silver bullets

[swan_tower]

Okay, this is just fascinating.

It seems that one of Patricia Briggs' readers has embarked upon a quest for silver bullets. I came at that series by way of the third chapter, "Lone Ranger, Go Away," which is a reprint of a 1964 Gun World article detailing previous efforts to produce and test-fire such rounds. That part (which I found via Making Light) is funny enough, but the rest of the series is chock-full of ballistic geekery, of a sort that every werewolf-novel-writing author should read.

And not just them, either. I have no intention of writing about lycanthropes, but I learned from the introduction that three hundred years ago, silver didn't generally tarnish like it does today. Why? Because the Industrial Revolution hadn't yet pumped large amounts of sulfur into the atmosphere. If you left a silver object sitting on a shelf for ten years, it would still be shiny when you came back -- which made it just about as magical-seeming as gold. And if you've come across references to silver cups or knives being used to detect poison, it's because organic poisons often contain enough sulfur to tarnish the dishware, creating a seemingly supernatural ability to detect their presence.

Of course, if I wrote a story with a silver object that didn't tarnish over time, readers would think I was doing it wrong. The perils of too much research . . . .

Anyway, if you've ever thought about writing a werewolf book, or you like reading them, check the articles out. Turns out the "silver bullet" thing is a lot more difficult than advertised -- but out of such obstacles are more interesting stories made.

Comments

[mastergode.livejournal.com]

Excellent post!

[norilana.livejournal.com]

Fascinating, thanks for the post!

[mirrorred-star.livejournal.com]

And if you've come across references to silver cups or knives being used to detect poison, it's because organic poisons often contain enough sulfur to tarnish the dishware, creating a seemingly supernatural ability to detect their presence.

I absolutely did not know that. That is really awesome. It adds another string to the bow of 'sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' Even without the 'sufficiently advanced' bit.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

<is now sorely tempted to somehow track how many readers of that article produce stories with poison-detecting dishware in the next year>

[mirrorred-star.livejournal.com]

I'm sorely tempted to write about non-tarnishing silverware, just because.

[fhtagn.livejournal.com]

Um ... I was under the impression that Patrica Briggs was the one doing the investigating, rather than one of her readers. But yes, fascinating stuff.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Is she in the habit of referring to herself in the third person? I believe the articles do that at several points.

Author

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry, I confess I was googling Patty Briggs, and ended up here! I'm Mike, Patty's husband, and I wrote the silver bullet article. I suppose I probably should put my name on it somewhere . Anyway, Patty doesn't refer to herself in third person, it's just me.

Re: Author

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Ah, the internets, where answers will show up and present themselves! Yes, do put your name on the articles; I had been wondering who wrote them. You deserve credit for all that great work.

[fhtagn.livejournal.com]

Ahhh. I see where I went wrong. The first bit starts out by refering to polite letters "informing us that silver bullets were not the easy solution they first appeared to be." Further digging reveals the author to be Mike Briggs. Mea culpa.

[fhtagn.livejournal.com]

And here we see that I should reread the thread before just replying. ::sighs::