With 19-Infinity now out on Amazon in paperback and available for ebook pre-order on some channels, it’s time to talk about the genesis of the various stories. First in the book is Leave the World to Darkness which came out a few years ago in Love, Time, Space, Magic.
I don’t remember the title of the book on shadows that triggered the idea for this one, but I remember the detail that did: shadows are stronger in the age of electric light than they’ve ever been. In firelight or candle light, shadows are flickering indeterminate things. In electric light, a shadow is fixed, sharply defined, stable.
As soon as I read that, a voice whispered in my head, “And that’s just the way someone wanted it.” Because what could make shadow magic more powerful?
My first version of the story had a researcher explaining to her boyfriend that Edison was rumored to be some kind of black magician behind his public facade, that he’d used electric light to make shadows more powerful. And then at the end—it turns out she’s right, and the shadows kill her, OMG!
This is a traditional SF structure: Person tells wildly implausible theory. Theory turns out to be true. Bad, probably fatal things result. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work very well unless the theory is absolutely brilliant (I think Henry Kuttner’s “Don’t Look Now” qualifies) and even then, I think most people can see the ending twist coming. Who’s going to devote all that exposition to something that doesn’t turn out to be true?
So I began rewriting, building up the shadow cult, adding characters, adding more plot (researcher is lost in the shadow world. Can boyfriend get her back?). Along the way Edison became a good guy, fighting against the shadow wizards.
Still didn’t work. I began doing some flashback to Edison in the past and that helped. Doing some basic research on Edison added some details, and also gave me the title. Like many people of his day, Edison loved James Grey’s poem “Elegy Written in a County Churchyard” so I adapted one of the lines (“Leave the world to darkness and to me.”) for the title, beating out my original choice of I Have a Little Shadow That Goes In and Out With Me.
Finally, for reason I can’t now recall, I dropped the present day researcher and switched to a 1930s setting. My protagonist became Aggie Baxter, a reporter stuck with the sob-sister beat (heart-tugging human interest stuff) and burning to do something bigger. Tagging along is her very wealthy boyfriend Rod Ducourt (of the Delaware Ducourts). Ahead is a whole boatload of trouble …
It was a great choice on my part. I love the 1930s as a fictional setting and Aggie, headstrong but capable, is one of my favorite characters. Everything fell into place, or so it seemed until I got editors’ critiques. In response I cut the original opening with Edison so that Aggie and Rod lead off the story. I also made Rod a little stronger: he’s definitely the sidekick but I had to make it clear Rod will back Aggie up, no matter how much danger or craziness she leads him into. I pumped up the love story more when I submitted it to the anthology. Clearly a smart choice.
#SFWApro. Cover by Kemp Ward, all rights to image remain with current holder.
