History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Stephen Fry on Meter, Part 3

| May 9, 2022

As I mentioned previously, I’m working through Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled very slowly to absorb as much wisdom as I can about writing poetry. This week’s post covers Chapter 1, Section 3, on other meters. After sections on iambic pentameter and variations, this section introduces lines with fewer than or more than five “feet.” […]

Sumerian Mythology in Old Legends and New Fables

| April 28, 2022

Sumerian mythology doesn’t make a lot of appearances in stories or poetry these days, but I have a couple of poems in Old Legends and New Fables featuring bits of Sumerian myths. One of the poems is “Queen of Heaven,” which recounts the story of how Inanna protected the humans within her purview. The other poem, […]

Stephen Fry on Meter, Part 2

| April 11, 2022

As I mentioned previously, I’m working through Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled very slowly to absorb as much wisdom as I can about writing poetry. This week’s post covers Chapter 1, Section 2, on end-stopping, enjambment, caesura, weak endings, and trochaic and pyrrhic substitutions. This section of the chapter follows on learning the rules […]

March 2022 Publications

| April 7, 2022

I’ve had a bunch of publications in March, and all of them are smaller pieces! “The Fall of Ocrone” was published in Martian last year, but recently, the Superfast Stories YouTube Channel produced an audio and video version of my story! It’s a quick sci-fi listen/watch (it’s only 100 words), and I love how it […]

Cover Reveal and Pre-Order Information for Doorways in the Gloom

| March 17, 2022

My next collection, Doorways in the Gloom is now available for pre-order! This collection contains short stories, flash fiction, and poetry with a darker vibe. Some of the stories approach horror, while others are just slightly spooky. Doorways can lead to many marvelous places. In this collection, however, the scenes they reveal are shrouded in gloom […]

Stephen Fry on Meter, Part 1

| March 14, 2022

As I mentioned previously, I’m working through Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled very slowly to absorb as much wisdom as I can about writing poetry. This week’s post covers Chapter 1, Section 1, on spoken English, meter, and iambic pentameter. The beginning of this chapter talks a lot about stressed and unstressed syllables, and how […]

February 2022 Publications!

| March 10, 2022

I had three new pieces out in February, all different sorts and lengths! “Promises Made” was accepted for the Glittery Literary Anthology Four and appeared early in the month. It’s an urban fantasy microfiction story about curses and promises related to the fae. The second one was one of the longest titled stories I’ve had […]

Stephen Fry on Poetry

| February 21, 2022

I recently learned that in 2005, comedian and actor Stephen Fry published a book about writing poetry, something he does as a hobby. Though I write my poetry for publication, I thought it might be delightful to learn about writing poetry from someone I adore so much. So I picked up a copy of the […]

January 2022 Publications

| February 10, 2022

Already this year, I’ve had five things published–four stories and a poem! “Good to the Last Drop” is a microfiction piece that appeared in the January issue of The Antihumanist. It’s a darkly humorous story about coffee and space travel. My poem, “Slime, or Primordial Ooze?” was published in the January issue of Star*Line. This […]

Sci-Fi Reads

| January 27, 2022

If you’re a sci-fi fan, I’ve got one sci-fi collection that might appeal to you! New Moons Under Which to Sleep contains mainly previously published sci-fi short stories, flash fiction pieces, and a couple of poems, plus a couple of poems that were new to the collection. I’ve had a bunch of other very short […]