I think I know by now what evil really is

[sovay]

I am evidently not the target audience for Tim Powers' Hide Me Among the Graves (2012), which rushthatspeaks has been reading and describing to me; I think that if one of your central characters is vampire John Polidori, people should always be asking him if he got it from Lord Byron and he should be so tired of having to tell them ("Byron wasn't even a vampire, damn it!") no.

Comments

[drwex]

Whether or not Byron was a vampire was already covered in a previous Powers novel, The Stress of Her Regard.

I shan't spoil, in case you or someone else here hasn't read it, but I rate this as one of the top three Powers novels I've read.

[sovay]

I shan't spoil, in case you or someone else here hasn't read it, but I rate this as one of the top three Powers novels I've read.

What are your other two? I have a highly mixed track record with him, but keep meaning to try On Stranger Tides (1987) just because of the sea.

[drwex]

Anubis Gates, which I love for its convoluted multi-threaded looping plot weirdness (*) and On Stranger Tides, which is WAY better than the near-awful Pirates of the Caribbean movie it inspired. I love OST for its depiction of magic which is very down-and-dirty, mud-and-spit-and-chicken-feathers and dialect. It was, when I first read it, a wonderful antidote to all the high-elven glass-and-glitter airy mystical magic that dominated fantasy at that time.

(*) I once was in a week-long writing workshop that had Powers as one of its teachers and he admitted over drinks one evening that the only way he was able to keep the plots of Anubis Gate straight was that he took a long piece of butcher paper and stretched it across the apartment, using it to trace the lines of each character and... again, I don't want to say more because spoilers.

[sovay]

and On Stranger Tides, which is WAY better than the near-awful Pirates of the Caribbean movie it inspired.

I would expect so, even without having seen the movie in question. Someday I will bother to see whether someone has excerpted the relevant mermaid scenes on YouTube and watch those; otherwise I will stick to the first movie and the mythological portions of its sequels.

the only way he was able to keep the plots of Anubis Gate straight was that he took a long piece of butcher paper and stretched it across the apartment, using it to trace the lines of each character and... again, I don't want to say more because spoilers.

I am genuinely pretty spoiler-indifferent.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

Holy cats I will give you my copy of On Stranger Tides if you haven't read it. It's one of my favorite books. I love the baddies, I love the use of magic, I love the classical references and the Vodou references which are unified by the characters.

One of the pirates is a skilled magic user, but he doesn't really think of himself as a sorcerer, even though he meddles with gods and spirits all the time. He is under the protection of "Mate Care-For" which is his folk etymology for "maitre carrefour," one of the aspects of Papa Legba.

There's the best possible use of zombies. There's a repugnant Nice Guy sorcerer who is also a tragic villain in his way. There is a puppet master. There is a journey to Erebus.

The Vodou is colonial/racist, both in the story and for the audience. It's a ton of fun in the world of the book, and Powers has put some care and research into it, but at the end of the day it's an entire book about white characters exploiting the Vodou pantheon for all they can get. That's the only downside I feel I should warn you about.

[sovay]

There's the best possible use of zombies. There's a repugnant Nice Guy sorcerer who is also a tragic villain in his way. There is a puppet master. There is a journey to Erebus.

That does make me curious.

It's a ton of fun in the world of the book, and Powers has put some care and research into it, but at the end of the day it's an entire book about white characters exploiting the Vodou pantheon for all they can get. That's the only downside I feel I should warn you about.

I consider myself warned. When I have a stable place to put books again—it should only take a few days—I will either hit up the library for a copy, or I would be honored to borrow yours!

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

I have a copy just waiting to be lent out. Also, I should mention that the book does good ocean, but it does EXCELLENT tidal marsh/estuary. You can hear the mosquitos and smell the black muck at low tide. One more selling point as far as I'm concerned.

[sovay]

Also, I should mention that the book does good ocean, but it does EXCELLENT tidal marsh/estuary. You can hear the mosquitos and smell the black muck at low tide.

Prrrrrrrrt.