History Literature / TheCaseOfTheToxicSpellDump

* ExplainExplainOhCrap: David’s coworker Michael casts a spell to test if a sorcerer’s flayed human skin substitute is being used for ritualistic purposes and [[spoiler:it seems to exonerate the man. However, David quickly asks if the spell would have been ineffective if the “substitute” was real flayed human skin. Michael thoughtfully agrees that this would have nullified his test before horrifiedly realizing [[HumanSacrifice just where real flayed human skin would have come from and what it might be used for.]]]]

* HeadTurningBeauty: All [[HornyDevils succubi]] have this quality. When a bunch of them gather to picket city hall in protest over Angel City's new anti-vice laws, they don't bother to bring signs, because their "arguments" are self-evident.

* HornyDevils: Succubi and incubi are quite real and something of a problem. At one point, they hold a "demon stration" in front of the EPA, forming picket-lines to protest Angel City's vice laws.

* ExplainExplainOhCrap: David’s coworker Michael casts a spell to test if a sorcerer’s flayed human skin substitute is being used for ritualistic purposes and [[spoiler:it seems to exonerate the man. However, David quickly asks if the spell would have been ineffective if the “substitute” was real flayed human skin. Michael thoughtfully agrees that this would have nullified his test before horrifiedly realizing [[HumanSacrifice just where real flayed human skin would have come from and what it might be used for.]]
* FantasticNuke: A "megasalamander" which can melt a whole city to slag]].

* CassandraTruth: an unusual two-way variation of this. It’s the heroes job to remain skeptical and careful when everyone is telling him they’re innocent of dumping even though most of them are, while most of the suspects don't pay attention to his honest claims that he’s not singling them out for susppicion.

* HolyBurnsEvil: When David is attacked by a vampire, he wards it off with a kabbalistic amulet. He notes a cross would probably have been useless even if he were Christian, since most vampires in the Confederated Provinces are Balkan Muslims.

* FantasticNuke: A "megasalamander" which can melt a whole city to slag.

* HolyBurnsEvil: When David is attacked by a vampire, he wards it off with a kabbalistic amulet. He notes a cross would probably have been useless even if he were Christian, since most vampires in the US are Balkan Muslims.

* HonestCorporateExecutive: Given how most of the dumping suspects turn out to be innocent there are a surprisingly large amount of these in the story (although they're unhappiness at being investigated makes this less apparent on a first read).

* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Just as the "thecosystem" plays a major part in how gods exist, spiritual care and wellbeing underpins human life. Prayers are efficacious in healing, spiritual trauma is a real and serious condition, and it is even possible for [[spoiler:one's soul to be stolen and imprisoned on the Other Side]]. Similarly, oaths taken on one's soul are commonplace.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Any pun involving incubi, succubi, etc. is likely to be a double or even triple entendre. [[spoiler: Also the name of one of the suspect companies, which has been "covered" by a hip-hop duo since the book was published, but which was (is?) gutter sexual/scatological slang.]]

* CassandraTruth: an unusual two-way variation of this. It’s the heroes job to remain skeptical and careful when everyone is telling him they’re innocent of dumping even though most of them are, whlile most of the suspects don’t pay attention to his honest claims that he’s not singling them out for susppicion.

* FictionalDisability: Exposure to the magic equivalent of toxic waste (or any similarly "corrosive" magics) can cause a wide range of disorders and disabilities, including lycanthropy and vampirism. Among the worst is a birth defect known as ''apsychia'', which causes infants to be born without a soul and apparently simply stop existing after death--no afterlife, no nothing. The protagonist meets a medical researcher who is working on an experimental procedure in which tiny pieces of many souls are fused into, essentially, a synthetic soul which can then be implanted in the apsychic child. Whether this will actually work is still unclear.

* HelloNurse: All succubi have this quality. When a bunch of them gather to picket city hall in protest over Angel City's new anti-vice laws, they don't bother to bring signs, because their "arguments" are self-evident.

* {{Not so stoic}}: Magister Arnold, one of the dumping suspects, when he jokes that at his security wasps having not stung someone to death in a week as David is leaving, causing him a brief moment of panic.

* HonestCorporateExecutive: Given how most of the dumping suspects turn out to be innocent there are a surprisingly large amount of these in the story (although they're unhappiness at being investigated makes this less apparent on a first read). * HornyDevils: Succubi and incubi are quite real and something of a problem. At one point, they hold a "demon stration" in front of the EPA, forming picket-lines to protest Angel City's vice laws.

* {{ Honest corporate Executive}}: Given how most of the dumping suspects turn out to be innocent there are a surprisingly large amount of these in the story (although they're unhappiness at being investigated makes this less apparent on a first read). * HornyDevils: Succubi and incubi are quite real and something of a problem. At one point, they hold a "demon stration" in front of the EPA, forming picket-lines to protest Angel City's vice laws.

CassandraTruth: an unusual two-way variation of this. It’s the heroes job to remain skeptical and careful when everyone is telling him they’re innocent of dumping even though most of them are, whlile most of the suspects don’t pay attention to his honest claims that he’s not singling them out for susppicion.

* HornyDevils: Succubi and incubi are quite real and something of a problem. At one point, they hold a "demon stration" in front of the EPA, forming picket-lines to protest Angel City's vice laws.

* WorldOfPun: Wall-to-wall. From Demon Strations (succubi protesting their zone restriction) and Spell Checkers (to check the quality of potions, of course) to Virtuous Reality and Djinnetic Engineering.

* AllohistoricalAllusion: At one point, the hero briefly wishes that instead of all the toxic magic, the world only had simple mechanical forces. He then states it would have been a clean, but very technologically primitive world. Just like we tend to see a world where everything is done by magic.

* ChalkOutline: Justified because the chalk is a mystical substance that's intended to preserve the integrity of psychic evidence. Likewise, crime-scene tape is enchanted to ward off tamperers or the curious from the site of an investigation.

* FantasyCounterpartAppliance: Clocks and telephones are all demon-powered, as is the "simularity", which is a form of radio. Hollywood produces "light and magic shows", the main character packs a [[MagicWand rod]] instead of a gun, and cars are replaced by magic carpets.
* FantasyGunControl: Mundane firearms (called "mechanicals", to distinguish them from wands) do exist, but in a far more primitive state. It's explained that wild elemental spirits are evidently attracted to explosives, and would cause the weapon to blow up if a gun used powder of greater than medieval-era purity.
* FictionalDisability: Exposure to the magic equivalent of toxic waste can cause infants to be born without a soul and apparently simply stop existing after death--no afterlife, no nothing. The condition is called "apsychia", and is considered a birth defect; the protagonist meets a medical researcher who is working on an experimental procedure in which tiny pieces of many souls are fused into, essentially, a synthetic soul which can then be implanted in the apsychic child. Whether this will actually work is still unclear.
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: This has become the province of bureaucracy; the EPA is responsible for creating artificial cults to sustain "endangered gods". In this setting, it's especially clear that only ''worship'' will sustain a god: merely being acknowledged to exist doesn't suffice to keep them around. Thus, a pantheon of Chumash native deities can be dying out from lack of sincere prayers directed towards them, even though plenty of ''non''-worshipers in the EPA are aware of their existence and concerned for their welfare as "endangered gods".
* GunshipRescue: Angel City is saved by the timely appearance of [[spoiler:the Garuda bird, which qualifies as a ship because in this timeline the mighty Garuda is being ''outfitted for space travel'' by the setting's analog of NASA]].

* HornyDevils: Succubi and incubi form picket-lines to protest Angel City's vice laws.
* IstanbulNotConstantinople: The novel is set in Angels City, on the coast of the Peaceful Ocean, and just north of the Barony of Orange. On the East Coast of the Confederated Provinces are the District of St. Columba and the city of New Jorvik. Mention is also made of the nations Alemania and Persia, as well as a Hanese restaurant.
* MagicCarpet: Everybody drives flying carpets instead of cars. Angel City still has a major air pollution problem, though, caused by stray fibres shed by thousands of carpets.

* NeverWasThisUniverse: There's no clear point of divergence from our history, only an implication that magic and supernatural creatures have always been around.
* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Exposure to arcane contamination can cause infants to be born without a soul and apparently simply stop existing after death--no afterlife, no nothing. It is seen as horrendously tragic. The condition is called "apsychia", and is considered a birth defect; the protagonist meets a medical researcher who is working on an experimental procedure in which tiny pieces of many souls are fused into, essentially, a synthetic soul which can then be implanted in the apsychic child. Whether this will actually work is still unclear.

** The Star of David is useless for this, since it's not actually a holy symbol.

* ReligionIsMagic: All magic is ultimately based on applying to a relevant deity, which is one reason the EPA is so concerned about the keeping the divine ecosystem healthy. (If Hermes ever went, he'd take most of their telecommunications technology with him.)

* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic
* WorldOfPun: From Demon Strations (succubi protesting their zone restriction) and Spell Checkers (to check the quality of potions, of course) to Virtuous Reality and Djinnetic Engineering.

EPA agent David Fisher's investigation into possible leakage from the eponymous toxic spell dump starts out as a regular day at the office and ends up leading to a major conspiracy.

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot