Just discovered this site, www.MaskelyneMagic.com, which contains a series of well-researched articles that Richard Stokes wrote to set forth the true story of Jasper Maskelyne, the so-called war magician.
Legend has it that magician Jasper Maskelyne orchestrated a number of grand illusions during World War II, in order to foil the Germans and help the Allies, including vanishing the Suez Canal. But Stokes research has cast doubts on many of these purported accomplishments. Stokes’ goal is to question the Maskelyne legacy as an historian, but he ends up also providing a fascinating (to me) set of facts for ideas for my own fictional story.
I haven’t read through the entire site yet, but I’m thinking: This is so cool! Ted is a student of magic and an amateur magician. He is about to become a founding member of the Conscience. Maybe his knowledge of the principles of illusion will be valuable to the team.
In fact, this is the type of thing I’ve been doing with the story, increasing the complexity of the espionage tactics the Conscience will need to use. Right now, they’re still unformed, and Clyde, God love her, is behaving like the amateur she is. Michael will pull her together, though. (Michael has a secret, in case you haven’t figured that out.) And now Ted has more than the obvious to contribute.
-TimK