History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

The Non-Player Review of Video Games: Cyberpunk 2077

| March 19, 2025

Jeremy has been a cyberpunk fan for years, so of course he picked up Cyberpunk 2077 when it came out. I was excited, because Keanu Reeves voices one of the characters in the game. I was not prepared to hate a character voiced by Keanu Reeves. But man, Johnny Silverhand is a DICK! He’s grumpy […]

Writing Tools: Story Engine Lore Master’s Deck

| March 17, 2025

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. The latest card-based writing tool in my stash is the Story […]

Review of Lost Cargo by P. A. Cornell

| March 5, 2025

P. A. Cornell’s Lost Cargo (Mocha Memoirs Press, 2022) is an exciting sci-fi novella with elements of thrillers and personal horror. The shorter length makes the stakes high for the characters but also gives it a nicely compact feeling. Parker and five other survivors crash land on a terraformed moon in a one-in-a-million odds accident. They’re […]

The Non-Player Review of Video Games: Katamari Damacy and the “No Flappy Things” Rule

| February 19, 2025

At some point around 2009 or 2010, my then-boyfriend (now husband) introduced me to Katamari Damacy. This seemed like a video game I could manage–all you had to do was roll a ball around the screen and let it collect random things. However. (There’s always a however.) Eventually, I got to a level where you’re rolling […]

Review of The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

| February 12, 2025

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Tor, 2020) is a lovely novel of bureaucracy, music, and found family. With a marvelous cast of characters and occasionally hilarious side comments, it weaves a cozy tale with secrets and a reasonable amount of peril. Linus Baker is a caseworker with the Department in Charge […]

Review of The Young Necromancer’s Guide to Ghosts by Vanessa Ricci-Thode

| January 22, 2025

Vanessa Ricci-Thode’s The Young Necromancer’s Guide to Ghosts (2024) is a young adult novel set within her Fireborn universe, filled with dragons and magic. It’s a charming and sweet look at sisters, found family, grief and loss, and necromancy! Lusi and Marsi lost their mother when Lusi was born, and though their father remarried, he has […]

The Non-Player Review of Video Games: Where are the Big Daddies?

| January 15, 2025

Jeremy curates lists of YouTube videos for me, which include trailers that he thinks I might be interested in. Which means that when the trailer for the Fallout TV series came out, he put that on the list. I watched it with some confusion, because I didn’t remember any wild west zombies, and the weapons didn’t […]

Review of ChloroPhilia by Cristina Jurado

| January 1, 2025

Cristina Jurado’s ChloroPhilia (originally published in Spanish as CloroFilia in 2017; English edition, Apex Book Company, 2025) is a dystopian novella with elements of body and post-apocalyptic horror, with a strong focus on the characters. The novella opens with a pair of prologue chapters that introduce the reader to the situation in the world and an unnamed […]

The Non-Player Review of Video Games: Saints Row Franchise Radio Stations

| December 18, 2024

One of my favorite parts about the Saints Row franchise is the variety of radio stations. My favorites of those are often based on them playing songs I know, though there are also songs I have come to know and love from Jeremy playing through the games multiple times. Of course, the radio stations change from […]

Review of Breath of Life by LH Moore

| December 11, 2024

LH Moore’s Breath of Life (Apex Book Company, 2024) is a gorgeous collection of Black-centered stories and poetry, with a substantial amount of horror and historical fiction, often in the same story! Most of my favorite stories were, of course, the historical ones. “A Little Not Music,” set in 1939 in Washington, D.C., is a dark […]