History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Review of Magnificent by Novae Caelum

| September 30, 2020

Magnificent by Novae Caelum (2020) is a wonderful novella of a young non-binary superhero discovering their powers, recognizing their identity, and figuring out how those two aspects of their life inform each other. The main character, whose original name is not identified until late in the book, is part of a family of superheroes who […]

Review of Key of Astrea by Nicholas Marson

| February 5, 2020

My latest review is up at Mad Scientist Journal for The Key of Astrea by Nicholas Marson. It’s a young adult book that mashes up fantasy and sci-fi. I will note that I had some contents notes about this book, but those can be found in my review. If they don’t push you away, though, you can […]

Ready to be Scared of Summer Camp?

| March 21, 2019

Summer camp can be a scary experience for those who have never gone before, and even some veterans of the camp experience. In my serial novella, Camp Haunt, things are scarier than normal for the campers at Camp Fairmarsh, where all sorts of weird things are happening in the summer of 2003. Told as a […]

Finished First Draft!

| March 12, 2019

On Sunday, I typed the final words in my first draft of the novel I’m tentatively calling Promise Me Nothing. It’s a young adult novel with paranormal elements, but I hesitate calling it urban fantasy (even though that’s probably what it falls under). It’s still going to need a lot of work before it’s publishable, […]

Winter Reads: Twenty Thousand Leagues, Futhermuckers by Matt Youngmark

| January 16, 2019

If you’re a fan of young adult books with a whole boatload (tee-hee!) of swearing and classics of literature that have fallen into the public domain, you’re going to want to get your hands on Twenty Thousand Leagues, Futhermuckers by Matt Youngmark. It’s a delightful tale of one Arabella Grimsboro as she journeys through literature (but only that […]

Winter Reads: Kensei

| December 19, 2018

Teenage life plus being a superhero? That’s a tough break! But in Jeremy Zimmerman’s Kensei, the titular character deals with both (and more). She’s got to protect her city, navigate her first relationship, and figure out what’s going on with this weird gossip blog that’s disrupting her school. If you’re a fan of young adult books […]

Winter Reads: Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide Volume 5

| December 13, 2018

If you’re looking for a great read for a younger reader, or if you prefer to read things in the middle grade/young adult genres yourself, Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide Volume 5 is now available in print and ebook! I’ve got a new short story in this volume, “The Magnificent Matter of the Mischievous Monkey,” which is […]

Fun for Friday: Writing Prompts for Young Adults and Beyond

| May 18, 2018

Here’s a fun prompt that’s a mix of a photo prompt and text prompts. Exhibit A is the photo to the right, which, despite its lack of diverse characters, looks very much like the cast of characters for a young adult novel. (Or a horror movie, but that’s a different sort of setup.) Or maybe […]

Summer Reads: Camp Haunt

| April 26, 2018

With summer approaching, plenty of folks have a little extra time for reading. If you like your summer reads to be a little on the spooky side, check out Camp Haunt! Camp Haunt grew out of my love for going to camp in the summers of my childhood, combined with a love for all of […]

Coming Up: Volatile Figments

| September 5, 2017

I’ve been working on pulling together a lot of my old, previously published stories, along with some new stories, into mini collections. The one I’m working on currently is Volatile Figments, which will be a collection of six stories in the young adult/dark contemporary fantasy realm, a number of which feature teenage monsters. Why teenage monsters? […]