History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

“Bigger than the Big Bang” in Dead-Starred Futures

| April 30, 2024

“Bigger than the Big Bang” is a flash fiction story in Dead-Starred Futures involving a flash of premonition and the lengths one woman goes to in order to keep that premonition from coming to pass. Though that might not sound much like a sci-fi story, it also involves hacking and a bit of espionage. Oddly enough, […]

“Green-Eyed Phantom” in Unfixed Timelines 3

| April 23, 2024

“Green-Eyed Phantom” combines three of my favorite things to write–historical fiction, young characters, and siblings. It’s a story in which two pre-teen sisters attend a Civil War soldiers’ reunion with their parents and encounter something unexpected. I based the setting on the many, many old newspaper articles I read about these Civil War soldiers’ reunions […]

“Light for Life” in Dead-Starred Futures

| March 26, 2024

“Light for Life” is a microfiction story that looks at a world in which growing plants has become a difficult proposition and the sorts of trades a person needs to make to be able to grow food. It’s certainly a dystopic world, but it also reflects places in our world in which climate change has […]

“Eyes of Fire, Eyes of Smoke” in Unfixed Timelines 3

| March 19, 2024

“Eyes of Fire, Eyes of Smoke” was a story that started with the title. I combined that with the idea of writing a story about a legendary monster not often seen in fiction, the pishtaco or kharisiri of Andean legends. With that figured out, I went from there to write a historical fantasy story about […]

“When Science and the Gods Fail” in Dead-Starred Futures

| February 29, 2024

“When Science and the Gods Fail” is a microfiction story about a robot who takes matters into their own hands when calamity strikes. However, since this is one of my darker sci-fi stories … well, I’ll let you guess at the ending, but I won’t say anything more than that. “When Science and the Gods […]

“The Experiment” in Unfixed Timelines 3

| February 1, 2024

“The Experiment” is a very brief flash fiction piece in which a young girl conducts a magical experiment during the Dust Bowl era, much to her mother’s chagrin. I can’t say much more than that without giving too much  of the story away. If you’re not familiar with the Dust Bowl era, you can check […]

“Kleptoparasitism” in Dead-Starred Futures

| January 30, 2024

While “Kleptoparasitism” isn’t the darkest of stories in Dead-Starred Futures, it is set in a potential dystopian future in which insects are a widespread protein source. It’s a microfiction story about how a visit to a location where insects are processed might go awry. If you like the idea of this story, check out Dead-Starred Futures […]

“Memento Mori” in Unfixed Timelines 3

| January 11, 2024

“Memento Mori” is an unusual combination of the Old West and science fantasy. It’s a story about Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok, and aliens, and it purports a history that isn’t even remotely true. But all that being said, it’s based on some real history, so it fits perfectly into Unfixed Timelines 3. This story was […]

My 2024 Goals!

| January 9, 2024

Time to look at my 2024 goals! I’m primarily focusing on shorter fiction in 2024, as I did in 2023, though I am already brainstorming a couple of of novellas that I might want to write as well. We’ll see if those pan out, though! If I do stick with my focus on shorter fiction, […]

“Good to the Last Drop” in Dead-Starred Futures

| December 28, 2023

“Good to the Last Drop” is a dark sci-fi flash fiction piece that involved research into hydroponics and growing coffee, along with some other searches to pull together the plot. I can’t say much more about that research without giving it away, but suffice it to say that some people will do ANYTHING for their […]