History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

“Undecided” from Droplets from the Universe

| August 29, 2023

The story “Undecided” was my attempt to write a sci-fi story that used a so-called “soft” science, cultural anthropology, to solve a problem. The story has a lot of other sci-fi tropes–aliens and hard science among them–but the actual crux point is somewhat unexpected. I also adore the characters I wrote for this story–two extremely […]

Dead-Starred Futures Out Today!

| August 15, 2023

Today’s the day! Dead-Starred Futures is now available! If you like your science-fiction on the darker and dystopian side, this is the collection for you! It’s also all bite-sized fiction–nothing longer than 1,000 words, and quite a few pieces that are closer to 250 or 100! Visions of the future aren’t always gleaming starships and utopias. […]

Fun for Friday: Sci-Fi Tropes!

| August 4, 2023

If you like writing science fiction, check out this list of 101 sci-fi tropes! Sure, you probably don’t want to write a story that just follows the trope precisely, but this list might spark some ideas on ways to subvert the tropes or blend two or more into an interesting mash-up!  

Dead-Starred Futures Cover Reveal!

| July 18, 2023

My next collection, Dead-Starred Futures, is out August 15, 2023, and it’s time to reveal the cover! This collection is all tiny pieces–flash fiction down to drabbles and poetry, so it will be a quick read but bursting with all sorts of dystopian and post-apocalyptic science fiction. It’s a darker counterpart to Droplets from the Universe. Visions […]

“First Rights” in Droplets from the Universe

| June 29, 2023

My flash fiction piece, “First Rights,” is a sci-fi story involving salvage operations for high-end merchandise, the sort that might be tagged with an RFID chip. After all, if it’s valuable enough to tag, it’s certainly valuable enough to steal, right? In addition to its appearance in Droplets from the Universe, “First Rights” can also […]

Review of Danged Black Thing by Eugen Bacon

| June 14, 2023

Danged Black Thing by Eugen Bacon (Apex Book Company, 2023) is a collection of short stories, the majority of which have been previously published. A handful of the stories are co-written with other authors, but all of them display Bacon’s distinctive storytelling voice. Favorites in this collection for me were “When the Water Stops,” a […]

May 2023 Publication

| June 8, 2023

I only had one story out in May 2023, and it’s a reprint, but it’s definitely worth checking out this story’s new home! My story, “Turning the Tide,” which first appeared at Daily Science Fiction, can now be found among other dark military sci-fi stories in Dread Space 2! My story is a very short flash piece […]

“The Shell Game” in Droplets from the Universe

| May 30, 2023

“The Shell Game” started out as a flash fiction piece, but it quickly became apparent that there was more to the story than would fit within the bounds of flash. It’s still a relatively short story, but it needed the extra room to breathe and really make the heist work. And that is, in essence, […]

Review of Hybrid Heart by Iori Kusano

| May 17, 2023

As a K-pop fan, I was excited to sink into Hybrid Heart by Iori Kusano (Neon Hemlock, 2023) and dive right into the world of J-pop. But this isn’t entirely your standard J-pop setting, as it’s also a near future light sci-fi novella that looks at identity and freedom, or the lack of both of these […]

Have You Checked Out Droplets from the Universe

| May 11, 2023

Have you checked out my latest collection yet? Droplets from the Universe is chock full of joyful and humorous science fiction stories and poetry. There’s still conflict, tension, and peril, but in the end, the characters see the rainbow beyond the clouds, in a manner of speaking. Droplets from the Universe contains short stories, flash fiction, and […]