History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Cover Reveal for The Sidewalk Diverges

| January 17, 2023

My next collection will be out February 14, so it’s time to show off the cover! It’s a simple one, based on some manipulation of one of my photos, but I think it works for this collection! In The Sidewalk Diverges, stories about magic sit alongside stories about superpowers, while ghosts, angels, and fae intermingle. These […]

Recent Urban Fantasy Publications

| December 13, 2022

I’ve got a few recent urban and contemporary fantasy publications that might be of interest if you enjoy that genre! “Slime, or Primordial Ooze?” is a contemporary fantasy poem about the slime craze from a few years ago, which was published in Star*Line in January 2022. “Promises Made” is a microfiction story about modern fae […]

Poetry in Intercity Illusions

| November 29, 2022

Intercity Illusions has relatively few poems, compared to my other collections, and what’s more, most of them were previously published. But what’s represented here includes some of my favorite poems. “Secret Gladiolus” originally appeared in the WLYA 2019 Anthology, alongside a few other pieces by me. It imagines an unusual tattoo and how it changes […]

“Kinuyo-yo” in Intercity Illusions

| November 1, 2022

My story “Kinuyo-yo” started with a couple of images, which involved a brightly colored boat, a sense of motion, and not much evidence of a means of propulsion. It turned into a story about an unusual young girl living in a flooded city and figuring out ways to make one of her weird hobbies into […]

“Memorandum from the Panel for the Identification of Consequentially Chosen Youth” in Intercity Illusions

| October 11, 2022

“Memorandum from the Panel for the Identification of Consequentially Chosen Youth” is not the longest title I’ve written, but it’s among them. But this flash fiction piece needed a slightly ridiculous title to go with the tongue-in-cheek “PICCY” organization detailing what should and should not be done when you’re looking for a Chosen One. The […]

“Blind Tasting” in Intercity Illusions

| September 13, 2022

My story “Blind Tasting” grew out of a prompt, a color, and a music video. I can’t recall exactly what the prompt was, but the color was indigo, and the music video involved two people in an otherwise deserted wine bar. My story involved a blind date in a similarly deserted wine bar, which lent […]

“A Burrito is not a Sandwich” in Intercity Illusions

| August 9, 2022

The title of my story, “A Burrito is not a Sandwich,” was absolutely meant to be a reference to the ongoing battles over what is and what is not a sandwich. Personally, I subscribe to the cube theory, by which a burrito absolutely is not a sandwich. But what started for me as a story […]

Review of Daughter of Maat by Sandy Esene

| August 3, 2022

Sandy Esene’s book, Daughter of Maat (Blue Benu Press, 2018), is an intriguing look at a world in which the Egyptian gods have persisted throughout the centuries, and the ways in which their machinations and schemes impact the modern world. Alex Philothea, an archaeologist, is swept up into this world because she signed up for […]

“One, Two, Three, FOUR!” in Intercity Illusions

| July 14, 2022

My collection Intercity Illusions is full of urban fantasy stories, and “One, Two, Three, FOUR!” is no exception. The original idea for the story was a young bunch of wizards forming a rock band at their wizard school, where electric instruments were strictly prohibited. Along the way, they realize that their instruments are just the tools […]

“Yokai Hunters” in Intercity Illusions

| June 23, 2022

“Yokai Hunters” started with a Drawlloween prompt of “yokai,” which are spirits or entities from Japanese folklore. Many of them might be viewed as “monsters” from a Western perspective, and the one in my story certainly falls into that category. In fact, this was a story that I wasn’t entirely sure if I should classify […]