History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Kickstarter Recommendation: Outsiders by Jessie Kwak

| April 30, 2025

Jessie Kwak, who has written a few books I’ve reviewed, is currently running a Kickstarter for Outsiders, a speculative short story collection! She’s already reached her funding goal, so there’s no worries about whether or not this collection will exist, but you can back it through May 9th to get in on this collection and some […]

Mermay and What If I’m a Merfolk?

| April 29, 2025

As we’re getting closer to May, I’m thinking about Mermay and my collection What If I’m a Merfolk? While not all of the pieces included in this collection were written during Mermay, a large amount of the poetry was, using the daily prompts as my inspiration for each piece. This let me write a bunch of […]

Coast to Coast Stars: Tales of Cobalt and Cerulean City

| April 15, 2025

My collection, Coast to Coast Stars, came out almost five years ago! It’s got five short stories set in Cobalt City and Cerulean City, with the former on the East Coast and the latter on the West Coast. Four of the stories are set in Cerulean City, but one of them, “Happily Never After,” features a […]

Review of Breath of Life by LH Moore

| December 11, 2024

LH Moore’s Breath of Life (Apex Book Company, 2024) is a gorgeous collection of Black-centered stories and poetry, with a substantial amount of horror and historical fiction, often in the same story! Most of my favorite stories were, of course, the historical ones. “A Little Not Music,” set in 1939 in Washington, D.C., is a dark […]

Already Looking at 2025 for Patreon!

| October 8, 2024

Have you checked out my Patreon? It’s a way for my fans to support my writing and learn about what I’m working on! I share updates about my works in progress, including snippets of stories for my patrons! I’ve got one more book coming out this year, and backers at $3 a month or higher […]

“Death, in a Fashion” in Unfixed Timelines 3

| August 29, 2024

Unfixed Timelines 3 included one poem, “Death, in a Fashion.” This poem was inspired by my knowledge about fashion trends that are detrimental to the environment and the human body, as a result of the chemicals they use in production or extraction (or the byproducts of those). It dances through time, including arsenic green, radium […]

“The Price” in Dead-Starred Futures

| August 27, 2024

“The Price” is a short flash fiction piece that deals with a weighty subject–in a world impacted by climate change and rising sea levels, what price might someone be willing to pay to save other peoples’ lives. The prompt for this story came from the Furious Fiction Flash Challenge (write a flash fiction story of […]

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 […]

“On the Surface” in Dead-Starred Futures

| July 25, 2024

“On the Surface” is a microfiction piece set in a post-apocalyptic world in which humans have been forced belowground due to environmental conditions that make living aboveground impractical. However, the unnamed narrator dreams (literally) of people living on the surface and searches for a way to investigate this possibility. “On the Surface” is only available […]

“Charcoals from an Unidentified Chicago Artist” in Unfixed Timelines 3

| July 23, 2024

Most people are familiar with the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 (the one allegedly started by a cow), but Chicago is a city that has been plagued with substantial fires throughout its history. While other cities have certain had their fair share of fires as well, Chicago celebrated their recovery from the 1871 fire with […]