History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

“Knock Three Times” in Chimerical Remembrance

| May 28, 2026

“Knock Three Times” is one of the longer stories in my Chimerical Remembrance collection. It was inspired by a YouTube video about weird history, some interesting images, and a song I love. The YouTube video was about the history of Pheasant Island, which is an uninhabited island in the Bidasoa River between France and Spain that […]

“It’s My Party and I’ll Scry If I Want To” and “No Bunny Like You” in Weathering Youth

| May 26, 2026

Because Weathering Youth is my biggest collection to date, I’m grouping the short stories and flash fiction stories in pairs for my posts, based on the way they fall in the collection. This lets me look at the connections between the stories and how I decided to arrange specific stories in the collection! “It’s My Party and […]

“Tote Tante” and “Meat!” in Weathering Youth

| April 23, 2026

Because Weathering Youth is my biggest collection to date, I’m grouping the short stories and flash fiction stories in pairs for my posts, based on the way they fall in the collection. This lets me look at the connections between the stories and how I decided to arrange specific stories in the collection! “Tote Tante” and “Meat!” […]

March 2026 Publications

| April 9, 2026

I had four new pieces out in March this year, which definitely deserves its own post! My story “Give Me Back My Moon,” which was inspired in part by a song from my favorite female K-pop idol, was published in the spring issue of The Colored Lens. It’s a short fantasy story in which a […]

Two More Weathering Youth Stories (with long titles)

| March 31, 2026

Because Weathering Youth is my biggest collection to date, I’m grouping the short stories and flash fiction stories in pairs for my posts, based on the way they fall in the collection. This lets me look at the connections between the stories and how I decided to arrange specific stories in the collection! “The Dark Forest Takes” […]

“Werewolves in London” in Chimerical Remembrance

| March 24, 2026

My story “Werewolves in London” in Chimerical Remembrance combines humor with the difficulty of parenting, particularly when one’s offspring are werewolves. It also touches on themes of family and urban vs. rural living, as the protagonist navigates all of these things and more in trying to find the best solution for her family. If you enjoy […]

December 2025 Recap and Publications

| January 6, 2026

By the numbers: Stories out at the beginning of the month: 30 Acceptances received: 3 Rejections received: 12 (+2) Stories withdrawn: 1 Resubmissions: 20 New Submissions: 6 Stories out at the end of the month: 38 My December numbers are up a little from November, as I worked on getting some submissions out into the […]

October and November 2025 Recap and Publications

| December 4, 2025

By the numbers: Stories out at the beginning of the month: 43 Acceptances received: 4 Rejections received: 15 (+6) Stories withdrawn: 0 Resubmissions: 11 New Submissions: 1 Stories out at the end of the month: 30 October and November wound up being very chaotic for me, with a lot of traveling, K-pop events, a wedding, […]

“Best of Both Worlds” in Chimerical Remembrance

| November 20, 2025

My story “Best of Both Worlds” in Chimerical Remembrance is one of my favorite stories I’ve written. It manages to blend dark elements of a selkie story with a hopeful ending. If you’re a regular reader of the blog or my stories, you know I enjoy writing stories with things in the water that want […]

Weathering Youth: “Salt Circle” and “Kick in the Door and Improvise”

| October 23, 2025

Because Weathering Youth is my biggest collection to date, I’m grouping the short stories and flash fiction stories in pairs for my posts, based on the way they fall in the collection. This lets me look at the connections between the stories and how I decided to arrange specific stories in the collection! “Salt Circle” and […]