Customer Reviews

The Bible Repairman

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A ghostly bedtime tale; perfect to read in bed, that is, on a cold snowy night. No one covers the L.A. ghost scene like Tim Powers, and this small booklet-style collectable short story is no exception. It concerns a doomed individual, the title character, who also performs other tasks around the dark arts. Good for a quick Powers fix!

Now- ON TO A GRIPE: this is, as I mentioned, a collectable. There were only around 500 printed. It was signed by Powers. Why on Earth would Amazon (or whoever it was) place a sticker on the back (very crookedly) with the ISBN number? Couldn't they have bagged it and placed the sticker on the bag? Personally, I don't care, but being in the business I've been in for 16 years, I know plenty of collectors who will. Bad move, sticker guy!

In California, a secret magical underground exists. Souls of the dead haunt electronic equipment. Bibles are cleansed of offending verses, and the blood of murderers stills the whispers of the dead.

But, as always in Powers, magic comes at a price. Wizard Torrez, the bible repairman, has a soul tainted by murder, a dead child, a broken marriage, and an intellect leaking away. And a new client wants to take away what little he has left.

While taking place in a world reminiscent of his novel Expiration Date, there is no secret history here, no grand conspiracies -- just a subtle tale of loss, sin, and sacrifice.

Tim Powers is one of my favorite writers of both novels and short stories. I loved this story of regret and release but I don't like the pamphlet format at all. I would rather wait for a collection of stories or read it in a magazine or in an online format. One short is not enough "bang for the buck" even as a "limited edition" with illustrations by the artist. Mr Powers is a talented writer and an untalented illustrator.

Not complete enough to be a short story - more of a mood piece or sample of Tim Powers' storytelling. But if you want to check out Powers, go with something meatier like The Anubis Gate or Drawing of the Dark. The Bible Repairman is for people who would buy Powers' grocery list just because Tim Powers wrote it.

A great short story from one of my very favorite authors! Be sure to pick this up.

This "book" is a tiny gem. Set in the same universe of Ghosts as Expiration Date, it is a single short story of the same high quality we have come to expect from Powers.

But do note I said "tiny", "single short story" and used the term "book". This is more along the lines of a pamphlet than a book. Strongly suggested for the Powers super fan or collector, not for the casual reader.

tim powers combination of intelligence and imagination never fail to keep me turning pages. the premise of bible repairman is origional. the story itself left me wishing it were at least a novella. if you enjoy his other work, the bible repairman is worth the hefty pricetag.