Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

author. Powers has won the

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

twice for his critically acclaimed novels ''

Last Call In a bar, a last call (last orders) is an announcement made shortly before the bar closes for the night, informing patrons of their last chance to buy alcoholic beverages. There are various means to make the signal, like ringing a bell, flash ...

'' and ''

Declare ''Declare'' (2000) is a supernatural spy novel by American author Tim Powers. The novel presents a secret history of the Cold War, and earned several major fantasy fiction awards. Plot summary The non-linear plot, shifting back and forth in tim ...

''. His 1987 novel ''

On Stranger Tides ''On Stranger Tides'' is a 1987 historical fantasy supernatural novel by American writer Tim Powers. It was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and placed second in the annual Locus poll for best fantasy novel. ''On Stranger ...

'' served as inspiration for the ''

Monkey Island ''Monkey Island'' is a series of adventure games. The first four games in the series were produced and published by LucasArts, earlier known as Lucasfilm Games. The fifth installment of the franchise was developed by Telltale Games in collabor ...

'' franchise of video games and was optioned for adaptation into the fourth ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' film. Most of Powers' novels are "

secret histories Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

". He uses actual, documented historical events featuring famous people, but shows another view of them in which occult or supernatural factors heavily influence the motivations and actions of the characters. Typically, Powers strictly adheres to established historical facts. He reads extensively on a given subject, and the plot develops as he notes inconsistencies, gaps and curious data; regarding his 2001 novel ''Declare'', he stated, "I made it an ironclad rule that I could not change or disregard any of the recorded facts, nor rearrange any days of the calendar – and then I tried to figure out what momentous but unrecorded fact could explain them all."

Life and career

Powers was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, but has lived in California since 1959. He studied English Literature at

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

, and earned his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1976. It was there that he first met

James Blaylock James Paul Blaylock (born September 20, 1950) is an American fantasy author. He is noted for a distinctive, humorous style, as well as being one of the pioneers of the steampunk genre of science fiction. Blaylock has cited Jules Verne, H. G. Wel ...

and K. W. Jeter, both of whom remained close friends and occasional collaborators; the trio have half-seriously referred to themselves as " steampunks" in contrast to the prevailing

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and c ...

genre of the 1980s. Powers and Blaylock invented the poet

William Ashbless __notoc__ William Ashbless is a fictional poet, invented by fantasy writers James Blaylock and Tim Powers. Invention Ashbless was invented by Powers and Blaylock when they were students at Cal State Fullerton in the early 1970s, originally as a r ...

while they were at Cal State Fullerton. Another friend Powers first met during this period was noted science fiction writer Philip K. Dick; the character named "David" in Dick's novel ''

VALIS ''Valis'' (stylized as ''VALIS'') is a 1981 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, intended to be the first book of a three-part series. The title is an acronym for ''Vast Active Living Intelligence System'', Dick's gnostic vis ...

'' is based on Powers. When ''

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (retroactively retitled ''Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' in some later printings) is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. Th ...

'' was retitled ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

'' to tie-in with the movie based on the novel, Dick dedicated it to Tim and Serena Powers. Powers' first major novel was ''

The Drawing of the Dark ''The Drawing of the Dark'' is a historical fantasy novel by Tim Powers published in 1979 by Del Rey Books. Plot summary The year is 1529, and Brian Duffy, a world-weary Irish mercenary soldier, is hired in Venice by the mysterious Aurelianus to ...

'' (1979), but the novel that earned him wide praise was ''

The Anubis Gates ''The Anubis Gates'' is a 1983 time travel fantasy novel by American writer Tim Powers. It won the 1983 Philip K. Dick Award and 1984 Science Fiction Chronicle Award. Plot summary In 1801 the British have risen to power in Egypt and suppress ...

'', which won the Philip K. Dick Award, and has since been published in many other languages. Powers also teaches part-time in his role as Writer in Residence for the

Orange County High School of the Arts Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA, ), is a 7th–12th grade public charter school located in downtown Santa Ana, California. The school caters to middle and high school students with talents in the performing, visual, literary arts, cul ...

and California School of the Arts in San Gabriel Valley in the

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

Conservatory, as well as Chapman University, where Blaylock taught. He also taught part-time at the

University of Redlands The University of Redlands is a private university headquartered in Redlands, California. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Califo ...

. Powers and his wife, Serena Batsford Powers, currently live in Muscoy, California. He has frequently served as a mentor author as part of the Clarion science fiction/fantasy writer's workshop.

Bibliography

Novels

; ''The Skies Discrowned'' (1976) * * Revised as: ; ''An Epitaph in Rust'' (1976) : Also published as ''Epitaph in Rust''. The publisher's cover blurb describes a tale that "follows young Thomas from his escape from a rural monastery into the wilds of a future

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. There he joins a theater company where the play is definitely not the thing – revolution is – and he finds himself in the middle of it. The mayor has been blown up and his android guards are determined to end insurrection. But the theater company has other ideas..." ; ''

'' (1979) : The

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

was actually a struggle between Muslim and Christian magicians over the spiritual center of the West, which happens to be a small inn and brewery in Vienna. The "dark" is a beer that has been brewing for centuries, which the

Fisher King The Fisher King is a figure in Arthurian legend, the last in a long line of British kings tasked with guarding the Holy Grail. The Fisher King is both the protector and physical embodiment of his lands, but a wound renders him incapable and hi ...

will eventually drink. ; ''

'' (1983): ''Philip K. Dick Award winner, 1983; Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 1984; BSFA nominee, 1985'' : A

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a ...

story set mostly in 1810, featuring a brainwashed

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

ian

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...

and a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...

. ; '' Dinner at Deviant's Palace'' (1985): ''Philip K. Dick Award winner, and Nebula Award nominee, 1985'' : Unusually for Powers, this is set in the future, in a postatomic America in which an extraterrestrial

psychic vampire A psychic vampire (or energy vampire) is a creature in folklore said to feed off the "life force" of other living creatures. The term can also be used to describe a person who gets increased energy around other people, but leaves those other peopl ...

is slowly taking over. : In 2001 the group Cradle of Filth released a song entitled "Dinner at Deviant's Palace" that was simply the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

backmasked. ; ''

'' (1987): ''Locus Fantasy and World Fantasy Awards nominee, 1988'' : Set in the 18th century Caribbean; with pirates (many of them real characters, primarily

Blackbeard Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known abou ...

, as well as a fictional protagonist named Jack), voodoo,

zombie A zombie ( Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in w ...

s, Juan Ponce de León, and a strangely quantum-mechanical

Fountain of Youth The Fountain of Youth is a mythical spring which allegedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted around the world for thousands of years, appearing in the writings of Herod ...

. Disney incorporated elements of the novel into the fourth ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' film. ; '' The Stress of Her Regard'' (1989): ''Locus Fantasy and World Fantasy Awards nominee, 1990'' and winner of the 1990

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award The Mythopoeic Awards for literature and literary studies are given annually for outstanding works in the fields of myth, fantasy, and the scholarly study of these areas. Established by the Mythopoeic Society in 1971, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Awar ...

. : Concerning the dealings of the

Romantic poets Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Enlightenment ideas of the 18t ...

–

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

and Shelley are major characters – with

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deat ...

-like beings from

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

François Villon François Villon ( Modern French: , ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these ...

being also mentioned as minor character. Reprinted in 2008 with

Tachyon Publications Tachyon Publications is an independent press specializing in science fiction and fantasy books. Founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Jacob Weisman, Tachyon books have tended toward high-end literary works, short story collections, and anthologies ...

. ; Fault Lines series :; ''

'' (1992): ''Locus Fantasy and World Fantasy Awards winner, 1993'' :: A professional poker player finds out that he lost far more than he won in a poker game played with

Tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots ...

cards two decades ago. ;; ''

Expiration Date An expiration date or expiry date is a previously determined date after which something should no longer be used, either by operation of law or by exceeding the anticipated shelf life for perishable goods. Expiration dates are applied to selecte ...

'' (1996): ''World Fantasy Award nominee, 1996; 1996 Nebula Award nominee'' :: A boy possessed by the spirit of

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

is hunted through

by people wanting to consume the ghost he carries. ;; '' Earthquake Weather'' (1997): ''BSFA Award nominee, 1997; Locus Fantasy Award winner, 1998'' :: Sequel to both ''Last Call'' and ''Expiration Date'', involving the characters of both: two fugitives from a psychiatric hospital, the magical nature of

multiple personality disorder Dissociative identity disorder (DID), better known as multiple personality disorder or multiple personality syndrome, is a mental disorder characterized by the presence of at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states. The di ...

, and the secret history of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

production in California. ; ''

'' (2001): ''World Fantasy Award winner and Locus Fantasy nominee, 2001; 2001 Nebula Award nominee'' : A Cold War

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

thriller which evokes

Lovecraftian Lovecraftian horror, sometimes used interchangeably with "cosmic horror", is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named a ...

horror and the work of

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

, involving

Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring which had divulged British secr ...

djinn Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic myt ...

and the

Ark Ark or ARK may refer to: Biblical narratives and religion Hebrew word ''teva'' * Noah's Ark, a massive vessel said to have been built to save the world's animals from a flood * Ark of bulrushes, the boat of the infant Moses Hebrew ''aron'' * ...

Mount Ararat Mount Ararat or , ''Ararat''; or is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in the extreme east of Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest peak in Turkey and th ...

. ; ''Powers of Two'' (2004) : Re-release of ''Skies Discrowned'' and ''Epitaph in Rust''. ; ''

Three Days to Never ''Three Days to Never'' is a 2006 fantasy novel by Tim Powers. As with most of Powers' novels, it proposes a secret history in which real events have supernatural causes and prominent historical figures have been involved in supernatural or occul ...

'' (2006): ''Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 2007'' ; ''Hide Me Among the Graves'' (2012): A sequel of sorts to ''The Stress of Her Regard'', it involves the Rossetti family and John Crawford, son of the protagonist from ''The Stress of Her Regard''. ; ''Medusa's Web'' (2016): A standalone novel where Scott and Madeline Madden uncover the secrets of the Hollywood mansion Caveat, a "conduit for the supernatural". ; Vickery and Castine series :; ''Alternate Routes'' (August 2018) ;; ''Forced Perspectives'' (March 2020) ;; ''Stolen Skies'' (January 2022) ; ''More Walls Broken'' (February 2019)

Short story collections

* ''Night Moves and Other Stories'' (2000) * ''On Pirates'', by

James P. Blaylock James Paul Blaylock (born September 20, 1950) is an American fantasy author. He is noted for a distinctive, humorous style, as well as being one of the pioneers of the steampunk genre of science fiction. Blaylock has cited Jules Verne, H. G. W ...

and Powers as William Ashbless (2001) * ''The Devils in the Details'' (with James Blaylock) (2003) * ''Strange Itineraries'': 2005, published by

of San Francisco, California (includes all six stories from ''Night Moves'' plus both stories by Powers from ''Devils'') * ''The Bible Repairman and Other Stories'': 2011, published by

* '' Down and Out in Purgatory: The Collected Stories of Tim Powers'': 2017, published by

Baen Books Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...

Other

* ''The Complete Twelve Hours of the Night'' (1986): A joke pamphlet by Blaylock and Powers as William Ashbless, published by Cheap Street Press; features in ''The Anubis Gates'' * ''A Short Poem by William Ashbless'' (1987): A joke chapbook written by Phil Garland, with permission of Blaylock and Powers as Ashbless. Published by The Folly Press. * ''The William Ashbless Memorial Cookbook'' (2002): A cookbook by Blaylock and Powers as Ashbless. Published by Subterranean Press. * ''The Bible Repairman'' (2005): A chapbook containing an original

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

. Published by Subterranean Press. * ''Nine Sonnets by Francis Thomas Marrity'' (2006): A chapbook containing nine sonnets "written" by one of the main characters in ''Three Days to Never''. Published by Subterranean Press and given away with the collectors' edition of ''Three Days To Never.'' * ''A Soul in a Bottle'' (2007): A ghost story about a poet largely based on American poet Edna St Vincent Millay. This novella published by Subterranean Press. * ''Three Sonnets by Cheyenne Fleming'' (2007): Printed loose and inserted into the collectors' edition of ''A Soul in a Bottle''. * ''Death of a Citizen'' (2012): A short nonfiction essay included in ''A Comprehensive Dual Bibliography of James P. Blaylock & Tim Powers'' by Silver Smith. Published by Argent Leaf Press. * ''Salvage and Demolition'' (2013): Time-travel novella. Published by Subterranean Press. * ''Nobody's Home'' (2014): novella set in the world of ''The Anubis Gates''. * ''Appointment at Sunset'' (2014): Published by Charnel House * ''Down and Out in Purgatory'' (2016): A ghost story about posthumous revenge. This novella was published by Subterranean Press.

Critical studies and reviews of Powers' work

;''Salvage and Demolition'' *

References

External links

* – includes
very long interview
*

published in ''

Locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Entertainment * Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front * ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine ** ''Locus Award' ...

'' magazine * {{DEFAULTSORT:Powers, Tim 1952 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists American fantasy writers American male novelists American science fiction writers California State University, Fullerton alumni Chapbook writers Living people Novelists from New York (state) Waltham High School alumni World Fantasy Award-winning writers Writers from Buffalo, New York Writers from California