What follows is a spoiler-filled reflection on the story "Magdalena." If you have interest in reading the story first, please ignore this post and consider getting a copy via the amazon link below:
https://www.amazon.com/Occult-Detective-Quarterly-Issue-3/dp/1979113343/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
STOP READING HERE TO AVOID SPOILERS.
I actually began work on "Magdalena," after finishing work on my forthcoming novelette "Ritual Killings," a story which features a far more self-assured and in-control Joe Bartred. Joe at the time of RK is older, he's survived the Cold War and there are allusions to an internal power struggle within the United States that Joe gained a upper hand in. The man in "Ritual Killings" is at his peak, someone who is calm, collected and powerful.
I wanted to contradict that image in "Magdalena."
In the earlier story we have a young man, 26, who is characterized foremost by uncertainty. The story opens with him being fed information by "The Man," the Satan-figure of the Bartred Universe. Joe then proceeds to violate one of his own rules and uses the information to work for the CIA, who in turn put him in contact with an elite counter-insurgency unit. Colonel Maduro is a dark reflection of Joe. Whereas Joe is a prodigy in magic, Maduro is a prodigy in brutality, inspired by the graduates of the notorious School of the Americas. For all of his knowledge of the occult, his moral compass has already forced him to make compromising decisions by the time the story opens.
This wasn't an accident.
These compromises are characteristic of the Cold War world which surrounds the characters of these early stories. Reading many, many histories of the era, one gets the image of foreign-funded brutality. From United States funding of military regimes across Latin America, Soviet sponsorship of dictatorships in Africa, and paramilitary and guerrilla units launching coordinated campaigns of terror against peasants, it is clear there was no one "good" side. As much as revisionists of all ideological persuasions have tried to paint the conflict differently, the portrait has been made in blood.
And this leads in to the antagonist of the story.
"Magdalena" was inspired by Che Guevara and Mao Zedong, Che's personalism and charisma coupled with Mao's unapologetic ruthlessness. She, like many revolutionaries, believes that the only thing separating mankind from paradise is its rulers. Only in this the rulers are not the bourgeoisie, nor are they secret cabals of businessmen and politicians. The rulers in the Bartred Universe are deities, demons and other paranormal entities. Magdalena wants to unbind mankind, and to do this she is willing to sacrifice millions of lives.
For her, the ends certainly justify the means. She has been infiltrating covenants and killing demons for centuries, she's slaughtered more than her share of lesser gods too.
For her, the approach was inspired by "Mr. Kurtz" of the Heart of Darkness. I wanted to conjure up dread before the reader ever met the character. And yes, she is a beautiful woman but she is also the scariest thing Joe has ever seen, by far.
And if there is anyone who enjoyed the character, I have good news: She's not done.
So there story introduces Joe, and offers to first insight into his world. Paranormal forces are more active than ever, perhaps due to the detonation of the atomic bomb. Joe, good and idealistic, will make many compromising decisions in his life. And while these decisions may be the "good" thing or even the "better" thing they may not be the "right" thing.
