History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

“Hearts in Motion” in Dead-Starred Futures

| September 26, 2024

My story “Hearts in Motion” was based on a contest prompt. On the surface, it doesn’t seem entirely speculative, though it does envision a post-climate change world in which two factions are at odds with each other. And while that might seem all too plausible, I truly hope that the world will not go in […]

Review of The Sky Didn’t Load Today and Other Glitches by Rich Larson

| August 21, 2024

Rich Larson’s The Sky Didn’t Load Today and Other Glitches (Shacklebound Books, 2024) is a brilliant collection of dark sci-fi flash fiction. With fantastic characters and killer twists, this collection is sure to delight fans of the genre and format! As with most collections, I have a number of favorites, but I enjoyed all of the […]

Recent Sci-Fi Publications

| August 20, 2024

I haven’t had a ton of recent sci-fi publications, but there are a couple of new ones since my last post back in December 2023! Shortly after that post, my story “Gratitude” was podcast on the Manawaker Flash Fiction Podcast. This story had appeared originally at Silver Blade and was included in Droplets from the Universe. […]

Review of The Dragonfly Gambit by A. D. Sui

| August 7, 2024

A. D. Sui’s The Dragonfly Gambit (Neon Hemlock Press, 2024) is a twisty, keeps you guessing, sci-fi novella with an unreliable narrator and a rich cast of characters who all want something from each other and will go to any lengths to get it! Nez was a skilled pilot until an accident left her nearly dead […]

“Seeds of Knowledge” in Dead-Starred Futures

| June 25, 2024

My microfiction piece “Seeds of Knowledge” was inspired by watching some videos about the Svalbard seed vault in Norway and imagining how a similar facility on an alien planet, where explorers don’t read the language, might look. Compared to other stories in Dead-Starred Futures, it seems a bit more positive on the surface, but the lack […]

Review of Fractured Realities by Addison Smith

| June 5, 2024

Addison Smith’s Fractured Realities (2024) is another great collection of sci-fi and fantasy fiction in small stories. There’s a mix of drabbles, microfiction, flash fiction, and a few short stories, with a trend toward stories that pack a lot of emotion into few words. The stories in this collection include a number of previously published stories […]

“One Book, Never Published” in Dead-Starred Futures

| May 30, 2024

My microfiction story, “One Book, Never Published,” is a brief look at how time-travel to prevent the publication of a book filled with falsehoods might turn out. If you’ve been following my posts about the stories in Dead-Starred Futures, you may already know that the answer to that is “not entirely well.” But despite that […]

Fun for Friday: Sci-Fi Writing Prompts for Long or Short Fiction

| May 3, 2024

If you’re looking for ideas for writing long or short sci-fi, check out this list of sci-fi writing prompts from Jericho Writers! They’ve got them grouped into different subjects, including ideas for sci-fi horror and sci-fi for kids!  

“Bigger than the Big Bang” in Dead-Starred Futures

| April 30, 2024

“Bigger than the Big Bang” is a flash fiction story in Dead-Starred Futures involving a flash of premonition and the lengths one woman goes to in order to keep that premonition from coming to pass. Though that might not sound much like a sci-fi story, it also involves hacking and a bit of espionage. Oddly enough, […]

Poetry and Microfiction in Droplets from the Universe

| March 28, 2024

In addition to the short stories I’ve talked about previously, Droplets from the Universe contains a number of joyful sci-fi poems and a couple of very short fiction pieces. The fiction pieces include “Explore Savois,” a microfiction piece written as a tourism enticement for an out-of-the-way planet, and “Life on Pluto,” a very tongue-in-cheek drabble (exactly […]