The Anubis Gates (Paperback)

Tim Powers was born on Leap Day, February 29, 1952. He attended California State University at Fullerton in 1972 with K. W. Jeter and James P. Blaylock. The three became friends, often hanging out with author Philip K. Dick. While at college, Powers and Blaylock began to collaborate on poetry that they published under the name William Ashbless. Graduating in 1976 with a degree in English, Powers has said that during this time he intentionally worked at jobs with no hope of advancement as a way of forcing himself to write. His first two novels, EPITAPH IN RUST and THE SKIES DISCROWNED--both science fiction--lead to offers from a British publisher to write several alternate-history novels about King Arthur. After Powers completed a couple of them, the deal folded and he was left to try and sell the manuscripts elsewhere. After some major revisions, one was published as THE DRAWING OF THE DARK in 1979. This novel was a reinterpretation of the Arthurian legend of the Fisher King, a theme that became a focal point for many of Powers's subsequent writings. His next book, THE ANUBIS GATES, which was also expanded from revised portions of the failed King Arthur project, won the Philip K. Dick Award for Best Novel. This book, along with Jeter's MORLOCK NIGHT and Blaylock's HOMUNCULUS, introduced the science fiction sub-genre of "steampunk." Steampunk stories introduce fantastical science fiction elements--frequently bizarre "new" machines--into the 19th century. They often incorporate historical figures as characters and are generally set in and around London, England. THE ANUBIS GATES investigates the life of early-Victorian poet William Ashbless, whom Powers and Blaylock had invented back in college. They had worked out a history for Ashbless, and in 1985 they published a "study" of Ashbless's masterpiece, "The Twelve Hours of the Night"--complete with the poet's actual signature! Ashbless has subsequently appeared in various ways in many works by both Powers and Blaylock. Powers's next novel, DINNER AT DEVIANT'S PALACE, won him a second Philip K. Dick Award. Continuing his interest in combining history with elements of the fantastic, THE STRESS OF HER REGARD introduced vampirism into the world of Keats, Shelley, and Byron, and won Powers more acclaim. In 1993, LAST CALL won the World Fantasy Award, and two subsequent novels, EXPIRATION DATE and EARTHQUAKE WEATHER, formed a highly regarded alternate-history trilogy.