History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Choosing the Location for Promise Me Nothing

| September 17, 2024

When I set out to write Promise Me Nothing, I worked long and hard on finding the right location for it. I knew I wanted to have the setting in the Pacific Northwest for a somewhat mild climate. However, I also needed to find a setting that would be far from any mass population centers, because […]

Review of A Mourning Coat by Alex Jeffers

| August 28, 2024

Alex Jeffers’ A Mourning Coat (Neon Hemlock, 2024) is a lushly written, cozy novella about what happens after the death of a loved one for whom you gave up much of your own life. Set in a world just slightly removed from our own, with a minimal bit of contemporary fantasy elements, the story weaves together […]

“Black Thumb” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| August 13, 2024

“Black Thumb” started life as a poem, which I revised into a microfiction piece. The general premise remained the same–scientists looking for a plant that the unnamed protagonist couldn’t kill–but it served as a demonstration of how some free verse (or non-formal) poetry and some very short forms of fiction are closely related to one […]

“Not Their Real Names” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| June 11, 2024

“Not Their Real Names” is a semi-humorous flash fiction piece involving a heist from the perspective of the person running the operation as she deals with her hired crew. I made use of a pretty clever trick in this story by nicknaming the characters after pop culture personalities and characters, because by doing so, I […]

Review of Loving Safoa by Liza Wemakor

| April 24, 2024

Loving Safoa by Liza Wemakor (Neon Hemlock, 2024) is a novella featuring Black lesbian vampires, with aspects of vampirism that I haven’t seen in many stories featuring vampires. But this approach is interwoven into a story that spans centuries and locations. Cynthia begins the story as a mortal woman who is very close to changing […]

“Be Inspired” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| April 9, 2024

“Be Inspired” is a slipstream contemporary fantasy flash fiction story about a woman dealing with an unpleasant romantic relationship and how she emerges from that situation. I can’t say too much else about the story without giving it away, though it does involve the aurora borealis in an unusual location! “Be Inspired” is one of […]

New Urban Fantasy Stories

| March 14, 2024

I’ve had a number of new and reprinted urban fantasy pieces come out since my last post on the subject. Here’s where you can find them! My flash fiction piece “The Train Station That Knows What You Need” is a somewhat surreal, slipstream story about a train station in Japan, which was published in Cafe […]

“Consequence” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| February 20, 2024

“Consequence” is a drabble, exactly 100 words, in which a superhero is faced with a choice about her power. I can’t say more about it than that, without giving away too much of the story! “Consequence” originally appeared at Martian: The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, but it’s also available in The Sidewalk Diverges.

“The Dame with the Boots” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| December 26, 2023

I can always remember where I got my weirdest ideas, and it’s almost always that someone misread, misheard, or misinterpreted something. “The Dame with the Boots” was definitely one of these cases. I think it was something about a pool shark, and for whatever reason, I pictured an actual shark playing pool, and somehow, that […]

My November 2023 Publications!

| December 7, 2023

I had four new pieces out in November of this year! My flash fiction piece, “The Train Station That Knows What You Need,” came out in Cafe Irreal. This story is super special to me because while we were in Japan back in May, we came VERY near to the train station in question. Sadly, […]