On Stranger Tides

London; (1987): Grafton Books. First Edition. Octavo. 352 pages. Boldly signed on the title page with his usual upside down name. The Guardian writes: "The best fantasy writer to appear in decades." His genre is "secret histories". He takes established facts of important people in history and finds oddities in their lives that the careful reader of their histories don't expect. He then fills in the gaps with supernatural events to show what "really happened". This book deals with the golden age of Pirates and uses Blackbeard with magic, voodoo, the Fountain of Youth" weaving them together to make a great story. In an interview, he said among his influences (truncated) were Sabatini which was an affectionate homage to Captain Blood as well as Lovecraft, Heinlein, John D. MacDonald, and Fritz Leiber. He said his thoughts are often affected by a feeling that comes from Fritz Leiber. He also noted that I love the Gurney skeleton waving a cutlass, On Stranger Tides. Of course, he noted being a Floridian, the images of the past often were part of his writing. (Science Fiction Studies, 1998). Powers has won the Philip K. Dick Award twice, the World Fantasy Aware twice and the Locus Fantasy Award. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. (Inventory #: 031400)