The Bible Repairman and Other Stories - Softcover

Powers, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1616960477 ISBN 13: 9781616960476

Publisher: Tachyon Publications, 2011

Synopsis

2012 World Fantasy Award Winner

In his first new collection since 2005, Tim Powers, the master of the secret history, delves into the mysteries of souls, whether they are sacrificed on the pinnacle of Mount Parnassus or lodged in a television cable box.

With two new stories and short fiction only previously available in limited editions, the cornerstone of the collection is a postscript to his harrowing novel of the haunting of the Romantic poets, The Stress of Her Regard. After Byron and Shelley break free of the succubus that claimed them, their associate, Trelawny, forges an alliance with Greek rebels to reestablish the deadly connection between man and the nephilim.

Meanwhile, in a Kabbalistic story of transformation, the executor of an old friend’s will is duped into housing his soul, but for the grace of the family cat. A rare-book collector replaces pennies stolen from Jean Harlow’s square in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and discovers a literary mystery with supernatural consequences. In a tale of time travel between 2015 and 1975, a tragedy sparked by an angel falling onto a pizza shop is reenacted and the event is barely, but fatally, altered.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

The Bible Repairman is Tim Powers's first new collection since Strange Itineraries appeared in 2005, and it is well worth the wait. In five stories and an ambitious historical novella, it offers one example after another of the author's wit, ingenuity, and sheer imaginative reach.The title story takes us into the life of a man with a most unusual profession, one that claims a little bit of his soul with every transaction. “Parallel Lives” and “A Soul in a Bottle” are thematically linked ghost stories in which the dead attempt, with varying degrees of success, to exert their influence upon the living. In “The Hour of Babel,” an assortment of damaged people experience, once again, the inexplicable encounter that altered their lives more than thirty years before, while in” A Journey of Only Two Paces” a simple legal procedure is transformed into a nightmarish Kabbalistic ritual.But the real centerpiece of this resonant collection is the novella “A Time to Cast Away Stones,” previously available only in a very limited—and very expensive—edition. Set in the semi-fictional universe first described in The Stress of Her Regard, this beautifully realized narrative centers upon Edward John Trelawny, a contemporary and compatriot of the poets Byron and Shelley, and the momentous decision that faces him. In classic Powers fashion, the story shows us an actual, if little known, historical event reclaimed and transformed by a powerful imagination. The result is a distinctive contribution to modern fantasy and a significant milestone in a unique, constantly evolving career.

About the Author:

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tachyon Publications
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1616960477
• ISBN 13: 9781616960476
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 170