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Strange Itineraries
Tim Powers
In his first collection, Tim Powers takes you on an unforgettable excursion into his strange and dangerous worlds. Vengeful or cooperative spirits, mutant tomatoes, and Ether Bunnies roam these pages, treading paths both alarming and comedic.
Strange Itineraries takes you on an unforgettable excursion into the strange and dangerous worlds of Tim Powers. Vengeful and cooperative spirits, mutant tomatoes, and the ever-mysterious Ether Bunnies roam these pages, treading paths both frightening and droll. This fully retrospective Powers collection also features three collaborations with James Blaylock, author of The Paper Grail and The Last Coin.
“During a 25-year career that includes several highly praised novels and many awards, Powers has earned a reputation as a reigning master of adult contemporary fantasy. In the first collection of his shorter stories, which includes three collaborations with fellow fantasist James Blaylock, Powers displays his trademark predilection for quirky modern ghost stories and unsettling incursions of oddness into everyday life. ‘The Way Down the Hill’ eavesdrops on a secret meeting of immortals whose carefree lifestyles have insidiously disrupted the lives of mortal children. In ‘Pat Moore,’ the author of a chain letter comes face-to-face with the ghosts of those who perished when they didn’t act on the letter. ‘Fifty Cents,’ written with Blaylock, follows the surreal journey of a man, just out for a weekend spin in the desert, who encounters, among other phantoms, a future version of himself. Whether the subject is disillusioned priests or vengeful spirits, Powers is always ready with a surprise around the next narrative corner. A delight for fans and nonfans alike.”
—Booklist
“The nine eccentric, label-defying selections (three written with James P. Blaylock) in Powers’s outstanding first story collection offer the same literary pleasures as this World Fantasy Award winner’s novels (Declare, etc.). The eerily atmospheric ‘Pat Moore,’ in which numerous Pat Moores collide (some male, some female, some living, some ghosts), is far from your conventional ghost story. ‘Through and Through’ is a brilliant study of a disillusioned priest and his penitents within the confessional. The reader hopes that Bernard Wilkins of ‘The Better Boy’ can keep the worms away from his prize tomato plant, that he can preserve his beloved ‘inventor pants’ and, finally, just stay alive. In ‘Night Moves,’ perhaps the volume’s finest entry, memories and dreams pervade the hero’s life, with a colorful subsidiary cast. These are subtle, suggestive tales for the connoisseur of imaginative fiction.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Tim Powers is a genius.”
—Algis Budrys
“Powers writes action and adventure that Indiana Jones could only dream of. And, just when it threatens to get out of hand, there’s a dash of humor and irony that keeps you reading for the joy of it.”
—Washington Post
“Powers always goes the distance, never taking easy shortcuts that tempt authors with lesser imaginations.”
—Manchester Guardian
Tim Powers has been compared to Michael Crichton, Neal Stephenson, and Clive Barker and was lauded by Kirkus as “the reigning king of adult historical fantasy.” His novel Declare, a supernatural secret history of post-WWII espionage, won the 2001 World Fantasy and the International Horror Guild awards. He is the two-time recipient of the Philip K. Dick Award for The Anubis Gates and Dinner at Deviant’s Palace and a three-time Locus Award winner for Last Call, Expiration Date, and Earthquake Weather. His latest novel, Hide Me Among the Graves, is a sequel to his classic supernatural thriller, The Stress of Her Regard. Powers has taught at the Clarion Science Fiction Writers’ Workshop and has co-taught the Writers of the Future Workshop with Algis Budrys.
Praise for Tim Powers
“Tim Powers is a brilliant writer.”
—William Gibson
“Powers orchestrates reality and fantasy so artfully that the reader is not allowed a moment’s doubt.”
—The New Yorker
“Powers writes action and adventure that Indiana Jones could only dream of. And, just when it threatens to get out of hand, there’s a dash of humor and irony that keeps you reading for the joy of it.”
—Washington Post
“No one writing today fuses history with fantasy as shrewdly—or as unpredictably—as Tim Powers.”
—Barnes and Noble Review
“…a reigning master of adult contemporary fantasy.”
—Booklist
“Powers has already proved that he is a master of what he terms ‘doing card tricks in the dark,’ referring to the incredible amount of historical, biographical, and practical research that goes into his works.”
—Harvard Review
“Powers plots like a demon.”
—Village Voice
“…the reigning king of adult historical fantasy….”
—Kirkus
“Tim Powers is a genius.”
—Algis Budrys
Praise for The Bible Repairman and Other Stories
“Powers knows the ways we get haunted—by ambition, loss, greed, and heartbreak—and you finish reading this handful of beautifully crafted tales wishing he’d tell us more.”
—Locus
“Most fantasy authors aim at persuading you of the reality of their invented worlds. Mr. Powers makes you doubt the reality of your own. Are there still sin-eaters and ghost-talkers quietly pursuing their trade in tenements and behind weed-infested yards, with regular tariffs and specializations? If there are, what do they know that you don’t? That’s what creates a true frisson.”
—Wall Street Journal
“Poignant.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Tim Powers’s first collection of short fiction in over half a decade, The Bible Repairman and Other Stories is a potent six-story collection that plays effortlessly with many of the author’s favorite themes.”
—Green Man Review
“Powers specializes in hidden histories and all of these stories present a very real exterior and another world inside its cracks.”
—Denver Post
“Powers’s first new collection since 2005 assembles five stories and a novella, where he exhibits his extraordinary talent as a fantasist and his uncommon imaginative power.”
—SF Site
“Superb…. Here, in potent, distilled form, you will find Powers’s trademarked secret histories, heroically damaged (or damagedly heroic) losers, creepy supernatural
phenomena, and macabre humor.”
—Barnes & Noble Review
Praise for The Stress of Her Regard
“Great ambition and intensity…a complex and satisfying novel”
—Interzone
“Good serious fantasy doesn’t come much better than The Stress Of Her Regard”
—Oxford Times
“Strewn with literary personages and allusions, the book is entertaining on several levels….”
—Publishers Weekly
“Powers’s framing of a vast, mysterious conspiracy, with ancient supernatural powers, hidden riddles, and secret societies, rivals anything written by Umberto Eco….”
—Blogcritics Magazine
“Intricately laced plots, theories of magick advanced and practical, and strange-but-true historical incidents.”
—Green Man Review
“…well-written and overflowing with imagination….”
—Bookgasm
“Doing what Powers does best, by interspersing a dozen plot lines and
characters with a bucket-load of paranormal and tying them up perfectly, he has conjured a tale that could be taken from the history books and taught as fact, and no one would even bother to challenge it. The unfortunate truth is that it’s not real and that’s what it makes it all the more amazing.”
—SF Crowsnest
Strange Itineraries
Tim Powers
In his first collection, Tim Powers takes you on an unforgettable excursion into his strange and dangerous worlds. Vengeful or cooperative spirits, mutant tomatoes, and Ether Bunnies roam these pages, treading paths both alarming and comedic.
$14.95
Strange Itineraries
by Tim Powers
ISBN: 1892391236
Published: 2005
Available Format(s): Trade Paperback
Strange Itineraries takes you on an unforgettable excursion into the strange and dangerous worlds of Tim Powers. Vengeful and cooperative spirits, mutant tomatoes, and the ever-mysterious Ether Bunnies roam these pages, treading paths both frightening and droll. This fully retrospective Powers collection also features three collaborations with James Blaylock, author of The Paper Grail and The Last Coin.
“During a 25-year career that includes several highly praised novels and many awards, Powers has earned a reputation as a reigning master of adult contemporary fantasy. In the first collection of his shorter stories, which includes three collaborations with fellow fantasist James Blaylock, Powers displays his trademark predilection for quirky modern ghost stories and unsettling incursions of oddness into everyday life. ‘The Way Down the Hill’ eavesdrops on a secret meeting of immortals whose carefree lifestyles have insidiously disrupted the lives of mortal children. In ‘Pat Moore,’ the author of a chain letter comes face-to-face with the ghosts of those who perished when they didn’t act on the letter. ‘Fifty Cents,’ written with Blaylock, follows the surreal journey of a man, just out for a weekend spin in the desert, who encounters, among other phantoms, a future version of himself. Whether the subject is disillusioned priests or vengeful spirits, Powers is always ready with a surprise around the next narrative corner. A delight for fans and nonfans alike.”
—Booklist
“The nine eccentric, label-defying selections (three written with James P. Blaylock) in Powers’s outstanding first story collection offer the same literary pleasures as this World Fantasy Award winner’s novels (Declare, etc.). The eerily atmospheric ‘Pat Moore,’ in which numerous Pat Moores collide (some male, some female, some living, some ghosts), is far from your conventional ghost story. ‘Through and Through’ is a brilliant study of a disillusioned priest and his penitents within the confessional. The reader hopes that Bernard Wilkins of ‘The Better Boy’ can keep the worms away from his prize tomato plant, that he can preserve his beloved ‘inventor pants’ and, finally, just stay alive. In ‘Night Moves,’ perhaps the volume’s finest entry, memories and dreams pervade the hero’s life, with a colorful subsidiary cast. These are subtle, suggestive tales for the connoisseur of imaginative fiction.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Tim Powers is a genius.”
—Algis Budrys
“Powers writes action and adventure that Indiana Jones could only dream of. And, just when it threatens to get out of hand, there’s a dash of humor and irony that keeps you reading for the joy of it.”
—Washington Post
“Powers always goes the distance, never taking easy shortcuts that tempt authors with lesser imaginations.”
—Manchester Guardian
Tim Powers has been compared to Michael Crichton, Neal Stephenson, and Clive Barker and was lauded by Kirkus as “the reigning king of adult historical fantasy.” His novel Declare, a supernatural secret history of post-WWII espionage, won the 2001 World Fantasy and the International Horror Guild awards. He is the two-time recipient of the Philip K. Dick Award for The Anubis Gates and Dinner at Deviant’s Palace and a three-time Locus Award winner for Last Call, Expiration Date, and Earthquake Weather. His latest novel, Hide Me Among the Graves, is a sequel to his classic supernatural thriller, The Stress of Her Regard. Powers has taught at the Clarion Science Fiction Writers’ Workshop and has co-taught the Writers of the Future Workshop with Algis Budrys.
Praise for Tim Powers
“Tim Powers is a brilliant writer.”
—William Gibson
“Powers orchestrates reality and fantasy so artfully that the reader is not allowed a moment’s doubt.”
—The New Yorker
“Powers writes action and adventure that Indiana Jones could only dream of. And, just when it threatens to get out of hand, there’s a dash of humor and irony that keeps you reading for the joy of it.”
—Washington Post
“No one writing today fuses history with fantasy as shrewdly—or as unpredictably—as Tim Powers.”
—Barnes and Noble Review
“…a reigning master of adult contemporary fantasy.”
—Booklist
“Powers has already proved that he is a master of what he terms ‘doing card tricks in the dark,’ referring to the incredible amount of historical, biographical, and practical research that goes into his works.”
—Harvard Review
“Powers plots like a demon.”
—Village Voice
“…the reigning king of adult historical fantasy….”
—Kirkus
“Tim Powers is a genius.”
—Algis Budrys
Praise for The Bible Repairman and Other Stories
“Powers knows the ways we get haunted—by ambition, loss, greed, and heartbreak—and you finish reading this handful of beautifully crafted tales wishing he’d tell us more.”
—Locus
“Most fantasy authors aim at persuading you of the reality of their invented worlds. Mr. Powers makes you doubt the reality of your own. Are there still sin-eaters and ghost-talkers quietly pursuing their trade in tenements and behind weed-infested yards, with regular tariffs and specializations? If there are, what do they know that you don’t? That’s what creates a true frisson.”
—Wall Street Journal
“Poignant.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Tim Powers’s first collection of short fiction in over half a decade, The Bible Repairman and Other Stories is a potent six-story collection that plays effortlessly with many of the author’s favorite themes.”
—Green Man Review
“Powers specializes in hidden histories and all of these stories present a very real exterior and another world inside its cracks.”
—Denver Post
“Powers’s first new collection since 2005 assembles five stories and a novella, where he exhibits his extraordinary talent as a fantasist and his uncommon imaginative power.”
—SF Site
“Superb…. Here, in potent, distilled form, you will find Powers’s trademarked secret histories, heroically damaged (or damagedly heroic) losers, creepy supernatural
phenomena, and macabre humor.”
—Barnes & Noble Review
Praise for The Stress of Her Regard
“Great ambition and intensity…a complex and satisfying novel”
—Interzone
“Good serious fantasy doesn’t come much better than The Stress Of Her Regard”
—Oxford Times
“Strewn with literary personages and allusions, the book is entertaining on several levels….”
—Publishers Weekly
“Powers’s framing of a vast, mysterious conspiracy, with ancient supernatural powers, hidden riddles, and secret societies, rivals anything written by Umberto Eco….”
—Blogcritics Magazine
“Intricately laced plots, theories of magick advanced and practical, and strange-but-true historical incidents.”
—Green Man Review
“…well-written and overflowing with imagination….”
—Bookgasm
“Doing what Powers does best, by interspersing a dozen plot lines and
characters with a bucket-load of paranormal and tying them up perfectly, he has conjured a tale that could be taken from the history books and taught as fact, and no one would even bother to challenge it. The unfortunate truth is that it’s not real and that’s what it makes it all the more amazing.”
—SF Crowsnest
Visit the Tim Powers website.
"In Which Corner of the Compass is Ago?" Introduction by Paul Di Filippo
Itinerary
Night Moves
Pat Moore
The Way Down the Hill
Through and Through
Where They Are Hid
Fifty Cents
The Better Boy
We Traverse Afar
Other books by this author…
The Bible Repairman and Other Stories
Tim Powers
$14.95 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageThe Stress of Her Regard
Tim Powers
$16.95 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page