History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Creepy Stories that Stick with You

| April 1, 2021

One of the things about horror that I find most effective is the story that sticks with you after you’ve finished reading it, the sort that continues to haunt you even days later. The stories in Volatile Figments may not be traditional horror, but I hope that some of them have that element of sticking with […]

Female Protagonists in Volatile Figments

| July 28, 2020

The six stories in Volatile Figments all have female protagonists, but other than that, they have little in common. There are a couple of high school students, a couple of college students, an ageless child, and an adult. Some of the women have dealt with the supernatural before, though most of them are encountering it for […]

Urban Fantasy Reads!

| April 30, 2020

If urban fantasy is your jam, I’ve got several options for you! Cross & Circle is an urban fantasy novella, in which magic is real and becomes a part of Evie and Carlotta’s lives as they prepare for the birth of their son. Scenes from a Quiet Apocalypse is a little more slipstream, but still […]

Volatile Figments

| March 24, 2020

Volatile Figments is an ebook only collection of dark contemporary fantasy short stories, which includes some of the weirdest stories I’ve written. Here’s the official blurb: Dani finds the new director in her college theater department more than a little unnerving, but she has barely scratched the surface on just how weird things are about […]

“Terpsichore” in Volatile Figments

| January 28, 2020

Of the six stories in my collection, Volatile Figments, I think “Terpsichore” is one of the creepiest. The idea of invoking a muse isn’t necessarily the creepy part. It’s what winds up offering “help” in place of the muse that is terrifying. Terpsichore is the muse of dance and chorus, and she’s appeared in various forms […]

A Creepy Tale of a Ghoul

| November 21, 2019

One of the stories in Volatile Figments is “After School Special,” and it’s about a ghoul and her best friend. At the beginning of the story, the two girls have drifted apart, due to one of them moving away. When she gets back to her old school, things have changed a lot. She doesn’t realize just […]

Teenage Witches in Volatile Figments

| July 18, 2019

Sometimes, the inspiration for one of my stories comes from a meme. There was a meme going around a while ago (which, of course, I can’t find now) that said something along the lines of, “sure, everyone wants me to have school spirit, but when I summon spirits in the gym, that’s going too far.” […]

Volatile Figments: Darkness, Light, and Muses?

| May 28, 2019

One of the stories in Volatile Figments, “Terpsichore,” started out when I realized how creepy a dance studio looks when it’s dark and there’s only a small source of light reflecting off the mirrors. From there, it spun into a ritual performed in a dance studio, and the creepy aftermath. At only 928 words, “Terpsichore” is […]

Volatile Figments: A Different Shade of Darkness

| March 19, 2019

One of the stories in Volatile Figments that I had a lot of fun writing was “Miasma.” It drew upon my time at universities, my theatre involvement, and The King in Yellow. For those unfamiliar with the last of those things, Robert W. Chambers wrote a collection of short stories called The King in Yellow, four of […]

Winter Reads: Volatile Figments

| December 11, 2018

If you like your holiday reading on the darker side of things, check out my short story collection, Volatile Figments. Within, you’ll find six short stories in the dark contemporary fantasy camp. The description for this book reads: Dani finds the new director in her college theater department more than a little unnerving, but she has […]