A short life of the author
Timothy Thomas Powers (b. 29 February 1952) was born in Buffalo, New York, and moved to California as a child. He studied English at Cal State Fullerton, where he became close friends with James Blaylock and K.W. Jeter — the three are sometimes called the “California steampunk” group, though Powers’s work ranges far beyond steampunk.
Life and Career
The Anubis Gates (1983) — a time-travel novel set in early-nineteenth-century London involving body-swapping, werewolves, and the historical poet William Ashbless — won the Philip K. Dick Award and is widely considered one of the finest fantasy novels of the 1980s.
On Stranger Tides (1987) — about Blackbeard, voodoo, and piracy in the eighteenth-century Caribbean — inspired the Pirates of the Caribbean film sequels. Last Call (1992) — about a poker game played with Tarot cards in Las Vegas that determines the Fisher King of the American West — won the World Fantasy Award. Declare (2001) — a Cold War spy novel in which Kim Philby’s treachery is driven by supernatural forces on Mount Ararat — won the World Fantasy Award again and is his most acclaimed novel.
Major Works and Themes
Powers’s method is to research a historical period or set of events intensively, identify the gaps and coincidences in the historical record, and fill them with supernatural explanations that are internally consistent and narratively satisfying. The research is always impeccable.
Key Works
- The Anubis Gates (1983) — Philip K. Dick Award
- On Stranger Tides (1987)
- Last Call (1992) — World Fantasy Award
- Declare (2001) — World Fantasy Award
Collecting Powers
The Anubis Gates (1983, Ace Books, paperback original) brings $20–$60. Later hardcover editions and limited editions from Subterranean Press are also collected. Powers signs at conventions. Subterranean Press limited editions are the premium collected form.