History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Patreon Reminder!

| April 15, 2021

Did you know that I have a Patreon? I do!  It’s a way for my fans to throw a small amount of money my way to support my writing and learn about what I’m working on! I haven’t reached my first goal, which involves a monthly video of me reading one of my stories or […]

Book Recommendation: Wired for Story by Lisa Cron

| April 14, 2021

Wired for Story by Lisa Cron is a fantastic book for writers who want to work more on their writing craft. Using facts about how readers’ brains work, Cron explains how you can use and defy expectations in ways that will satisfy your readers. At the same time, she gives excellent insight into why some […]

New Stories and Poetry Out Recently

| April 13, 2021

I’ve got three new stories and a new poem out recently. First off, “Blind Tasting” appeared at Every Day Fiction in late March. This is a flash fiction story with very minimal speculative elements, which was inspired by a duet between two of the members of Pentagon, mixed with the idea of an unusual wine. […]

What I’m Reading, Watching, and Listening To, Early April 2021 Edition

| April 7, 2021

Reading: I’m currently taking a short break from reviewing books to beta read a novel and to read a couple of recommended books about writing craft. I’ve got Wired for Story and Story Genius by Lisa Cron, and Save the Cat by Jessica Brody. I’ll probably be talking more about these in the coming weeks, as I’m able […]

Barren Out Today!

| April 6, 2021

Today is the release day for Barren, my climate change apocalypse novella. It depicts a world in which the ocean levels rose dramatically, flooding what was once beachfront and a number of inland areas on large bodies of water as well. And while the sea level rise was particularly dramatic to lead to the apocalypse […]

Creepy Stories that Stick with You

| April 1, 2021

One of the things about horror that I find most effective is the story that sticks with you after you’ve finished reading it, the sort that continues to haunt you even days later. The stories in Volatile Figments may not be traditional horror, but I hope that some of them have that element of sticking with […]

Review of Corpses and Cognac by Dorian Graves

| March 31, 2021

Corpses and Cognac (2021) is Dorian Graves’ second book in the Deadly Drinks series, an urban fantasy series in a similar vein to Supernatural but so much better! I read and reviewed the first book in the series, Bones and Bourbon, when that book came out, and so I was excited to take a look at the […]

The Cobalt City Roots of Sparx and Arrows

| March 25, 2021

Of the five stories in Sparx and Arrows, only three of them take part entirely in Cobalt City, the home to many superheroes, and where each of the heroes in this collection got their start. “Big in Japan,” as the name might suggest, is one of the two stories not entirely within Cobalt City. This story […]

“The Actor-Observer Effect” in Unfixed Timelines 2

| March 23, 2021

I work alongside archaeologists and anthropologists in my day job, so it’s no surprise that some of their terminology infects my brain, and thus my writing. I’ve also become keenly aware over the years about just how flawed a lot of early anthropological work was, with the practitioners inflicting their own understanding of how the […]

Barren Available for Pre-Order!

| March 18, 2021

My latest novella, Barren, which comes out April 6, is now available for pre-order! Barren is a post-apocalyptic novella with an older woman as the protagonist. This is an apocalypse caused by climate change and the failure of the ecosystem. Major themes in the book include love and loss, against a backdrop of the struggle […]