The Big Idea: Melissa Scott & Amy Griswold

The Victorian Era is a world we think we know… but as Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold tell us in this Big Idea for Death By Silver, beneath what we think we know is a world that must be inferred… and then explored.

MELISSA SCOTT & AMY GRISWOLD:

It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that Death by Silver got its start over a Victorian silver catalogue. The catalogue had specific implements for every possible contingency — not just three kinds of soup spoons (clear, cream, and turtle) and tiny trident-like oyster forks, but asparagus tongs and grape shears and Napier’s patent coffee machine — and as we stared at the pages one of us said, “Imagine the magic system…”

Of course a Victorian magic system would be just as complex, precise, and specific — indeed, that’s exactly what you find in the occult systems developed at the end of the nineteenth century — and I think it’s exactly that mix of complex rules and a tool for everything that’s so appealing. The period from the mid-19^th century through the start of the First World War is attractive because it’s both familiar and deeply alien….

Death By Silver: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Books2Read|Kobo

Author Socials:

Amy Griswold: Personal Site|Mastodon|Twitter

Melissa Scott: Personal Site|Mastodon|Twitter