Kurland's later short story "The Rite Stuff" (first published in anthology "Sorceror's Tales", 2004) features some of the same magical concepts specified in the Lord Darcy stories, but set on an Earth where T. Lesaux discovered the laws of magic in the nineteenth century and where society has developed a more superstitious concept of magic that doubts the credibility of forensic sorcerers like protagonist Dr. Jonathan Stryk. The 'alternate history' elements include attenuated scientific development (the internal combustion engine does not seem to have been invented), and references to Daniel Webster, Huey Long and Eleanor Roosevelt as former Presidents of the United States.