History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

The Hermit in A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages

| June 10, 2025

The Hermit tarot card represents solitude, introspection, and the seeking of internal wisdom. In A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages, this is represented by a haiku and a short story. The haiku, with the first line “a witch’s cottage,” deals primarily with the solitude part of the Hermit’s meaning. The short story, “Architect of the […]

Sci-Fi Reads in New Moons Under Which to Sleep

| May 29, 2025

New Moons Under Which to Sleep, is one of my shorter collections, containing six short stories, three flash fiction pieces, and six poems. And though it’s quite short, it has a few pieces in it that I absolutely loved writing. The inspirations for the pieces are widely varied and include a repurposed limestone mine in […]

My Latest Sci-Fi Publications

| May 20, 2025

Since my last post about sci-fi publications, I’ve had a couple of poems and a short story published, plus some self-published pieces in Weathering Youth! My poem “An Alphabet of Forty-Two,” which is about language in a sci-fi setting where different species are in contact with one another, appeared in the October 2024 issue of […]

Strength in A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages

| May 15, 2025

The Strength tarot card represents strength, as is to be expected, but also courage, persuasion, and patience. In A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages, this is represented by a haiku and a poem. The haiku, “rippling waters” (after the first line of the poem), being very brief, mainly deals with the “face value” of the […]

New Poetry in April 2025 (and a March 2025 pub)

| May 1, 2025

I had one new piece out in April 2025. My poem “Adaptable” appeared in issue 56 of Eye to the Telescope. This poem is from the perspective of a bit of dandelion fluff in space, with a refrain of “I don’t belong here.” The fun of the refrain is that by emphasizing any single word in […]

Mermay and What If I’m a Merfolk?

| April 29, 2025

As we’re getting closer to May, I’m thinking about Mermay and my collection What If I’m a Merfolk? While not all of the pieces included in this collection were written during Mermay, a large amount of the poetry was, using the daily prompts as my inspiration for each piece. This let me write a bunch of […]

Fantasy Stories and Poetry Out Recently

| April 17, 2025

Since my last post of recent fantasy stories and poetry, I’ve had a few new fantasy pieces come out! My Weathering Youth collection spans many genres, but the core of it involves fantasy stories, including some that are in the “traditional” (or non-contemporary) fantasy genre, like “Charming, Not Useful,” a somewhat ridiculous flash fiction take on […]

March 2025 Publications

| April 1, 2025

I had a TON of new pieces out in March 2025, including poetry, drabbles, flash fiction, and short stories! My flash fiction story, “Propagating Rosa glacies,” appeared in issue 12 of ALOCASIA. This is a flash fiction piece written as a gardening article (with a teaser for a future article at the end). It’s a bit dark […]

The Chariot in A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages

| March 20, 2025

The Chariot tarot card represents overcoming challenges and forward movement. In A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages, this is represented by a flash fiction piece and a poem. “Refuge” is a flash fiction story about a person fleeing pursuers who finds an unusual location. The story takes place on a river, with the protagonist quite […]

The Hierophant in A Tarot of Sorcery and Sages

| 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 […]