History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

“Pivot Hinge” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| April 22, 2025

“Pivot Hinge” started out as a story about something that was hidden in plain sight, paired with a random quote that is lost to the ages. I originally called the story “Let My Love Open the Door,” and the earliest draft involved a film, which eventually morphed into an album and a music video. The […]

“Little T, Big T” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| February 18, 2025

My flash fiction piece “Little T, Big T” was originally written as a Drawlloween story with a prompt of “ghost,” but it turned into a cute, sweet story about sisters. I’m not sure where I got a secondary prompt for this, but somehow, I got it in my head to write a story about a […]

My Latest Urban Fantasy Pieces

| December 19, 2024

I have a handful of new urban or contemporary fantasy pieces out since my last post about that genre! My poem, “Bad Luck for the Fates,” which appeared in Asimov’s in April 2024, has a somewhat mythological basis in the Fates, but the setting is decidedly contemporary. There are a couple of contemporary fantasy pieces hiding […]

“Easy as a Bag of Cookies” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| December 17, 2024

“Easy as a Bag of Cookies” in The Sidewalk Diverges was inspired by a meme about Greek gods in the modern day. While I can’t remember the entirety of the meme, it involved Cerberus in some way. So I combined Cerberus, Hades, and Persephone into a contemporary story where Cerberus escaped his leash and found a […]

“Under the Bed” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| October 15, 2024

My short story “Under the Bed” was one that took me a long time to get just right. I had the idea for a young girl whose family had fallen victim to a horrific monster that spared her for some time. It wasn’t until I figured out the second character in the story, the now-teen […]

“Black Thumb” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| August 13, 2024

“Black Thumb” started life as a poem, which I revised into a microfiction piece. The general premise remained the same–scientists looking for a plant that the unnamed protagonist couldn’t kill–but it served as a demonstration of how some free verse (or non-formal) poetry and some very short forms of fiction are closely related to one […]

“Not Their Real Names” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| June 11, 2024

“Not Their Real Names” is a semi-humorous flash fiction piece involving a heist from the perspective of the person running the operation as she deals with her hired crew. I made use of a pretty clever trick in this story by nicknaming the characters after pop culture personalities and characters, because by doing so, I […]

“Be Inspired” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| April 9, 2024

“Be Inspired” is a slipstream contemporary fantasy flash fiction story about a woman dealing with an unpleasant romantic relationship and how she emerges from that situation. I can’t say too much else about the story without giving it away, though it does involve the aurora borealis in an unusual location! “Be Inspired” is one of […]

New Urban Fantasy Stories

| March 14, 2024

I’ve had a number of new and reprinted urban fantasy pieces come out since my last post on the subject. Here’s where you can find them! My flash fiction piece “The Train Station That Knows What You Need” is a somewhat surreal, slipstream story about a train station in Japan, which was published in Cafe […]

“Consequence” in The Sidewalk Diverges

| February 20, 2024

“Consequence” is a drabble, exactly 100 words, in which a superhero is faced with a choice about her power. I can’t say more about it than that, without giving away too much of the story! “Consequence” originally appeared at Martian: The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, but it’s also available in The Sidewalk Diverges.