In addition to being a story-telling genius, Tim Powers is a devout Catholic. While his novels in no way come across as religious, his regard for theological truth is evident to a fellow believer. While his books might not be described by all as wholesome, they undeniably transmit truth. And the Truth always prevails.
“Power corrupts,” Lord Acton famously said. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But there’s another sort of powers famous, not for corrupting, but for entertaining absolutely: Tim Powers.
My first encounter with the best-selling author was precipitated by a family viewing of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies a year or so ago. The final credits of the fourth film, “On Stranger Tides,” announced that the film was based on the book of the same title by Tim Powers. My husband was already a fan of this author’s books. “Spiritual thrillers,” as he called them, recommending them to me as masterfully written. Action thrillers aren’t my style; I had declined. But now, intrigued by the fun film “version,” I offered to read the book to solve the question of just how accurately Powers’ story was portrayed. (Upshot: the movie plot bears little resemblance to the book, but, it’s obvious the book was influential in the creation of all the Pirates of the Caribbean films).
This first Powers trip was a delightfully jarring change from my comparatively sedentary reading habits. Mine have tended toward the literary, an attempt to amend a lacking education. The action was unrelenting – I may have lost weight from it! The endless adventure left me breathless—and I was hooked. (Note to self: you may want to go to the gym before Powers-lifting again.)
Tim Powers
Tim Powers is a powerful storyteller, with a name so well fitted to his genre of novels, that I can’t be blamed for indulging in every pun that suggests itself. Writing since the 1970’s, he has published over 35 books, some stand-alone, others sequential. We enter his stories in historically accurate accounts that gradually manifest the invisible reality of a spiritual battle surrounding us, and tapped into by dark human actors. The story woven around this very real temporal and preternatural setting is embellished into a fantastical and mythical power-play between Good and Evil, Light vs. Darkness. I suppose the genre would be historical-supernatural-fantasy.
Mr. Powers’ heroes must contend with, outwit, and prevail against these powers of darkness in both human and mythological form. Like us, they face the temptation to give in to the evil they battle. They’re not saintly heroes who always take the most virtuous path; Mr. Powers is not writing hagiographies. Even Jane Austen’s and J.R.R. Tolkien’s heroes choose badly on occasion. That’s one of the features that makes the stories interesting and exciting. Mr. Powers raises the excitement level considerably by throwing in magic, time travel, genies, vampires, and all manner of dead things.
Set in the early eighteenth century, On Stranger Tides (2008) takes us far from the exorcized and spiritually grounded Christendom of Europe to the New World, still wild with magic and rife with Voodoo. This pirate tale takes place around the historical events in the real life of Blackbeard. The mix of fact and fiction is flawless. Mr. Powers has clearly done his research.
Draw yourself a pint and pick up The Drawing of the Dark (1979), and you’ll be transported to the events surrounding the Siege of Vienna in 1529. If you want the secret history surrounding this battle, you’ll discover it in these pages. There’s more to it than you learned in your Western History class. Merlin was involved, and Vikings’ prophecies fulfilled unexpectedly. Monastery beer is much more important in saving the West from Eastern domination than you could ever imagine. What was laid down in the past, providentially comes to the rescue in, of course, the nick of time.
The interplay between past and present, cause and effect are the driving force of The Anubis Gates (1983), a poetic time-hop, from 1980’s California into Regency London. Through literature professor Brendan Doyle’s mishaps, you’ll find yourself encountering Egyptian sorcerers, meeting poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, fleeing werewolves, gypsies, and a creepy, sorcery-wielding clown. Trust me, this all works and you’ll be gripped. Did I mention there’s always a touch of romance and a heaping helping of decorative and directive literature to complement the history and imaginative genius in every tale. Tim Powers’ mind must have a mind-boggling capacity to contain such a variety of talents!
A prolific writer, Mr. Powers has received so many awards for his best-selling books, it would be boring to list them all. One such award-winning title, Declare (2000), is an espionage novel, following the life of Andrew Hale, born into circumstances that make him the perfect British agent to save the West from domination by the evils of Communism. From his youth, he is groomed to enter the Great Game, as Kipling called it in Kim, for England. The action spans from the 1940’s through the ‘60’s, woven around the facts of real-life British spy Kim Philby. Of course, you meet with preternatural beings, this time, demons in the form of genies.
All his books can be enjoyed as mere entertainment, but are so dense with intellectual matter that they rival a Charlotte Mason education. Sewn into each book are epigraphs, references, and quotes from literary works, accurate history and well researched descriptive details of the environs. My own encounter with them was quite an academic experience.
Prompted by the rapid introduction of new characters, events, locations and descriptive details, I found it, if not necessary, at least helpful to make notes as the connections began to be revealed. I didn’t want to miss any of the richness embedded in the stories. So much did I want to savor and keep apace of the adventure, when I got two thirds through Declare, having flipped back so many times to sticky-noted pages, I decided to just start reading again from the beginning, in order to catch every detail in light of subsequent events, before knowing how it was to end.
I frequently searched the internet to fill in background on the historical characters, events, and time periods. I familiarized myself with the terminology of sailing ships, for instance, to better visualize the descriptions in On Stranger Tides. You’re welcome to join my family in ridiculing me for this eccentricity, but both my education and enjoyment of the books were enhanced thereby.
In addition to being a story-telling genius, Tim Powers is a devout Catholic. While his novels in no way come across as religious, much like the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, his regard for theological truth is evident to a fellow believer. One is also reminded of the works of Flannery O’Connor, whose stories famously show the workings of grace in the lives of weird and grotesque characters. Most would not guess her stories emanate from a solidly Catholic world-view. Similarly, while Mr. Powers’ books might not be described by all as wholesome, they undeniably transmit truth. And the Truth always prevails.
Those seeking a thrilling page-turner to power through would do well to plug into Tim Powers’ superpower and power up their reading enjoyment. More Powers to you!
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The featured image is courtesy of Pixabay. The photograph of Tim Powers, uploaded by Roberta F., is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.