History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

The Non-Player Review of Video Games: Saints Row Franchise Radio Stations

| December 18, 2024

One of my favorite parts about the Saints Row franchise is the variety of radio stations. My favorites of those are often based on them playing songs I know, though there are also songs I have come to know and love from Jeremy playing through the games multiple times. Of course, the radio stations change from […]

Review of Breath of Life by LH Moore

| December 11, 2024

LH Moore’s Breath of Life (Apex Book Company, 2024) is a gorgeous collection of Black-centered stories and poetry, with a substantial amount of horror and historical fiction, often in the same story! Most of my favorite stories were, of course, the historical ones. “A Little Not Music,” set in 1939 in Washington, D.C., is a dark […]

Review of Toil and Trouble by Jamie Lackey

| 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 […]

The Non-Player Review of Video Games: Mario Kart (maybe?)

| November 13, 2024

So there I am, chilling out, when I get a message from one of my friends. Their sitter is ill. Is there any chance I can come over and kid-sit for them that night? My schedule was clear, so off I went! The kids in question are three very smart, very nerdy kids. The eldest was […]

Review of Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory

| 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 […]

The Non-Player Review of Video Games: Ranking the NPCs in Baldur’s Gate 3

| October 16, 2024

Like many gamers, Jeremy picked up a copy of Baldur’s Gate 3 pretty much as soon as it came out. In fact, I think that game was the impetus for him getting a new laptop, with specs that could handle the game. Since it’s on his laptop, rather than on a console, I hear it more […]

The Non-Player Review of Video Games: An Ode to Kinzie (Saints Row 3+)

| September 18, 2024

One of my favorite things about most of the video games Jeremy plays is the characters. Like, I don’t really care that much about the plot or the gameplay, but I inevitably have a character (or three) who I really glom onto. In the case of Saints Row the Third and beyond, that character is Kinzie […]

Review of Strange Locations

| September 11, 2024

The Strange Locations anthology, edited by Marissa Van Uden (Apex Book Company, 2024), is a limited release collection of dark speculative travel guides told in microfiction format. Tiny and beautifully crafted, each of these thirty brief tales hints at a larger story of an unusual place. There were a few pieces that really stood out […]

The Non-Player Review of Video Games: Lego Star Wars

| July 24, 2024

(Yes, I’m aware that my title here is non-specific as to WHICH Lego Star Wars I’m talking about. This is primarily because I don’t know. Also, this is one of the rare times I’m talking about a game I DID play. Briefly.) All of my biological nieces and nephews were born in the twenty-first century. […]

Review of Kalyna the Soothsayer by Elijah Kinch Spector

| July 17, 2024

Elijah Kinch Spector’s Kalyna the Soothsayer (Erewhon Books, 2022), is a sweeping secondary world fantasy novel featuring high stakes, political intrigue, and loads of deception. Kalyna’s father and grandmother both had the Gift, the ability to see the future of people with whom they are not close. However, Kalyna was born without it, a fact her […]