some were written specifically for this collection, while others were published or unpublished pieces I had that fit […]

My April 2024 Publications!

| May 9, 2024

I had a couple of new pieces come out in April My flash fiction piece, “Mutualism by Any Other Name,” appeared in the April issue of Factor Four Magazine. They’ve published me before, but I was pleased to find this story a home, as it’s an odd one, told from the perspective of a grove of […]

The Brass and Glass Series

| May 2, 2024

If you like steampunk, have you checked out my Brass and Glass series? It’s a trilogy following Captain Svetlana Tereshchenko and the crew of The Silent Monsoon as they look for a cask of whiskey, which leads them to search for a map, which leads them to the fabled location of a legendary treasure. All three […]

“Bigger than the Big Bang” in Dead-Starred Futures

| April 30, 2024

“Bigger than the Big Bang” is a flash fiction story in Dead-Starred Futures involving a flash of premonition and the lengths one woman goes to in order to keep that premonition from coming to pass. Though that might not sound much like a sci-fi story, it also involves hacking and a bit of espionage. Oddly enough, […]

“Just Add Holy Water” in Conceits of Whim and Fancy

| April 25, 2024

“Just Add Holy Water” is a fantasy short story featuring a young protagonist working alongside a reanimated skeleton to solve a problem. It’s a mix of fun and peril for the characters, but it all works out in the end–just perhaps not how you might expect. This story originally appeared in Death’s Sting: Where Art Thou? […]

“Green-Eyed Phantom” in Unfixed Timelines 3

| April 23, 2024

“Green-Eyed Phantom” combines three of my favorite things to write–historical fiction, young characters, and siblings. It’s a story in which two pre-teen sisters attend a Civil War soldiers’ reunion with their parents and encounter something unexpected. I based the setting on the many, many old newspaper articles I read about these Civil War soldiers’ reunions […]

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 […]

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 […]