by Corrina Lawson
Science fiction and mysteries have always been intertwined. And,
though some who love those genres would deny it, relationships and romance have
always been a large part of them.
Let’s break them down.
Science fiction is a search to explain the unknown, to peer
into the unknowable future and use it to project the present. It’s the genre of
possibilities.
Combine science fiction with a mystery, and the questions become
explicit.
And, because the solution to those mysteries are bound up in
how humans (and other intelligences) relate to one another, relationships and
even romances have always been part of them too.
I grew up reading science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, and a
few romances, and, naturally, I tossed all three into the pot when I set down
to write my first steampunk mystery, The
Curse of the Brimstone Contract.
There were several direct influences. My writing owes
something to the science fiction mysteries of Isaac Asimov, particularly Lije Bailey/R. Daneel Olivaw detective
stories. Asimov, of course, was drawing on the tradition of the Holmes/Watson
partnership. (Of course, I read the complete Sherlock Holmes as a young teen as
well. Thank you, Arthur Conan Doyle.)
But what really cemented my love of science fiction mysteries
was the discovery of the late Randall Garrett’s Lord Darcy stories. In this alternate world, where Richard
Lionheart reigned far longer, an alternate timeline that also features magic spun
out through the centuries, leading to the roughly Victorian-era of Lord Darcy,
detective to the Duke of Normandy, and his assistant, forensic sorcerer, Sean O'Lochlainn.
.
And, yes, forensic sorcerer is as cool as it sounds, basically
a scientific approach to magic. The Lord
Darcy books are collected in one great big volume nw, so they should be
easy to find still. Garrett died before he could write more than that
collection, however. :sigh: However, his stories do feature romance in a subtle
way, one between Lord Darcy and a foreign spy, another, more explicit, between
Darcy and a noblewoman with a penchant for mysteries.
As I’m a believer that the stories we adore in our formative
years shape our fiction, it was perhaps not surprising that when I created a
steampunk world, I started with my own Sherlock Holmes analog, one Gregor
Sherringford. (His last name being one of Conan’s Doyle’s rejected first names
for Holmes.)
The first novel in the Steampunk Detectives, The Curse of the Brimstone Contract, introduced
Joan Krieger, our narrator, and my own version of Watson. Joan is where I
veered far outside the lines of my influences. She’s more than a simple assistant:
she’s a seamstress, a dressmaker intent on remaking the world through fashion, who
has a natural curiosity and drive to become more than what society says she
should be. Working against her is her class, her gender, and her religion,
Jewish.
Gregor Sherringford is also a departure from Holmes, that
consummate loner. He has a living mother, and noble family that he avoids. This
is partially his natural reserved inclination and partially because Gregor
never possessed a powerful mage gift, as his parents’ hoped.
But also it’s because Gregor’s mother is Indian and Gregor’s
place in the rigid class society of the peers of the realm is uneasy.
That makes Gregor naturally empathic to those of society who
are prevented from standing up for themselves because of prejudice. Gregor,
being Gregor, would deny the empathy and insists that solving mysteries is the
only way to feed his active mind.
As would the original Holmes.
But Doyle’s Holmes had nothing but sneers for the nobility
who endanger innocent lives or take advantage of others. Original Holmes
admires those who stand up for themselves, even if they need a little help
doing so, like the young heiress in The
Adventure of the Speckled Band or, more famously, “the late Irene Adler of
dubious and questionable memory.” It’s clear in A Scandal in Bohemia where Holmes’ sympathy resides.
Doyle’s Holmes is a champion, if your cause is just, no
matter the odds against you. That’s what I wanted Gregor Sherringford to be as
well.
Like the original Holmes, Gregor does not like admitting he
has emotions. Except, of course, where Joan Krieger is concerned.
In Curse of the
Brimstone Contract, I blended science fiction and mystery in a search for
those killing the clients of Joan’s dress shop via magical attack. There is a
growing romance between Joan and Gregor as well. For Joan, Gregor is a person
who sees her true self, who views her as worthy as any peer. For Gregor, Joan
is someone immensely gifted, someone not intimidated by his reserve, someone
who innately trusts him to do what’s right, even under dire circumstances.
But it’s not an easy relationship, given their differences
in class and religion. To explore those, I knew the sequel had to bring in
Gregor’s family, via the family estate at Lotus Hall.
And, so, science fiction, mystery, and romance entwine once
again in A Hanging at Lotus Hall. The
science fiction comes from the meld of steam technology with magic, producing
such things as a flying carriage and automated doors. The mystery comes from a
locked-room murder committed by a mage within Lotus Hall.
The romance comes from Joan’s collision with the noble
family of the Dukes of Bennington. Like many families, including her own, they
are hiding secrets, sometimes, deadly ones, leading Joan not only unsure
whether she belongs, but who she can trust with her life.
The external mystery had to reflect the internal problems
between Joan and Gregor. Oddly, that led me to including not one but two other
romantic subplots in the book, though not as fully developed as Joan and Gregor’s
romance.
Add thwarted love to a desire for power, and it’s a heady
combination for my ultimate villain.
Because even in science fiction, the motives are going to
remain…human.
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Follow Corrina Lawson:
Website: www.corrina-lawson.com
Newsletter sign-up: https://corrina-lawson.com/newsletter/
Curse of the Brimstone Contract available at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0755C8WZF/
Hanging at Lotus Hall releases February 5, 2019.
