ARGH! I think I'm losink my mind!

On the other hand, teenagers have built these things, why haven't I done it yet?

'What's that?", you say?

Hah! Wouldn't YOU like to know!

Shhhh, don't tell anyone: I'm doing a first-pass analysis of a medium-voltage Marx generator, with a mind to estimating costs of the parts I don't have lying around, on a count-a because I think I can do it quite cheaply. 

It may be a pretty fast one, I think. 

I need it to trigger the spark gap switch.  Field distortion triggering requires very high voltages (6X - 10X the voltage across the switch is not uncommon) at as fast as a rise time as is possible, but generally below 1µS.  Sounds unlikely, but it is possible.