History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Review of “A Still Life” by Elliot Wink

| February 15, 2023

Today is a different kind of review than I normally post here! I was invited to take a sneak peek at Elliot Wink’s short story, “A Still Life,” which will appear in Apex Book Company’s Robotic Ambitions anthology, the Kickstarter for which launches on February 21st. Robotic Ambitions will feature stories looking at mechanical sentience, and […]

Review of The Red Palace by June Hur

| February 8, 2023

The Red Palace (Feiwel and Friends, 2022) is the second of June Hur’s historical fiction young adult mystery novels set in Korea that I have read and enjoyed. This book, set in the mid-eighteenth century, again features wonderful characters and a great mystery. And while you might guess the culprit earlier in this book than […]

Review of From Big Idea to Book by Jessie L. Kwak

| February 6, 2023

I recently got a big stack of writing craft and books through a Microcosm Publishing Kickstarter, so I’ve decided to work through several of them for reviewing on my blog. I really love Jessie L. Kwak’s writing style, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. Her non-fiction style is so conversational and easy to grasp. So of […]

Kickstarter Recommendation: Justice/Vengeance

| February 1, 2023

Today’s Kickstarter recommendation is my friend Erik Scott de Bie’s Justice/Vengeance novel series, which I’m also the editor for. The base Kickstarter funds the first book, Libations for the Dead, and the stretch goals will cover other novels in the series. Libations is a great book, introducing a hero with a lot of questions about […]

Review of Awaken the Daughter by Jeremy Flagg

| January 18, 2023

Awaken the Daughter by Jeremy Flagg (Brave New Worlds, 2020) is an alternate history superhero novel. It is the first book in The Dawning of Superheroes series, part of the larger Children of Nostradamus world, and it is filled with delightful historical detail and great characters you will love to root for as they work […]

Review of Creative, Not Famous by Ayun Halliday

| January 11, 2023

I recently got a big stack of writing craft and creativity books through a Microcosm Publishing Kickstarter, so I’ve decided to work through several of them for reviewing on my blog. Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto is a book that explores the very good possibility that as a creative person, you will not […]

Review of From Chaos to Creativity by Jessie L. Kwak

| January 9, 2023

I recently got a big stack of writing craft and books through a Microcosm Publishing Kickstarter, so I’ve decided to work through several of them for reviewing on my blog. Jessie L. Kwak’s From Chaos to Creativity is designed to help creatives build a creativity system that works for them. It tackles topics related to scheduling, […]

Review of The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard

| December 28, 2022

I initially heard The Red Scholar’s Wake (JABberwocky Literary Agency, 2022) pitched by the author, Aliette de Bodard, as “lesbian space pirates” (which is from a blurb quoted on the front cover of the book). I immediately bought a copy, a month before the book came out, based on those three words. It was exactly […]

Review of Unf#ck Your Writing by Joe Biel and Faith G. Harper

| December 26, 2022

I recently got a big stack of writing craft and books through a Microcosm Publishing Kickstarter, so I’ve decided to work through several of them for reviewing on my blog. Unf#ck Your Writing is a guide to how authors can produce their best works, but it’s not about the nitty gritty of grammar and prose […]

TV Recommendation: Wednesday

| December 21, 2022

As probably no surprise to anyone who knows me, I loved the new Wednesday series on Netflix. Jenna Ortega is perfect as the lead character, and I enjoyed most of the supporting characters as well. (Especially Enid. Enid and Wednesday’s shared room is basically the warring halves of my soul–cute and colorful vs. dark and macabre.) […]