In the winter of 1862, London veterinarian John Crawford learns that his interlude with a prostitute seven years earlier has produced a daughter. The now-reformed ex-prostitute, Adelaide McKee, has recently learned that their lost daughter is still alive—but that the girl's life and soul are in peril from a vampiric ghost whose murderous attention McKee drew in her bad old days.

The vampire ghost is John Polidori, Lord Byron's one-time physician and uncle to the poet Christina Rossetti and her brother, the painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, both of whose works are supernaturally aided by the influence of Polidori. But when Polidori horribly makes a resurrected vampire of Dante's wife, and threatens other family members, the Rossettis know that they must find a way to destroy their monstrous uncle, even though it means the end of their best work.

Thrown together with Crawford and McKee, who hope to find and save their fugitive daughter, the Rossettis find themselves plunged into a supernatural London underworld they never suspected. Each of the mismatched four, and the Artful-Dodger-like daughter too—in the midst of shootings and narrow escapes and supernatural warfare — must ultimately choose between stressful life and the unholy immortality that Polidori offers.

The novel sweeps from high London society to the grimmest slums, from the elegant salons of the West End to the pre-Roman catacombs under St. Paul's cathedral, and ultimately reveals a supernatural revenge plot against England that has been brewing since the queen of the native Iceni was killed by the Roman governor Suetonius in 60 AD.

Christine Amarantus has written an article for The Daily Titan of Call State Fullerton. In it, she interviews James Blaylock and Tim Powers about their time there and the early days of their writing. It covers their days with Philip K. Dick and K.W. Jeter and delves into their adventures developing novels known as steampunk. It mentions their relationship with William Ashbless who gave On Stranger Tides its name.

While Johnny Depp is expected to return as Captain Jack Sparrow for a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Titans may be interested to know that the roots of it stem back to Cal State Fullerton.

Read the full article on the The Daily Titan of Call State Fullerton web site.
Photo © Janelle Conner/Daily Titan

Translated Book

• Titán, Ben Bova (La Factoría de Ideas)
• Diáspora, Greg Egan (AJEC)
• El corcel (The Mount), Carol Emshwiller (Alamut)
• El nombre del viento (The Name of the Wind), Patrick Rothfuss (Plaza & Janés)
• El reparador de biblias (The Bible Repairman), Tim Powers (Gigamesh)
• Visión ciega (Blindsight), Peter Watts (Bibliópolis)

Translated Story

• "Un alma embotellada" ("A soul in a bottle"), Tim Powers (El reparador de biblias (The Bible Repairman), Gigamesh)
• "El camino de bajada" ("The low road"), Tim Powers (El reparador de biblias (The Bible Repairman), Gigamesh)
• "Dondequiera que se oculten" ("Wherever it hides"), Tim Powers (El reparador de biblias (The Bible Repairman), Gigamesh)
• "El reparador de biblias" ("The Bible repairman"), Tim Powers (El reparador de biblias (The Bible Repairman), Gigamesh)

It's a book proposal I sent to Lester del Rey in 1979, right after he bought The Drawing of the Dark, and, since I didn't know any better in those days, it's three chapters and an insanely detailed outline. Del Rey rejected it, of course, and twenty years ago I gave the manuscript to Joe Stefko, and he recently dug it out and decided that the (my rough guess) 20,000 word outline was so insanely detailed that it adequately continued and finished the story begun in the first three chapters. Altogether the thing is probably about 35,000 words.

Recently PS Publishing very kindly agreed to produce advanced reading copies - forty were printed up a few weeks ago, in glorious, rich full colour and on glossy 130gsm stock and, even though I say so myself, they look quite stunning. They've now been distributed to the trade and review community and we can only sit back and await the verdict.

Of course, now this thing is actually "out there" as it were, I'm officially crapping it! But, if this first review is anything to go by, it's just possible that I may not have just wasted the last eight years of my life!

Jonathan Strahan Reviews Secret Histories on his blog, Notes from the Other Side of the World.

Watch Tim Powers Bibliography in News Online  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

If this little movie piques your interest, Secret Histories is now available for pre-order at the PS Publishing web site so scoot on over there now and get your order in before all copies are spoken for. And of course, the book will be officially launched at this year's Eastercon, where Powers is to be guest of honour. As April approaches, there'll be further news on Secret Histories, so do check back regularly for further updates.