It's All an Illusion, a guest post by Jeri Westerson

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I've been a fan of Jeri Westerson since way back in mumble mumble when I blurbed one of her early Crispin Guest historical mysteries, a terrific series she describes quite accurately as "medieval noir." This penchant for blurring the lines between genres - or for inventing her own! - has come to fruition in her newest series, the Enchanter Chronicles. Which are historicals. And fantasies. And steampunk. And mysteries!

The second in the series, CLOCKWORK GYPSY, is coming out oh-so-appropriately on Hallowe'en, which gives you time to get started on THE DAEMON DEVICE, which introduces Leopold Kazsmer, The Great Enchanter, and the Special Inspector from Scotland Yard, Mingli Zhao.

Today, Jeri is going to tell us about the fantastical lives of Victorian magicians - and how they inspired her steampunk sensibilities.

 

“Strange how people imagine things in the dark.”

–Ira Erastus Davenport, Showman/Spiritualist c. 1910

 

Yes, they do. That’s most of the magic of the stage magician and, ideally, a magician plying his trade in the late nineteenth century.

 

I was solidly immersed in the medieval era, writing my Crispin Guest Medieval Noir mystery series. Then I made a little side trip in my research into Jewish mysticism and discovered “daemons” (the helpful kind) as opposed to “demons” (the dangerous kind) and all the symbolism behind numbers, colors, and even “magic words” in Jewish myth and mystery.

 

Magic got me to thinking about the fascinating time period of magicians in the late nineteenth century, where séances and the investigation into the next world compelled and enthralled, and science was still crossed with a certain level of mysticism, where maybe magic was a real possibility.

 


 

So I ventured from writing medieval mysteries to steampunk—a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy inspired by the steam-powered era. Technology is strictly steam-powered, even advanced technology, inspired by the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, steampunk masters though they didn’t know it. The aesthetic involves top hats, goggles, gears, corsets, dirigibles, magic, and devices.

 

Magicians of the late Victorian era fascinated with their supposed close association to the supernatural world. Sometimes they never dropped character so they would seem all the more mysterious to the public. Like nineteenth century African American William Ellsworth Robinson who went by the stage name Chung Ling Soo. He played his part so well no one knew he was American, let alone a black man.

 

 As magician Fred Kaps once said, “Misdirect all the time.”

 

 

Strangely enough, Chung Ling Soo is best known for the failed bullet catch trick…that killed him. On stage. During a performance.

 

Howard Thurston, another American magician known as “The King of Cards”, was a champion of card tricks. “My object is to mystify and entertain. I wouldn’t deceive you for the world,” he said, all the while deceiving you. That was the trick, after all. To make it appear as if it really were magic. As if there was no trick at all. The more dangerous the conjure, the more amazing the magician appeared as he walked back onstage after escaping certain death without a scratch on him.

 

Charles Joseph Carter performed his tricks on stages all over the world. You might recall his posters that bragged that “Carter Beats the Devil”. In fact, many of the colorful posters of magicians of the past—including Carter’s—featured demons, little devils, and ghostly apparitions.

 

Some magicians bragged that they used the help of spirits in their acts in a time when spiritualism was at its zenith, and many mediums of the day included the illusionist’s art when staging their own private performances that they called séances. The veil between magician and medium was very thin indeed.

 

It was little wonder I got the idea to make my magician, Leopold Kazsmer a man of Jewish/Romani blood and ashamed of both, and styled himself as an English gentleman. He knows how to perform illusions but also the dangerous art of summoning Jewish daemons in order to perform real magic for his act…and to occasionally save the world through sleuthing for Scotland Yard.

 

French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, father of modern magic, (and incidentally where Harry Houdini got his stage name), said, “A conjuror is not a juggler; he is an actor playing the part of a magician…I may even add that where sleight-of-hand is involved, the quieter the movement of the performer, the more readily will the spectators be deceived."

 

I think writers have a little magician in them, especially mystery writers. Readers trust what we write. They believe. They are misdirected…if we can keep the reader from seeing just how the trick is performed.

 

And hey, if I have to summon a daemon or two to get the job done, I will. Nothing up my sleeve. Promise.

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Los Angeles native JERI WESTERSON is the author of historical novels and fourteen Crispin Guest Medieval NoirMystery novels, a series nominated for thirteen national awards from the Agatha to the Shamus. Jeri also writes the Enchanter Chronicles, a historical fantasy/steampunk mystery series, the latest of which is CLOCKWORK GYPSY. See her other paranormal series and historical novels at JeriWesterson.com. You can also friend her on Facebook, follow her on Instagram as @jeriwestersonauthor, and chat with her about books on Goodreads.