History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Horror Writing Tips from Chuck Wendig

| October 4, 2021

Some topics are a little outside of my wheelhouse when it comes to writing advice. For example, in spite of my love of many spooky things, I’m not great at writing horror. I can write some creepy flash fiction occasionally, using the idea that leaving things to the reader’s imagination is a great way to […]

Death in the Mouth on Kickstarter

| August 18, 2021

Death in the Mouth will be an anthology of horror by authors of color, edited by Sloane Leong and Cassie Hart. In addition to short stories, they will have an abundance of art included in the anthology, by artists of color. They’ve solicited stories from some authors, but if the project funds, they plan to […]

Review of The Atrocities by Jeremy C. Shipp

| July 21, 2021

The Atrocities by Jeremy C. Shipp (tor.com, 2018) blends a modern setting with a spooky Gothic tale. In turns, it maintains creeping dread and sustains quick action. Danna Valdez has just taken a position to educate the young daughter of a wealthy and somewhat eccentric family. But when she arrives at their unusually appointed estate, […]

Horror and Dark Fantasy

| July 15, 2021

If you’re looking for some dark reads for your to be read pile, I’ve got a couple of options for you! Camp Haunt is an epistolary young adult horror novella, which is only available on Channillo (which requires a subscription). It uses letters home from campers, campers’ journals, camp documents, and newspaper clippings to tell […]

Review of Mask of Silver by Rosemary Jones

| June 23, 2021

Mask of Silver by Rosemary Jones (Aconyte Books, 2021) is an Arkham Horror novel, related to the Arkham Horror board game. Set in the 1920s, it’s a fun mix of historical fiction and the creeping dread horror that is conjured when one says Lovecraft or Arkham. The story focuses on a film production team, including […]

Creepy Stories that Stick with You

| April 1, 2021

One of the things about horror that I find most effective is the story that sticks with you after you’ve finished reading it, the sort that continues to haunt you even days later. The stories in Volatile Figments may not be traditional horror, but I hope that some of them have that element of sticking with […]

Camp Haunt, Exclusively at Channillo

| March 30, 2021

Camp Haunt is an unusual novella. It’s an epistolary novel, with the fragments including letters, diary entries, and camp forms. It’s one that I wrote without substantial revision, as I was often writing each section of it about a week before they went live. It’s also the only novella that I’ve published but not via […]

“The Actor-Observer Effect” in Unfixed Timelines 2

| March 23, 2021

I work alongside archaeologists and anthropologists in my day job, so it’s no surprise that some of their terminology infects my brain, and thus my writing. I’ve also become keenly aware over the years about just how flawed a lot of early anthropological work was, with the practitioners inflicting their own understanding of how the […]

Review of Hollow Skulls and Other Stories by Samuel Marzioli

| January 6, 2021

Hollow Skulls and Other Stories by Samuel Marzioli (JournalStone, 2021) is a collection of thirteen horror and otherwise dark short stories. The majority of the stories are previously published stories, while a few are new to this collection. One of Marzioli’s greatest strengths, showcased in this collection, is a sense of creeping dread that pervades […]

Things in the Water that Will Kill You

| September 8, 2020

When asked to summarize what I write, I often tell people “I write about things in the water that will kill you.” And while not all of my stories share that distinction, I have more stories about murderous aquatic creatures than nearly any other topic. I’ve written about vodyanoi, nixes, the stromkarl, selkies, and, of […]