History Creator / TimPowers

* ChekhovsSkill: In ''Alternate Routes'', it's a recurring thing that the protagonist and his late wife used to go hang-gliding together, and it's mentioned once near the beginning that he made the hang-gliders himself. The climax of the novel involves him having to build a hang-glider out of improvised materials and with improvised tools in order to escape from the place where he's trapped.

* CreatorInJoke: When Tim Powers and James Blaylock were in college together, they invented a fake poet named "William Ashbless" to satirize the quality of their college's literary magazine. Nearly every novel Powers and Blaylock have written has had a reference to Ashbless in it somewhere -- most famously ''The Anubis Gates'', in which he appears as a major character.

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: In ''Hide Me Among the Graves'' ghosts are just fragments of people's souls and memories that eventually wander into streams and rivers and are carried out gradually to the ocean where they join and decay with other ghosts.

Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. His breakout novel was ''Literature/TheAnubisGates'', published in 1983. Other novels include ''Literature/{{Declare}}'', ''Literature/DinnerAtDeviantsPalace'', ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheDark'', ''Earthquake Weather'', ''Literature/ExpirationDate'', ''Literature/LastCall'', ''Literature/OnStrangerTides'', ''Literature/TheStressOfHerRegard'', and ''Literature/ThreeDaysToNever''.

* CanonWelding:
** ''Earthquake Weather'' is a sequel to both ''Expiration Date'' and ''Last Call'', with characters returning from both.
** "Nobody's Home" is a ghost story using the ghost lore from ''Expiration Date'' and ''Hide Me Among the Graves'' but set during ''The Anubis Gates''.

* ElectromagneticGhosts: Ghosts in ''Last Call'', ''Expiration Date'', and ''Earthquake Weather'' affect compasses, make telephone calls, and appear on TV sets to communicate important information.

* FisherKing: The legend of the Fisher King is central to ''Literature/LastCall'' and its sequel ''Earthquake Weather''. It is also mentioned in ''Expiration Date'', which forms a trilogy with ''Last Call'' and ''Earthquake Weather''.

* SplitPersonality: The female lead in ''Earthquake Weather'' suffered a trauma in her childhood that has resulted in her having over a dozen different personalities, some of whom like the male lead more than others [[spoiler:and one of whom is an actual ghost that attempted to possess her, initiating the fracturing that produced the others]].

* StolenGoodReturnedBetter: In ''Earthquake Weather'', fugitive Cody steals a car, picking one that's a few decades old because it's easier to hotwire. She does some work on it while it's in her hands, so when the owner eventually gets it back it's in better condition than it was when she stole it.

Tim Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. His breakout novel was ''Literature/TheAnubisGates'', published in 1983. Other novels include ''Literature/{{Declare}}'', ''Literature/DinnerAtDeviantsPalace'', ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheDark'', ''Earthquake Weather'', ''Literature/ExpirationDate'', ''Literature/LastCall'', ''Literature/OnStrangerTides'', ''Literature/TheStressOfHerRegard'', and ''Literature/ThreeDaysToNever''.

* SteamPunk: The term "steampunk" was coined by K. W. Jeter to describe the speculative fiction stories in a Victorian setting that he, Powers and James Blaylock were writing in the early 1980s.

* IKnowYourTrueName: In "Down and Out in Purgatory", the dead use nicknames, because a person's true name can be used against them by another dead person or by a living spiritualist.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: A recurring feature.
* BodySnatcher: A recurring feature.

* {{Doppelganger}}: A recurring feature.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: A recurring feature. Nearly every book runs on this trope, and few of Power's characters survive their arc without making some major sacrifices along the way, be it of blood, love, flesh, or memory.

* {{Epigraph}}: A recurring feature.
* {{Fingore}}: Something horrible happens to at least one character's hands or fingers in each book.

* GrandTheftMe: A recurring feature.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: A recurring feature.
* HistoricalFantasy: A recurring feature.
* ImmortalityImmorality: Shows up again and again in his work.

* UrbanFantasy: A recurring feature.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever
* YouCantFightFate: A recurring feature on any occasion that involves time travel.

* OurGhostsAreDifferent:
** In ''Hide Me Among the Graves'' ghosts are just fragments of people's souls and memories that eventually wander into streams and rivers and are carried out gradually to the ocean where they join and decay with other ghosts.
* SeeingThroughAnothersEyes:
** In the short story "Pat Moore" a man meets the ghost of his wife, who, having no eyes of her own, can see only what he can see.

''Literature/OnStrangerTides'' became the basis for the fourth movie in Disney's ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' series, as well as being an inspiration for the ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series of games.

Tim Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. His breakout novel was ''Literature/TheAnubisGates'', published in 1983. Other novels include ''Literature/{{Declare}}'', ''Dinner at Deviant's Palace'', ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheDark'', ''Earthquake Weather'', ''Literature/ExpirationDate'', ''Literature/LastCall'', ''Literature/OnStrangerTides'', ''Literature/TheStressOfHerRegard'', and ''Literature/ThreeDaysToNever''.

* EnergyEconomy: In ''Dinner at Deviant's Palace'', the dominant currency in a ScavengerWorld L.A. is a high-proof distilled alcohol: useable as a fuel, a disinfectant, or as plain ol' booze, hence much in demand.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: ''Dinner at Deviant's Palace''
* FatBastard:
** The protagonist mistakes Norton Jaybush for a leather beanbag chair at first glance in ''Dinner At Deviant's Palace''.

* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: ''Dinner at Deviant's Palace''

* ScavengerWorld: ''Dinner at Deviant's Palace''

Tim Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. His breakout novel was ''Literature/TheAnubisGates'', published in 1983. Other novels include ''Literature/{{Declare}}'', ''Dinner at Deviant's Palace'', ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheDark'', ''Earthquake Weather'', ''Literature/ExpirationDate'', ''Literature/LastCall'', ''Literature/OnStrangerTides'', ''Literature/TheStressOfHerRegard'', and ''Three Days to Never''.

* BadassIsraeli: The Mossad team in ''Three Days to Never''

** ''Three Days To Never'' has a truly unconventional [[TimeTravel time machine]] created by UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein as a result of his exploration into astral projection and the Sephirot, with Creator/CharlieChaplin lending a hand at some point.

* DemonicPossession:
** In ''Three Days to Never'', though the characters refer to it by the Jewish term "dybbuk", and it's actually [[spoiler:the vengeful ghost, not of somebody who died badly, but of somebody who was never born]].

* FutureMeScaresMe: The plot of ''Three Days to Never'' is complicated by the arrival of a future version of one of the characters, who is dangerously determined to prevent the course of events that produced him.
* GenderRestrictedAbility: In ''Three Days to Never'', certain magical powers are restricted by gender; one of the characters is a sorcerer who, it turns out, was born female and went to extreme lengths to gain access to male magic.

* InstantDramaJustAddTracheotomy: An emergency tracheotomy performed by a non-professional is a key plot event in ''Three Days to Never''. It's not a neat Hollywood tracheotomy, though, and has serious repercussions.
* LiteraryWorkOfMagic: In ''Three Days To Never'', it turns out Creator/CharlieChaplin worked symbolic imagery into ''City Lights'' as part of a magical ritual to attempt to bring his son back from the dead. An earlier movie he'd worked on but never shown to the public is part of the {{MacGuffin}}; AlbertEinstein had to talk Chaplin out of showing the movie, as the mojo generated by the imagery would likely fry some audience brains.

** In ''Three Days to Never'' ghosts experience time backwards, so if one has the proper apparatus (involving [[spoiler:the specially prepared mummified head of someone chosen to be a medium]]) they can talk to ghosts to get hints of the future.

* PsychicLink:
** There's one between the protagonist of ''Three Days to Never'' and his daughter, that grows stronger over the course of the novel.
* PsychicPowers: Several characters in ''Three Days to Never'' have versions of Remote Viewing ability.
* PunnyName: Powers occasionally gives characters names that are puns on ecclesiastical Latin catchphrases, apparently just for the lulz. Examples include "Libra Nosamalo", who appears in ''Three Days to Never''.
* RetGone: The villains of ''Three Days to Never'' can do this to a person.

** One of the characters in ''Three Days to Never'' is blind, but can see through the eyes of people near her. The ramifications and limitations are explored in some depth.
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: ''Three Days to Never'' has, unusually for Powers, a version of time travel in which it's actually possible to change the past, and several people attempt to make use of it (generally with unpleasant consequences regardless of how noble their motives are).
* SpyFiction: The Mossad subplot of ''Three Days to Never''.

* TimeTravel: ''Three Days to Never'' revolves around the search for Albert Einstein's time machine.

** "Nobody's Home" is a ghost story using the ghost lore from ''Expiration Date'' but set during ''The Anubis Gates''.

* ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheDark''

* ''Literature/{{Declare}}''

Tim Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. His breakout novel was ''Literature/TheAnubisGates'', published in 1983. Other novels include ''Literature/{{Declare}}'', ''Dinner at Deviant's Palace'', ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheDark'', ''Earthquake Weather'', ''Expiration Date'', ''Literature/LastCall'', ''Literature/OnStrangerTides'', ''Literature/TheStressOfHerRegard'', and ''Three Days to Never''.

** ''Expiration Date'' gives Thomas Edison and Harry Houdini, among others, parts in the United States' secret history of ghost exploitation.

* TheChessmaster: Neal Obstadt. It doesn't work out well for him.

** ''Expiration Date'' has possession by ghosts.

** In ''Expiration Date'', each section begins with a quote from or about Thomas Edison, and each chapter with a quote from ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' or ''[[Literature/AliceInWonderland Through the Looking Glass]]''.

** [=Loretta deLarava=] in ''Expiration Date'' is described as extremely, grotesquely fat.

* FormerChildStar: Nicky Bradshaw in ''Expiration Date'', who as a teenager starred as a boy ghost in a sitcom called ''Ghost of a Chance''.

* LivingMemory: In ''Expiration Date'', ghosts are not the souls of the dead, but psychic copies created in the trauma of death. (They can also be created by other traumatic events, but they usually merge back into the person if the person survives.)

* NoQuestionsAsked: After Kootie Parganas's parents are killed and he goes on the run, advertisements start appearing that offer a large reward for his whereabouts, no questions asked.

** In ''Expiration Date'', ghosts are not the souls of the dead, but psychic copies created in the trauma of death. (They can also be created by other traumatic events, but they usually merge back into the person if the person survives.)

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: ''Expiration Date'' mentions a few weird cases where ghosts have taken possession of their own dead bodies and attempted to continue on as if they were still alive. Some last only minutes before losing their grip, with dramatically unpleasant consequences, though others (who generally have GhostlyGoals and fit into the RevenantZombie category) may hang on for years, taking careful precautions against going to pieces psychically or physically.
* PocketProtector: In ''Expiration Date'', [[spoiler:Pete Sullivan is shot by the villain in the final confrontation, but is saved by a memento of his father he's carrying inside his shirt]].

** The twins in ''Expiration Date'' frequently know what each other is thinking and can finish sentences in unison, but it's explicitly stated that they ''don't'' have a psychic link, they just know each other really well.

* PunnyName: Powers occasionally gives characters names that are puns on ecclesiastical Latin catchphrases, apparently just for the lulz. Examples include "Neal Obstadt", who appears in ''Last Call'' and ''Expiration Date'', and "Libra Nosamalo", who appears in ''Three Days to Never''.

* ShapeshifterBaggage: In ''Expiration Date'', a fugitive ghost is briefly able to disguise the body it's inhabiting by adding biomass to increase the body's height and shape. The question of where the extra biomass comes from is addressed, and it's not pleasant.
* SpontaneousHumanCombustion: In ''Expiration Date'', ghosts sometimes burst into flames if they are suddenly alarmed. It's suggested that human combustion happens when a person dies, but their ghost doesn't immediately notice and keeps walking around in their body for a while before suffering some shock (such as, often, the shocking realisation that they've been dead for a while and hadn't noticed).

Tim Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. His breakout novel was ''Literature/TheAnubisGates'', published in 1983. Other novels include ''Literature/{{Declare}}'', ''Dinner at Deviant's Palace'', ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheDark'', ''Earthquake Weather'', ''Expiration Date'', ''Last Call'', ''Literature/OnStrangerTides'', ''Literature/TheStressOfHerRegard'', and ''Three Days to Never''.

* AbusiveParents: Dondi Snayheever in ''Last Call'' was walled up inside a giant Skinner box by his father for virtually his entire childhood, surrounded by oversized paintings of playing cards and books about poker. His father was trying to condition his child to be the ultimate poker player, but lack of human contact left Dondi unable to judge other players' intentions, not to mention socially incompetent.

** ''Last Call'' has Bugsy Siegel serving as the uncrowned emperor of Las Vegas while channeling the archetype of the FisherKing.

* DisguisedInDrag: In ''Last Call'' the protagonist dresses in drag to infiltrate a party being hosted by the villain. In defiance of the usual subtropes, nobody is in any doubt about his sex, let alone [[AttractiveBentGender strangely attracted to him]] -- but it serves perfectly as a disguise in as much as nobody suspects for a moment that it's him.

* TheDragon: Vaughan Trumbill in ''Last Call''

* EyeScream: The protagonist of ''Last Call'' loses an eye in the prologue.
* FatBastard: [=Loretta deLarava=] in ''Expiration Date'' is described as extremely, grotesquely fat. Also Vaughan Trumbill, TheDragon in ''Last Call''. The protagonist mistakes Norton Jaybush for a leather beanbag chair at first glance in ''Dinner At Deviant's Palace''
* FingertipDrugAnalysis: Used in ''Last Call'', getting it right about the identifying feature of cocaine being the numbness.

* FisherKing: The legend of the Fisher King is central to ''Earthquake Weather'', and ''Last Call''. It is also mentioned ''Expiration Date'', which forms a trilogy with ''Last Call'' and ''Earthquake Weather''.

* TheFool: Dondi Snayheever in ''Last Call''

* GroinAttack: In ''Last Call'', [[spoiler:the villain finds out the hard way that if you use a five-year-old boy as a HumanShield you can't protect your head and chest without leaving other important parts vulnerable]].

* HumanShield: Used by the villain in ''Last Call''.
* IfIDoNotReturn: Twice in ''Last Call''; both times, the end of the sentence is some form of "assume I'm dead and get the heck out of here".

* LostHimInACardGame: ''Last Call'' features a particularly twisted variation.

* NotBloodSiblings: In ''Literature/LastCall'', the [[FisherKing protagonist]] marries his foster-sister (at that point the full-fledged earthly representation of a syncretic moon goddess). Mythologically speaking, they can't really win the game (as it were) without marrying; the {{Squick}} factor is potentially mitigated (or greatly enhanced) by the fact that the protagonist was fifteen or sixteen when his sister was born and at the time of the novel hasn't seen her since she was a child.

* ProfessionalKiller: Al Funo in ''Last Call''

** Between Scott and Diana in ''Last Call'', which lets each know when the other has been injured.

* SerialKiller: Al Funo in ''Last Call'' makes his living taking money to kill specific people, but it's clear he'd be killing people even if nobody paid him. He even has the hallmarks of obsessive behavior and a pattern of giving his victim a gold lighter.

* ShootTheHostageTaker: In the prologue of ''Last Call'', the BigBad uses his young son as a human shield when his wife threatens to shoot him, and finds out the hard way that holding a small child so that his head and chest are covered leaves his groin exposed.

* TarotMotifs: ''Last Call''
* TarotTroubles: ''Last Call''

* TrappedByGamblingDebts: An inverted version in ''Last Call'' where the character is trapped by ''winning''.

* VirginPower: Played with in ''Last Call''.

** The entire plot of ''The Drawing of the Dark''.

* SerialKiller: Al Funo in ''Last Call'' makes his living taking money to kill specific people, but it's clear he'd be killing people even if nobody paid him.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tim-powers_112.jpg

American science fiction and fantasy writer. His breakout novel was ''Literature/TheAnubisGates'', published in 1983. Other novels include ''Literature/{{Declare}}'', ''Dinner at Deviant's Palace'', ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheDark'', ''Earthquake Weather'', ''Expiration Date'', ''Last Call'', ''Literature/OnStrangerTides'', ''Literature/TheStressOfHerRegard'', and ''Three Days to Never''.

* FatBastard: Leo Friend in ''On Stranger Tides'' and [=Loretta deLarava=] in ''Expiration Date'' are both described as extremely, grotesquely fat. Also Vaughan Trumbill, TheDragon in ''Last Call''. The protagonist mistakes Norton Jaybush for a leather beanbag chair at first glance in ''Dinner At Deviant's Palace''

* FisherKing: The legend of the Fisher King is central to ''The Drawing of the Dark'', ''Earthquake Weather'', and ''Last Call''. It is also mentioned in ''On Stranger Tides'' and ''Expiration Date'', the latter forming a trilogy with ''Last Call'' and ''Earthquake Weather''

** This also shows up briefly in ''On Stranger Tides'' to explain why Blackbeard married so many women (what, seventeen or so?).

* SpyFiction: ''Declare'', and the Mossad subplot of ''Three Days to Never''
* SpySpeak: ''Declare'' involves lots of code phrases and recognition exchanges, some of which turn out to have occult significance.
* StableTimeLoop: Powers's default model of time travel. Demonstrated most triumphantly in ''The Anubis Gates''.

* TimeTravel: Most centrally in ''The Anubis Gates'' and ''Three Days to Never''