So, who is this Tim Powers geek, anyway?

[Stacy Stroud]

>Hi.
>
>	Allright.  People are talking about Tim Powers as if his name were
>as holy as... well, John Tynes. :)  I've never heard of the geek.

I hadn't heard of him either, until I read a UA review that mentioned his
works as inspirational.

Since then, he's become The Guy to whom I compare all other treatments of
magic in the modern world.

>	So, assuming I want to bypass the 14-book-high pile of TO BE READ
>books in my bedroom, which books by him would I most want to pick up first,
>especially in combination with UA?  (Both in print and out-of-print.
>Denver's got a few used bookstores here and there.)

His modern occult books number three, so far.  They form a loose trilogy,
in that the first two books are not obviously connected, but the
protagonists from both come together in the third book.  The "Fisher King
Trilogy," as I like to call it, is made up of these books:

LAST CALL (the obvious inspiration for UA's archetypes and avatars)
EXPIRATION DATE (a look at an obscure but not exactly secret occult
underground)
EARTHQUAKE WEATHER (all of the above, and more)

A large bookstore should have at least the latter two in paperback.  I got
mine from the library first, but later found a copy of the second and third
books (packaged together in a book-club edition as FAULT LINES) in a used
bookstore and snapped it up.

Powers has also written quite a bit of historical occult fiction, in which
he takes the lives of historical characters as they did, in fact, occur,
and gives the "real" story behind the various events.  These include the
following, of which I've yet read only the first one:

THE STRESS OF HER REGARD (Byron, Keats, Shelley)
ON STRANGER TIDES (Blackbeard)
THE ANUBIS GATES (Byron again, and others -- this one is always described a
bit differently from the others, so it may not be quite the same flavor.
It's always held up as Powers' true classic, though.)

Powers is reported to be working on a new book that gives the occult
history of the Cold War, with infamous British Secret Service traitor Kim
Philby as the protagonist.

Other information indicates that Powers was a protege of the famous SF
writer/visionary/madman Philip K. Dick.  Powers' college chum and fellow
Dick disciple, James P. Blaylock, is said to write similar works.  I
haven't checked him out yet, though.


>	And, IMHO, I think people interested in UA should try finding a copy
>of 'Pierced Heart', Robin Law's novel about a few characters in the On the
>Edge world.  Fun strangeness.

I think I know where to get a copy of that.  As someone else said, the book
has hideous cover art, which is one reason I've never even flipped through
it yet.  But maybe I'll check it out.


Stacy Stroud
sstroud at uky.campuscwix.net