History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

“Yokai Hunters” in Intercity Illusions

| June 23, 2022

“Yokai Hunters” started with a Drawlloween prompt of “yokai,” which are spirits or entities from Japanese folklore. Many of them might be viewed as “monsters” from a Western perspective, and the one in my story certainly falls into that category. In fact, this was a story that I wasn’t entirely sure if I should classify […]

Review of Brambles by Intisar Khanani

| June 22, 2022

Brambles: A Thorn Short Story by Intisar Khanani (Purple Monkey Press, 2020) serves as a prequel story to Khanani’s Dauntless Path series of fairy tale inspired fantasy books. This story gives the background for Princess Alyrra, explaining just how she has come to earn her family’s wrath and disdain. Coming into this story prior to […]

Coming Soon: Conceits of Whim and Fancy!

| June 21, 2022

My newest collection, Conceits of Whim and Fancy, is coming soon! This collection is filled with fantasy stories and poetry, with witches, familiars, faeries, skeletal warriors, a dragon or two, goblins, liches, and much, much more. Fairy tales you’ve never read, magic workers young and old, and a few characters who defy description—all these and […]

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. […]

Review of The Devil Walks in Blood by David Green

| June 15, 2022

The Devil Walks in Blood by David Green (Eerie River Publishing, 2021) combines the first two books in this supernatural private investigator series into a single volume, giving the reader a fuller picture of the fascinating world and characters. Nick Halloran died while on a case, but the intervention of a passerby made sure he […]

Sci-Fi Poetry in New Moons Under Which to Sleep

| June 14, 2022

New Moons Under Which to Sleep takes its name from a line in one of the poems included in the collection–specifically “Golden Migration (In Four Parts),” which is a golden shovel of Robert Frost’s “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.” “Golden Migration” is just one of the sci-fi poems in this collection. A few of […]

May 2022 Publications

| June 9, 2022

In May, I had four pieces come out–two flash fiction, one microfiction, and one poem! My flash fiction piece, “Not Their Real Names,” appeared in The Arcanist. This story is a fun and quick high-tech heist story with some quite relatable characters and scenarios, though always with a twist! My microfiction piece, “I Need a […]

“The Gift” in Intercity Illusions

| June 7, 2022

“The Gift” began as an attempt to write a non-Halloween story during Drawlloween and instead coming up with a winter holiday story. The prompt was the goblin market, so I came up with a single dad needing to get a gift for his young daughter, but paying for it in an unusual (not scary!) way. […]

Stephen Fry on Meter, Part 4

| June 6, 2022

As I mentioned previously, I’m working through Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled very slowly to absorb as much wisdom as I can about writing poetry. This week’s post covers Chapter 1, Section 4, on meters with three and four feet. Previous sections have focused on the many variants on two-footed meter, while this section is […]

Review of Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove by Rati Mehrotra

| June 1, 2022

Rati Mehrotra’s Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove (Wednesday Books, 2022) is a gorgeously crafted story of a young woman learning the truth of her background and family while also discovering important things about herself and those she loves. Katyani, the protagonist, has been bound to the Queen of Chandela for as long as […]