History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Review of Apex Magazine: 2021

| November 16, 2022

Apex Magazine: 2021 collects the stories published in Apex Magazine in 2021 into a single volume. Containing eight issues worth of new stories, this is a thick volume with a wide array of speculative fiction stories ranging from humorous to heartbreaking. It’s hard to select only a few favorites from a collection such as this. […]

Kickstarter Recommendation: Paradoxical Pets

| October 19, 2022

I’m super excited about the Kickstarter for Paradoxical Pets because I’ve got a story in this anthology! The anthology is, as expected, about unusual pets and other animals, but it’s also specifically for younger readers! For me, this meant I got to write a cute little story about a girl and her dog … which might […]

August (and late July) 2022 Publications!

| September 8, 2022

I had one story released at the very end of July, but I didn’t realize it was out until my copy of the magazine arrived! “The Price” appeared in the July 2022 issue of New Maps. This is a short flash story involving a bargain and its price. My story out in August is “Memento […]

Kickstarter Recommendation: The Best of Mythic Volume Two

| August 31, 2022

The Kickstarter for The Best of Mythic Volume Two has already reached its funding goal, but I wanted to put in a plug for it as a great way to get a collection of wonderful stories! You can get this volume and its predecessor in ebook or paperback. Bonus: both volumes contain stories by me! The […]

Assembling Anthologies

| May 2, 2022

At the recent Flights of Foundry online convention, one of the panels I spoke on was about assembling anthologies. I’ve talked about this topic previously, though only in a very cursory way. This panel brought together people like me, who have edited Kickstarted anthologies with folks who have edited comics anthologies and anthologies showcasing underrepresented […]

Review of Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging Volume Blue

| March 9, 2022

Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging Volume Blue edited by Atlin Merrick (Improbable Press, 2021) is a great collection of stories featuring an enormous variety of cryptid characters. With cryptids ranging from the familiar to one-of-a-kind, readers will certainly find stories that appeal to them. I found several stories in the anthology that I enjoyed. The lead […]

Three Cool Kickstarters!

| December 15, 2021

There’s always a lot of cool stuff to be found on Kickstarter, but here are three projects that have caught my attention! The first is From Big Idea to Book: Create a Writing Practice that Brings You Joy. While many books on writing advice retread the same territory that many experienced authors have already covered, […]

Cobalt City Dragonstorm Out Today!

| September 28, 2021

DefCon One Publishing has a new anthology out today, the first in five years from the authors of Cobalt City. Cobalt City Dragonstorm is a collection of five short stories featuring superheroes (and supervillains) fighting dragons from other dimensions. My story in this collection is “Dead Souls,” featuring the team-up of Dulcamara, Terra Firma, and […]

Death in the Mouth on Kickstarter

| August 18, 2021

Death in the Mouth will be an anthology of horror by authors of color, edited by Sloane Leong and Cassie Hart. In addition to short stories, they will have an abundance of art included in the anthology, by artists of color. They’ve solicited stories from some authors, but if the project funds, they plan to […]

Review of Unnatural Order

| January 27, 2021

Unnatural Order, edited by Lyss Wickramasinghe and Alis Franklin (CSFG Publishing, 2021), is an anthology of stories of monstrous beings produced by the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild. The stories range widely under the speculative umbrella, with fantasy, science fiction, and horror all represented in the anthology’s pages. In a themed anthology, each author’s ideas on a […]