History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

“Just Add Holy Water” in Conceits of Whim and Fancy

| April 25, 2024

“Just Add Holy Water” is a fantasy short story featuring a young protagonist working alongside a reanimated skeleton to solve a problem. It’s a mix of fun and peril for the characters, but it all works out in the end–just perhaps not how you might expect. This story originally appeared in Death’s Sting: Where Art Thou? […]

“The Waypost Tree” in Conceits of Whim and Fancy

| February 22, 2024

“The Waypost Tree” is a very brief flash fiction piece about a wizard and familiar after the wizard learns something new about her familiar. Told from the familiar’s point of view, it’s a significant moment conveyed in very few words. “The Waypost Tree” can only be read in Conceits of Whim and Fancy!

“Nectar Shortage” in Conceits of Whim and Fancy

| December 21, 2023

Sometimes, a story starts with a writing prompt in a workshop, and then you wind up frantically typing the rest of the story in your hotel room after the workshop instead of whatever you had planned next. That’s how “Nectar Shortage” came about. It required a good deal of editing and reworking, but the bones […]

“At Least No One Else Will Suffer” in Conceits of Whim and Fancy

| October 19, 2023

My story “At Least No One Else Will Suffer” is a brief flash fiction piece about an evil fae king and his new queen. I can’t say too much else without giving away spoilers, but the set up plus the title might give you a clue about what happens. “At Least No One Else Will […]

“Amanita” in Conceits of Whim and Fancy

| August 24, 2023

“Amanita” is an odd story on the border between reality and dreaming and, perhaps unsurprisingly, given the title, involves hallucination-inducing mushroom tea. (Amanita mushrooms can be poisonous, but they can also be hallucinatory. Or both.) It took a bit of work to get it to balance nicely between reality and dreaming, but I was pretty […]

“Muss” in Conceits of Whim and Fancy

| June 22, 2023

My story “Muss” is the story of a girl and her familiar, but it’s also a story about growing up and responsibility, like a number of my stories with younger protagonists are. It’s both sweet and bittersweet, and it presents the protagonist with multiple overt challenges, along with one less obvious challenge. And it’s the […]

“Unconventional Soulmates” in Conceits of Whim and Fancy

| April 20, 2023

My story “Unconventional Soulmates” came directly from the idea of “what if someone used magic to locate their soulmate, but the soulmate the magic found wasn’t at all who they were expecting?” In this story, which flips back and forth from the POV of the seeker and the found, I also explore how soulmates from […]

Recent Fantasy Publications

| February 21, 2023

If you’re looking for a fantasy story or poem to read, here are a few of my recent fantasy publications, along with some of my collections! My flash fiction piece, “Patience,” appeared in Wyldblood Magazine in October of last year. It’s a brief piece about working to get what you want, but not being impatient about […]

“Princess Last Picked” in Conceits of Whim and Fancy

| February 16, 2023

A few of the stories in Conceits of Whim and Fancy feature younger protagonists, and “Princess Last Picked” is one of them. This was a story inspired by the idea of presenting an unlikely character to save the members of her community when their greatest strength (literally) was used against them. I was utterly thrilled with […]

“Superstitions” in Conceits of Whim and Fancy

| October 20, 2022

“Superstitions” started as a Drawlloween piece that turned into a story about a woman following in her father’s footsteps as a ship’s captain, but struggling in a sexist line of work. Her solution to the problem isn’t necessarily the one she planned, but it works out in the end. Conceits of Whim and Fancy contains […]