Customer Reviews

Strange Itineraries

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Powers is primarily a novelist -- one of our best, too -- not a short-story writer, and this collection of nine stories comprises all his short fiction to date. Still, Tim Powers is Tim Powers, and his slightly strange perspective on the world is such that any fan of _Anubis Gates_ and _Declare_ will want to spend time with this book. A quiet, rainy afternoon would be most appropriate. Most of these stories deal with loss in one way or another, loss of a spouse, loss of oneself, and the settings are ordinary, mostly California, mostly the inland deserts, but the characters are ordinary only on the surface. They tend to be sort of abstract, too, in a Rod Serling kind of way, like "Fifty Cents," in which a guy driving across the Sonora on a personal quest keeps running into hitchhikers that turn out to be himself (sort of) in the past or the future. "We Traverse Afar" is about another guy, also dealing with loss, and a very pointed look at Christmas. In fact, as in his novels, you have to pay attention to Tim's writing because what he has to say is likely to slip right past you otherwise. The most straightforward narrative piece in the volume, "The Way Down the Hill," is also the earliest, written more than twenty years ago, but even it has a strong whiff of Phil Dick about it, not surprisingly, and it will also inevitably bring to mind "All You Zombies." Everyone compares Powers to Dick, of course, and they were friends, but I also see a connection to Fritz Leiber's work from the early `50s. No space opera here, no high fantasy, no universe-straddling plots. Just quiet, thoughtful word-pictures, extremely well done.

Quantum theory, time loops, alternate realities, the supernatural and one special story about a gentle old man whose pants are torn off by the side mirror of a speeding Torina are all included in this remarkable collection of short stories by Tim Powers.

Powers has the writer's skill of placing the utterly unreal into the norms of our day-to-day reality. Another great American writer, Edgar Allen Poe, used this particular skill to great effect with such stories as The Fall of the House of Usher and The Man of the Crowd. The tale begins ordinarily enough and then suddenly jumps, sometime subtly, sometimes not so, and we find ourselves bounding along to alternate realities, witnessing sad spirits in a catholic confessional or attending a strange gathering of immortals. And, incredibly, it all seems quite feasible. This is fascinating reading and extremely entertaining.

What really makes these tales stand out is their credibility, as one can perceive that their contents have been thoroughly researched. The vast majority of these stories' theme is the notion of time itself: where does it begin and does it ever end? Some of his characters are confused at the start but then later, as in the story 50 Cents, the character appears to accept their fate, that they are trapped in time, and this reality will never end, and continue to replay itself like a scratch on a CD.

In the story, Pat Moore, the character begins his day like any other, (except for a chain letter he has received, which if not passed on, could well prove unlucky), a professional gambler, sets out in his beat up Dodge, where he observes a man in a Chevrolet with a sawn-off shotgun, tries to run him off the road. An instant later he sees a woman appear next to him, who claims to be his guarding angel, when the Chevrolet crashes off the road. At first he is shocked, but as the tale unfolds, he puts together the clues, to discover it all has to do with his dead wife. The story becomes more bizarre, yet believable, finally sorting itself out in the end.

The two cleverest stories, Where They are Hid and Night Moves, on face value are outlandish, but are so well constructed, every loose end is tied up nicely, with a hint of irony, that they actually become credible.

This is Tim Powers's only collection of short stories, as he's predominately a novelist. All his novels are award winners and to a certain extent, as other writers have said, he leans towards Phillip K. Dick more than any other America writer. In fact a young Powers met an older PKD where he had nothing but praise for the younger writer.

After reading these exceptionally entertaining short stories, I hope Powers decides to write more short stories, because the one's included in Strange Itineraries are remarkable.

This is a great collection of stories. I especially liked the odd ghost story "Pat Moore." But every story is good or even better. Plus this is cost effective way to get these stories, some of which were only available in expensive limited editions. In all, great reading and a great value!

Any book by Tim Powers is a major event. This one collects all of his short fiction in one nifty package. Easily the best short story collection of 2005.

If you are smart, you would read everything by Tim Powers. He is that good. But this is a reprint of an earlier collection,"Night Moves" from Subterranean Press(2001). The contents are a little differant,
Introduction by James P. Blaylock
"Night Moves"
"The Way Down the Hill"
"Where They Are Hid"
"The Better Boy"
"We Traverse Afar"
"Itinerary"
Story notes by Tim Powers

I loved ghost stories as a kid then as I grew up and old my tastes changed, as they should. Tim Powers is one of my favorite writers of both novels and short stories. Broadly, I describe his work as Harry Potter written by Hunter S. Thompson but it is more deeply etched than both. "Strange Itineraries" is a collection of ghost stories for me as a forty-something adult.

This is the first Powers in short form I've read, and I plowed through it quickly. I wanted more. I like the way Tim's mind works.

I found "The Way Down The Hill" especially dark and alluring; The nightmarish image of immortal souls freefalling through oblivion, then taking a new hand hold on life by displacing unborn souls... I loved it. It is an image forever etched into my brain. I think that's worth the price of this book alone.

- john starr

This is a collection of nine short stories that Mr Powers has written over the years. Most, if not all, have already appeared in print. Overall most of the stories work really well; mixing Mr Powers' skills of inserting magic into reality and playing with senses is quite lovely ways.

The stories are:
Itinerary
The Way Down the Hill
Pat Moore
Fifty Cents
Through and Through
We Traverse Afar
Where They Are Hid
The Better Boy
Night Moves

As with all of Power's books (save "On Stranger Tides") he has trouble with female characters - thankfully for these stories he really doesn't try to create any. Instead we get a freaky, heart pumping thrill of a story like "Pat Moore" which starts with a chain letter and goes into familiar, almost magical realism realms. Truly one of his best.

The book kicks into high gear in the second story, "The Way Down the Hill". A story that reminded me a little of the Norse gods, or how'd they be in the modern world if they were more of a parasite than a god. Really good.

"Where they Hid" is a joy of a time jumping tale. Mr Powers finally starts playing a little in his alternative history narratives that have served him so well.

His final story, "Night Moves" starts slow but quickly pulls you into the story of a man, his desires, his parents and a strange "imaginary friend".

Of the rest, most of the stories are at least ok/good, save "the Better Boy" which I thought was simply included to add a few more printed pages.

If you haven't read these stories before, this book provides a good collection of stories. Its not Mr Powers best work, but even on an ok day, Mr Powers is a better writer than most.

if you looked hard and far for Night Moves, you've already read several of the stories offered in this "new" collection - I'm a huge Powers fan and would really like to see some new stuff

I had heard bits and pieces about Tim Powers' works; that they were packed with alt-history weirdness and general mind-bending entertainment. As I tend to try to get a handle on a given writer's work by reading what short stories they might have to offer first, I was quite pleased to see that he had such a collection available before deciding to take the plunge and start with 'On Stranger Tides.'

The first story kicks off with some a shade of time travel and then things get more entertaining from there. With the exception of the first story, the rest were all quite easily to follow; I'm still not 100% certain that was a good thing. Being forced to try to puzzle out the events of that first story was challenging, and the rest of the stories seemed somewhat of a letdown after it.