The Drawing
of the Dark, by Tim Powers.
This was the
first Powers book I ever read, and I can’t say I was very impressed. Oh, all
the great elements of a Powers tale were there. The weaving and the blending
weren’t quite yet tight enough, though, and there were a few of the strands
(like the Vikings) that I thought were a little forced. Still, it was good
enough so that when I heard the word about “The Anubis Gates” I gave that a
shot. A Del Rey book, but his other works were from Ace after it. Used.
Ranking:
Keeper.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
A secondhand
book with a cracked spine. I must admit I gave Powers another chance more or
less on the advice of James P. Blaylock, but I never regretted it. A cunning
blend of time travel, body swap, and literary history that combines into a
breathless tale of adventure, mystery, and love. I think that here was the
beginning of the real Powers’ universe of ‘secret histories’ and the magic and
miracles that underlie the world for those who care or dare to look can see.
The origin story of William Ashbless, that ageless, cranky poet who goes
striding through the works of Blaylock and Powers combined, and, now that I
think of it, seems like a predecessor of my own ‘Old Bob’. Jeez, how could I
have missed that? Now that I look back, it seems obvious, and any literary
scholar would probably conclude that I did it consciously.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
Dinner at
Deviant’s Palace, by Tim Powers.
After I
started getting into Powers’ work, I had to try to get all his books, of
course. I got this one at a comics/toy store called the Dungeon in San Antonio.
It’s gone now. Then I didn’t read it, because it was a future dystopia science
fiction work, not the fantasy I wanted. I should read it. After all, it’s
Powers.
Ranking:
Keeper.
File Code:
Science Fiction. Novel. Paperback.
On Stranger
Tides, by Tim Powers.
Back to
historical fantasy, this time weaving pirates, voodoo, and the Fountain of
Youth into a tale of the Caribbean long before Disney started their movies. “In
September 2009, Tim Powers confirmed that Disney optioned the novel around
April 2007, in order to incorporate elements of it into the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, released on May 20, 2011.” –
Wikipedia. Do not judge this great book by that sucky movie. I never
particularly cared about pirates before this, but after I read it in 1988, I generated
some fondness and respect for the genre.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Stress
of Her Regard, by Tim Powers.
Another
historical fantasy, this time weaving together the Romantic poets, their short
lifespans, and the vampire lore which started to see a resurgence of popularity
during their period. A ‘secret history’ that puts a new spin on recorded facts
and ancient legends. After this in 2008
I started buying Powers in hardback whenever I could, knowing I would want his
work in more permanent form. They are that good. “Powers' stories have been
described as "secret histories," in which real life events and
personages appear, but are given different, strange, "occult"
significance. Thus, Einstein invents a time machine, Lord Byron is plagued by
vampires, and Thomas Edison's ghost is craved by spirit-huffers who wish
to ingest him for a rush. The main protagonists in Powers' books, however, are
not the famous people. Powers' heroes are often unknown to history, but no less
important for that. A typical Powers hero makes an innocent mistake (though
often through bullheadedness or carelessness) which lands him in terrible
consequences. He gains secret knowledge he doesn't want to know, suffers
wrenching physical torment, and loses or is separated from those he loves.
Often it is only through his dedication to some skill or craft (electrical
engineering, poker playing, spycraft, obstetrics) that he is able to
survive and save the day. But along the way he gains the love and friendship of
those with whom he shares the ordeal; in many stories he gains the love of his
life.” – Power of Babel.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Elfin
Ship, by James P. Blaylock.
The first
Blaylock book I ever read. It came out in 1982, but I could swear I read it in
high school. A Del Rey fantasy with a cover by Darrell K. Sweet; I have 2
copies, one bought used. The first of what has been called the Balumnian
Trilogy, it follows the adventures of the peaceful cheesemaker Jonathan Bing as
he is forced by strange circumstances to travel down the river by raft through
a land devasted by goblins and spooks led by the evil dwarf-wizard, Selznak. An
odd combo of Tristram Shandy, Huckleberry Finn, The Hobbit, and nursery rhyme
figures, the Cheeser is aided by his amazing dog Ahab, his friend the
Professor, Dooley, Dooley’s grampa Theophile Escargot, elves, and the Man in
the Moon, as they seek for a stolen magic pocket watch that controls time. An
amazing stew of all things that ring my bell. Bing loves his food, a good book,
and just enough mystery and adventure to assure himself that he’s not cut out
for adventures, but he is ever ready to answer the call when needed. After this
book, I was eager for any Blaylock that came my way, and only wish I could find
a hardback.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The
Disappearing Dwarf, by James P. Blaylock
The second
in his Balumnian Trilogy (1983). Selznak is up to his tricks once more, seeking
revenge, and Jonathan Bing must travel again with his old friends, this time to
the magical land of Balumnia, to find the kidnapped Squire Myrkle. Theophile
Escargot unexpectedly turns up in a submarine in search of pirate treasure, to
help complicate matters. Many sophomore efforts stumble or lag, but given the
Quixotic, Shandean form of the books, this one is another matching piece of
cloth to the first. The marvels of marbles, coffee, and sea-side souvenir shops
are lovingly explored.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Stone
Giant, by James P. Blaylock.
The third
book in the so-called Balumnian Trilogy (1989 – how long it seemed between
books!), an Ace fantasy, this time, but still with a Darrel K. Sweet cover. A
prequel this time, telling how Theophile Escargot started his career as an
adventurer and con-man, how he first crossed paths with Selznak the Dwarf, and
how he came by his wondrous submarine and foiled a plan to destroy Balumnia
itself. “What I like about Blaylock's work, whether it is in the
more whimsical "Balumnian" books or in the "magic realism"
stories that take place ostensibly in our world, is the sense all his heroes
have of the wonder and marvel of things, of sometimes quite ordinary things.
Characters might just as easily enjoy a cellar full of marbles as a pirate
treasure or think that someone who takes a Pogo Possum book can't be
all bad. It is the sense of wonder for wonder's sake, and not for any money or
power that might come from it, that marks a hero in Blaylock's books,
as someone who has "all the right instincts", be it for a good used
bookstore, a marvelous machine, an aquarium of exotic fish, or a fantastic
gumbo with a cold glass of tea.” – Power of Babel.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
Land of
Dreams, by James P. Blaylock.
Every twelve
years the Solstice comes to the coast, when strange gates may open, and
stranger things can happen. Young Jack and his friends probe the mystery of
what happened to his parents last Solstice and the appearance of a strangely
dark carnival. Another Ace book (1987 – I put the dates on these to indicate
that I read them when they came out). Reminiscent of Bradbury, of course, and
somehow just as poetic. Unusual for a Blaylock in that it focuses on children
as the main protagonists.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Digging
Leviathan, by James P. Blaylock
The first in
the “Narbondo Series”. On the California coast a 13-year-old boy with gills
begins to build a “digging leviathan”, a subterranean excavator to reach the
center of the earth. The members of the Newtonian Society are at first amused
and then appalled as they realize that the boy has strange, reality-warping
powers that dark forces are bent on capturing and using. I was so taken by the
form and spirit of this book that I wrote an outline for my own book (never
written of course), ‘The Flying Behemoth’. 1984. Meandering? Discursive? That’s
part of its charm. William Ashbless from Powers’ “The Anubis Gate” joins the
fun (Powers and Blaylock, great friends, started Ashbless as a joke that
they’ve been telling for over thirty years now). A tribute to Edgar Rice
Burroughs.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code: Science
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
Homunculus,
by James P. Blaylock.
The second
in the “Narbondo Series” (so-called because Narbondo is a common villain in the
books), this time set in Victorian England. An Ace paperback (1986). While Langdon
St. Ives strives to perfect his steampunk spaceship, a blimp piloted by a
skeleton captain and bearing a mysterious box is about to touch down on London
heath. A false messiah, a mad doctor, and the members of the Trismegistus Club
race to capture the box, said to contain a tiny visitor from the stars with
powers beyond mortal ken, the Homunculus. It seems to me to be a tribute to
Robert Louis Stevenson, especially Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Body Snatcher,
The Bottle Imp, and The Wrong Box.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code: Science
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
Lord
Kelvin’s Machine, by James P. Blaylock
Langdon St.
Ives takes the forefront of the third in the “Narbondo Series”. After Dr.
Narbondo kills St. Ives’ young bride, the scientist goes into a funk as he
tries to build a time machine to save his wife and change the past. For that he
must beat the nefarious Narbondo to Lord Kelvin’s machine and figure out the
unexpected difficulties of time travel. It ends with the birth of his son
Edward St. Ives, one of the characters in “The Digging Leviathan” and so the
stories’ head touches its tail. The first part seems like Jules Verne, the
second part like H. G. Wells, and all stirred and mixed by R. L. Stevenson.
This is to say Blaylock is inspired but not slavishly copying these authors.
There are more “St. Ives” in the series now, but I was able to get them in
hardback.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code:
Science Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
Night
Relics, by James P. Blaylock
“Attempting
to come to terms with his failed marriage and longing for his son, Peter
Travers' struggle to start over again is haunted by mysterious visions of a
woman and child as the spirits of the past come alive and a dark and terrible
secret refuses to die.” – Power of Babel. The first of the “Ghosts” series
(1994). I have few memories of this book; I have not been as engaged by
Blaylock’s modern-day ghost tales as by his other works with a more pronounced
fantasy element. However, I do have a generally good feeling about it, and,
hey, it’s James P.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code”
Fantasy? Novel. Paperback.
Winter
Tides, by James P. Blaylock.
The second
in the “Ghost” series, which take place in modern day California. Something of
a play on the themes of “King Lear” and almost, by the feel of it, like
Blaylock is trying to write a Tim Powers book. A good entertainment with
murder, a dead twin, and the struggle over a ‘kingdom’. The best of the ‘Ghost
Series’ (they are really standalones, only tied together by setting and
themes). 1997.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Rainy
Season, by James P. Blaylock.
The third in
the “Ghosts” trilogy, which are books set in present day California. While I
remember it as being a good entertainment, poetic and moody, I haven’t read it
in a while, maybe not since the first time. I found this ‘series’ to be not as
engaging as his others; perhaps I should give it another read. (1999).
Ranking:
Still Essential.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Last
Coin, by James P. Blaylock.
When the
thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas to betray Christ, scattered throughout
the world, and separated for centuries, are being gathered together again, can
the apocalypse be far behind? It falls to Andrew Vanderbergen, the ordinary
owner of an eccentric inn, to become the guardian of the last coin. Weaving
together old tales of the Wandering Jew, coin traditions, beast lore, and the
joys of breakfast cereal. “Going on a journey with Blaylock you might
find … what seems ordinary might have a fantastic side, and legends might hide
startling truths in plain sight in the mundane world, all revealed to
blundering innocents whose only resources to deal with it all are those
"right instincts". It seems to me a perfect analogy for our own
existence.” – Power of Babel. An Ace book, 1988.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel.
Paperback.
The Paper
Grail, by James P. Blaylock.
Howard
Barton travels to California in quest of what he believes is a Hokusai sketch,
but instead finds himself set to become the new guardian of the Grail, the next
in a line of Fisher Kings. But not if Heloise Lamey, a powerful and greedy old
lady on the local scene, can help it. Once more draws in threads of legend and
literary gossip to spin an incredible but somehow crazily logical (and
exciting) secret history of the world. For some reason (good ones, too) Mrs.
Lamey reminded me all-too-much of Nanny. 1991, so Nanny was still around.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
All the
Bells on Earth, by James P. Blaylock.
Walt
Stebbens accidentally receives a dead bird preserved in a jar, labelled as “The
Blue Bird of Happiness”. All he has to do is make a wish. But is it a genie or
a monkey’s paw? Desperate, ruthless forces are after the thing, but all Walt
wants is run his mail order business, keep his family together, and have a good
Christmas. (1995, Ace). A good read, more religious than some of his others,
and his people are more ‘real’ and a little less eccentric. After this book, my
getting of Blaylock took a turn from paperbacks to hardbacks and softcovers,
and he started a lay-off from publishing novels for about nine years or so.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
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