History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Review of Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory

| October 30, 2024

Yaroslav Barsukov’s Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory (CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, 2024) is an expansion of his novella, “Tower of Mud and Straw,” which I reviewed previously. Now as a full length novel, the story expands beyond its earlier constraints and plays more with the theme of memories in this fantastical world! The original novella […]

Kickstarter Recommendation: Shatter the Sun anthology

| October 23, 2024

I’ve gotten a ton of anthologies and novellas from Neon Hemlock, and now they’re running a Kickstarter for a new anthology, Shatter the Sun! The anthology will collect stories, a poem, a game, and a comic (and possibly more) in the queer sword and sorcery genre. You can back the Kickstarter for just this anthology or […]

The Non-Player Review of Video Games: Ranking the NPCs in Baldur’s Gate 3

| October 16, 2024

Like many gamers, Jeremy picked up a copy of Baldur’s Gate 3 pretty much as soon as it came out. In fact, I think that game was the impetus for him getting a new laptop, with specs that could handle the game. Since it’s on his laptop, rather than on a console, I hear it more […]

Review of Empress of Dust by Alex Kingsley

| October 9, 2024

Alex Kingsley’s Empress of Dust (Space Wizard Science Fantasy, 2024) is an amazingly compelling post-apocalyptic fantasy novel with magnificent worldbuilding and wonderful characters, including several LGBTQIA+ and non-human characters! Harvard is a scavenger of the wasteland and “dusts” surrounding the walled city of Bastion, but he’s the weakest member of his crew, the Ivies, and […]

The Non-Player Review of Video Games: An Ode to Kinzie (Saints Row 3+)

| September 18, 2024

One of my favorite things about most of the video games Jeremy plays is the characters. Like, I don’t really care that much about the plot or the gameplay, but I inevitably have a character (or three) who I really glom onto. In the case of Saints Row the Third and beyond, that character is Kinzie […]

Review of Strange Locations

| September 11, 2024

The Strange Locations anthology, edited by Marissa Van Uden (Apex Book Company, 2024), is a limited release collection of dark speculative travel guides told in microfiction format. Tiny and beautifully crafted, each of these thirty brief tales hints at a larger story of an unusual place. There were a few pieces that really stood out […]

Review of A Mourning Coat by Alex Jeffers

| August 28, 2024

Alex Jeffers’ A Mourning Coat (Neon Hemlock, 2024) is a lushly written, cozy novella about what happens after the death of a loved one for whom you gave up much of your own life. Set in a world just slightly removed from our own, with a minimal bit of contemporary fantasy elements, the story weaves together […]

Review of The Sky Didn’t Load Today and Other Glitches by Rich Larson

| August 21, 2024

Rich Larson’s The Sky Didn’t Load Today and Other Glitches (Shacklebound Books, 2024) is a brilliant collection of dark sci-fi flash fiction. With fantastic characters and killer twists, this collection is sure to delight fans of the genre and format! As with most collections, I have a number of favorites, but I enjoyed all of the […]

Review of The Dragonfly Gambit by A. D. Sui

| August 7, 2024

A. D. Sui’s The Dragonfly Gambit (Neon Hemlock Press, 2024) is a twisty, keeps you guessing, sci-fi novella with an unreliable narrator and a rich cast of characters who all want something from each other and will go to any lengths to get it! Nez was a skilled pilot until an accident left her nearly dead […]

Review of hortus animarum by Sienna Tristen

| July 31, 2024

Sienna Tristen’s hortus animarum: a new herbal for the queer heart (Frog Hollow Press, 2022; reprinted 2024) is a gorgeous chapbook of plant-related prose poetry with numerous queer themes running through them. While I was a little surprised to find all of the poems in this collection were prose poetry (with the exception of the […]