History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Thinking about Book Gifts for Kids?

| November 19, 2020

If you’ve got kids on your holiday gift list this year, I’ve got a couple of recommendations from my writing! Spiders of the Shifting Swamp is a children’s book, complete with illustrations and large print. It’s a story that can be read to younger kids, but that younger readers can probably manage on their own, […]

Review of Tamora Carter: Goblin Queen by Jim C. Hines

| September 2, 2020

Tamora Carter: Goblin Queen by Jim C. Hines is an exciting middle-grade urban fantasy book with plenty of mythical creatures and adventure for the young protagonist and her friends! Tamora Carter’s best friend Andre is missing, and she’s hopeful that he’ll be found. Until he is, she’s still got roller derby(*) practice and taking care […]

Comic Review: The New Brighton Archeological Society, Book 1

| July 1, 2020

We picked up The New Brighton Archeological Society, book 1 because a) it had an airship on the cover, b) cute kids having adventures, and c) archaeology (which I insist upon spelling with the extra “a”, even if the book does not). It primarily came through on points a and b, with not much archaeology to […]

Mechanical Cats and Mystery!

| March 5, 2020

Chrysanthemum and Marigold Marsh, girl detectives, investigate a break-in at their family’s mechanical garden, and discover the culprit is a mechanical cat. After learning that the mechanical cat has only a limited power supply, they must find the cat to return it to its owner. But Dover is a big place, and there are Built […]

Gifts for Kids: The Trouble with the Tick-Tock Tabby

| December 12, 2019

The Trouble with the Tick-Tock Tabby is one of my books that I market as middle grade, but what does that actually mean? In general, they are books that are meant for 8-12 year old readers, but they also feature different themes than a young adult, or YA, book would. A middle grade book generally […]

The Marsh Sisters and Their Adventures

| October 3, 2019

The Marsh sisters, Chrysanthemum and Marigold, were the first characters I wrote when I started getting serious about my writing. Since then, they’ve dealt with a thief in the mechanical garden in “The Recondite Riddle of the Rose Rogue,” a clockwork monkey acting up in “The Marvelous Matter of the Mischievous Monkey,” and a missing […]

“Princess Last Picked” out now!

| April 18, 2019

Swords, Sorcery, & Self-Rescuing Damsels is out this week, including my story, “Princess Last Picked.” As I mentioned before, it’s a sweet middle grade story about a princess and her friends saving the day. It’s set in a quasi-Celtic fantasy world, and involves cleverness winning out over strength and magic. I had a lot of […]

Winter Reads: The Trouble with the Tick-Tock Tabby

| December 20, 2018

Mystery, steampunk, and clever girls? You’ll find all that and more in The Trouble with the Tick-Tock Tabby! Written for a middle grade audience, folks of all ages will enjoy the investigations of Chrysanthemum and Marigold Marsh, girl detectives who make their home in the mechanical garden! This is the first full-length adventure of the Marsh […]

Winter Reads: Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide Volume 5

| December 13, 2018

If you’re looking for a great read for a younger reader, or if you prefer to read things in the middle grade/young adult genres yourself, Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide Volume 5 is now available in print and ebook! I’ve got a new short story in this volume, “The Magnificent Matter of the Mischievous Monkey,” which is […]

Now in Paperback: The Trouble with the Tick-Tock Tabby!

| October 23, 2018

When I first published The Trouble with the Tick-Tock Tabby, I did my own cover. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the best plan, as it didn’t look good when I got a proof copy of the print book. So I made a plan to have an artist re-do the cover later. That’s finally happened. The inestimable Leigh Legler […]