History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Gifts for Kids: The Trouble with the Tick-Tock Tabby

| December 12, 2019

The Trouble with the Tick-Tock Tabby is one of my books that I market as middle grade, but what does that actually mean? In general, they are books that are meant for 8-12 year old readers, but they also feature different themes than a young adult, or YA, book would. A middle grade book generally […]

2019 Awards Eligibility

| November 26, 2019

It’s the time of year when folks start posting lists of their stories and books from the past year that are eligible for award nominations. And here are mine! Flash Fiction: “Coffin Coffee Table,” The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts (March 2019). “Brick-Red Love,” The Arcanist (April 2019). Also available in The Arcanist: Year Two. “Safe Haven,” Five Minutes at Hotel […]

Brass and Glass 3: The Boiling Sea Out Today!

| October 22, 2019

Brass and Glass 3: The Boiling Sea is out today, completing the Brass and Glass trilogy! Now you can read all three of the books back to back! In the turbulent skies of the Republic, it’s not always easy to outrace the storm … With their destination determined, Captain Svetlana Tereshchenko and the crew of […]

The Marsh Sisters and Their Adventures

| October 3, 2019

The Marsh sisters, Chrysanthemum and Marigold, were the first characters I wrote when I started getting serious about my writing. Since then, they’ve dealt with a thief in the mechanical garden in “The Recondite Riddle of the Rose Rogue,” a clockwork monkey acting up in “The Marvelous Matter of the Mischievous Monkey,” and a missing […]

Talking about Brass and Glass with Nate Crowder!

| September 26, 2019

Last week, Nate Crowder, who is a part of our local writing group, interviewed me about steampunk, the Brass and Glass series, and writing in general. We talked about all sorts of stuff, even bringing in table-top RPGs and how they’re connected to what I write. And I gave him a little glimpse into what’s next […]

Review of The Great Faerie Strike by Spencer Ellsworth

| September 11, 2019

I’d been wanting to read Spencer Ellsworth’s The Great Faerie Strike since I found out about it early this year, and I’m pleased to say it was worth the wait! If you like steampunk and humor, you’ll love this book, which is filled with just the right balance between silly and serious. You can read my […]

Coming Soon: Brass & Glass 3

| June 25, 2019

We’re getting ever closer to having Brass & Glass 3 ready for purchase, with a current target date of mid-August! The third book will be the final book in this series, but it doesn’t mean we’ve heard the last of Svetlana and her crew. I’ve got several ideas for short stories to write using the same […]

Review of Wireless and More Steam-Powered Adventures by Alex Acks

| June 19, 2019

My newest book review is up at Mad Scientist Journal. Today, I’m reviewing Wireless and More Steam-Powered Adventures by Alex Acks, which is the sequel collection to Murder on the Titania and Other Steam-Powered Adventures, which I reviewed back in January. Wireless is three more stories featuring the same characters as Murder on the Titania, and they […]

Steampunk Technology, Real and Imagined

| May 16, 2019

The steampunk technology that I write into my novels and stories is often partially real and partially imagined. For The Trouble with the Tick-Tock Tabby, the idea of the clockwork animals was pulled primarily from my imagination–while it’s certainly possible to have mechanical or robotic animals with modern technology, I used a lot of hand waving […]

Brass & Glass 3 Progress

| April 25, 2019

I’ve turned around the first batch of editorial edits for Brass & Glass 3, which means we’re one step closer to publication! There will still be at least one more round of edits to do, so we don’t have a publication date yet. But every little inch counts in this world! If you want to […]