Hello Mr Stroud, I just want to ask you about your great alternate reality(?) of magic.

When exactly is it set? I callculated if Gladstone's death was 110 years ago and the dates were accurate (Typho's were. I liked the guy. doing a couple of fanfics on him) It was 2010. Computers, TVs and airplanes (Propellar?) are available, but the chief mode of ocean travell was 'Ironclads' Also plays seem to the chief forms of entertainment, technicolor movies unheard of. We'd like the bigger picture.
Also: Demons. Djinn, foliots and imps were vividly described, but Afrits barely touched. Marids never encountered. I'd also like to ask if I'm correct that you adapted them from Islamic mythology.
I know describing these all would have ruined the narrative monementum (LONG LIVE FOOTNOTES!) but I'd like to hear your take on it.

Hi,

Thanks for the questions. The alternative reality in Nathaniel's world is close to 'true' history, but different from it in one important respect, namely the existence of magic. This means that its history is very familiar, with lots of the same great empires rising and falling over the centuries, but not identical. It tends to be magic that fuels these empires and problems associated with magic that brings them low. Many historical figures (Solomon, Tycho, Gladstone) exist at the same time as in 'real' history, but their careers are different. The magician Gladstone in Nat's world probably died at about the same time as the 'real' one, ie. 1890s at some point. The setting for the novel is essentially the present day - early-mid 2000s. This means that some things are fairly similar to what we'd see if we went to London today - street layout, trains, cars etc, but generally speaking its technology is far behind our own highly mechanised, computerised society. Why? Because for 150 years all the government's energy has been focused on magic, so ordinary technologies have progressed much more slowly. Hence the ironclad ships etc. No movies, no tv. Plays are v. popular. A lot of technology that does exist is limited to the elite - ie. aeroplane travel.

The hierarchy of demons is based on the arabic system, with some variations. Marids, afrits and djinn are all from there. Imps are from European folklore; foliots I just made up. It's true that not all feature prominently in the trilogy, but they're referred to all the time - they're part of the fabric of the book.

Jonathan

Well, that's interesting. Because of the plays I'd always wondered if technology was behind. I assumed the plays were some big traditional thing and that because of magic technology was possibly even more advanced.