dawn.vogel | February 20, 2025
The Lovers tarot card represents relationships, of course, but also harmony and choices. In A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages, this is represented by a flash fiction piece and a haiku. The flash fiction piece, “The Truth of Their Tunes,” revolves around heartsongs and a witch who can understand them. The prompt for this story was […]
dawn.vogel | January 23, 2025
The Hierophant tarot card represents righteousness, sacredness, and hierarchical order. In A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages, this is represented by a haiku and a poem. The haiku, which begins with the line “it’s traditional,” is a bit of a protest against the hierarchical order and righteousness of this particular card, rendered in very few […]
dawn.vogel | January 22, 2025
Vanessa Ricci-Thode’s The Young Necromancer’s Guide to Ghosts (2024) is a young adult novel set within her Fireborn universe, filled with dragons and magic. It’s a charming and sweet look at sisters, found family, grief and loss, and necromancy! Lusi and Marsi lost their mother when Lusi was born, and though their father remarried, he has […]
dawn.vogel | December 10, 2024
The Emperor tarot card represents authority, power, and stability, all with a bit of a patriarchal vibe (traditionally). In A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages, this is represented by a haiku and a poem. For both of my Emperor pieces, I decided to diverge from the traditional patriarchal vibe. The haiku, “Greetings from the Sisterhood,” envisions […]
dawn.vogel | November 20, 2024
Jamie Lackey’s Toil and Trouble (2024) is a delightful retelling of Pride and Prejudice that integrates witchcraft and LGBTQ+ characters seamlessly into the Regency setting, offering a fresh take on the Austen classic. The book opens with Mrs. Bennet making a deal with a witch–in exchange for her daughters Lizzie and Mary, her fifth child will be […]
dawn.vogel | November 14, 2024
The Empress tarot card represents expression, creativity, and nurturing, as well as motherhood and/or fertility. In A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages, this is represented by a haiku and a poem. The poem, “A Spell for Docile Dryads,” looks at a balance between nurturing nature and nurturing the humans who depend upon nature for their livelihood. […]
dawn.vogel | October 30, 2024
Yaroslav Barsukov’s Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory (CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, 2024) is an expansion of his novella, “Tower of Mud and Straw,” which I reviewed previously. Now as a full length novel, the story expands beyond its earlier constraints and plays more with the theme of memories in this fantastical world! The original novella […]
dawn.vogel | October 22, 2024
The High Priestess tarot card represents mystery, intuition, and spiritual knowledge. In A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages, this is represented by a haiku and a poem. The poem, “Snakes in Sheep’s Clothing,” is a cautionary poem about those who might deceive listeners, using a variation on “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” It comes from the perspective […]
dawn.vogel | September 5, 2024
The Magician tarot card deals with potential and pure willpower, and I combined those meanings for a focus on creation in the two poems representing that card in A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages. The first poem, simply titled “Creation,” explores the magic inherent in creating new things, regardless of the format. The second poem, […]
dawn.vogel | August 22, 2024
Included in Conceits of Whim and Fancy are ten poems, all of which are loosely fantasy poems. Several of them, including “For My Sisters, A Bequest,” “The Sea Sings Back,” and “Old Bones,” were published in other magazines before appearing in Conceits, while others, like “Danse Macabre” and “A Secret in Plain Sight” were new to […]
