Strange Itineraries
Strange Itineraries, by Tim Powers
I like short story collections. In a short story, the writer gets straight to the point and paints his picture with the least number of brush strokes possible. No fat, all lean. Every word’s got to count. And they’re bite-size, too, which I appreciate these days. My absolute favorite short story collection is one by the late Fredric Brown, master of the short-short sf story. Anyway, before this I had only read Tim Powers’ novels, and I think I’ve read most all of them, from Last Call to Declare. This is his first short story collection.
Tim Powers doesn’t really write science fiction, or fantasy, at least not how the terms are currently used. Tim Powers writes modern ghost stories. They’re moody and spooky and surreal. I’m no book critic, so I won’t offer an in-depth analysis; I just like it.