Tim Powers is a master of turning an already weird tale five ways on its head, upside down, and inside out until it begs for mercy in ancient Akkadian. His new short novel, After Many A Summer, is no exception. It begins, as do many of his books, with a semblance of normality: a down-on-his-luck screenwriter, Conrad, accepts a too-good-to-be-true deal from a movie studio: they’ll produce his script for a fabulous sum if he drives a valise around LA, transferring it from one vehicle to another. What does he have to lose? He figures this is an elaborate scheme for delivering a ransom for a kidnapped heiress. He’s sort-of right and very, very wrong. The heiress is indeed being held captive, but the valise contains a centuries-old mummified skull that can talk, prophesize, and even alter the course of time itself, and is given to quoting the poet Tennyson. And that’s just the beginning of things going seriously pear-shaped.

I’ve loved the work of Tim Powers ever since I discovered The Anubis Gates in 1983, so I was prepared for superb storytelling and major revamping of reality. I was not disappointed on either count. The story, taking the reader further and further from expectations, requires a bit of patience, but the central character is sympathetic enough to act as a naïve if likeable guide.

Highly enjoyable (and an object lesson).

I requested this book because I confused Tim Powers for Tim Pratt, an author I have enjoyed in the past. This book was not my cup of tea, but that wasn’t the book’s fault.

After Many a Summer is an odd little novella that is weird, tense, and ultimately satisfying. For once I actually felt like this short story had a good balance of worldbuilding and plot (this is a common struggle I have with other novellas and short stories). I feel like we're given just enough character background and plot context to make sense of what is going on, but not so much as to combat the confusion of our protagonist, or to undermine the surrealness of the situation. This is the first book I've read from Tim Powers, and I'm definitely interested in trying more things from him.

As this novella begins, an unsuccessful screenwriter named Conrad is pretending to be a homeless drunk who has staked out a spot near a 7-11 parking lot. Conrad, who has some real life experience with homelessness and alcoholism, has accepted a studio’s offer to purchase and produce his screenplay if, in exchange, he takes a car from the 7-11 parking lot and transports a package in the trunk to a stated location. He’s supposed to change cars a couple of times along the way.

Conrad assumes that the package he’s delivering is some sort of ransom. Horror fans know that the cardinal rule in situations like this is don’t open the package. Horror fans also know that the story won’t get started until the protagonist opens the package.

Curiosity gets the best of Conrad before he arrives at his final destination. He discovers that the package contains a shrunken head attached to a stick. He presses a button on the stick and the head asks, “Pray thee sir, whose dog are you?” Other than asking Conrad to kill him, the head’s conversation doesn’t always make much sense.

The head is some sort of oracle. It calls itself Tithonus. In Greek mythology, Tithonus begged the gods for immortality and was granted his wish, but never stopped aging, making immortality a miserable state of existence. Tithonus is also the title of a Tennyson poem from which the title of the novella is drawn. Readers of Greek mythology, Tennyson, and horror fiction all know that immortality is a curse. That’s particularly true when you’re living your life as a shrunken head on the end of a stick.

The hostage victim explains the oracle’s powers and how her family acquired it, but as readers of such stories know, nothing good ever comes from learning the future from a shrunken head. Conrad’s adventure takes him through a series of repeating, time-distorted events. He saves the woman who is being held hostage, unless she dies. He shoots a man, unless he doesn’t. Life is confusing when you’re unstuck in time.

Tim Powers has a long history of writing entertaining stories that often feature supernatural themes. The novella shares some of the flavor and time travel themes of his most celebrated novel, The Anubis Gates. Still, this is a less substantial work. After Many a Summer lacks the detail, careful characterizations, and surprises of Powers’ longer fiction. Having said that, the story is fast and fun, a good way to kill an evening for readers who want to read something spooky and unchallenging.

RECOMMENDED

This was a wild, trippy, short, fun read and I devoured in a single sitting. Tim Powers is a fantastic author and I enjoyed this very much. I wish it had been longer because I wanted to read more of it!

This was an uncanny little tale, short and succinct. Fast-paced by necessity and a bit on the trippy side, I found it an enjoyable read.

I've only read a few of Power's books, but I enjoyed them all enough to consider myself a fan. I'm most fascinated by his varying range, each story has been incredibly unique. That absolutely includes this novella. I jumped at the chance to read this, and it did not disappoint, well except for it having to end. Everything about his story drew me in. The characters are oddly fascinating, and the pacing is perfect. There's suspense, action, a mysterious magical future predicting robot head and a kidnapping. What else could you ask for really. I just wish it could have gone on longer. Seriously I was so into it and sad when it ended. It was a bit abrupt and caught me off guard. But I enjoyed every moment of it while it lasted.

I am a long-time fan of Tim Powers and I always look forward to his next book. While I enjoy his novels, I have always thought his novellas are the purest distillation of his brilliance. I consider his novella After Many a Summer to be Tim Powers writing at the top of his considerable game. What seems to be a straightforward transaction becomes strange and then even stranger. Powers’ gift is to embed the fantastic in a mundane place (in this case the roads and buildings of Los Angeles). Every time I thought I knew what was happening Powers would pull the rug out from under his characters, keeping me guessing until the very end.
After Many a Summer was a great read. Highly recommended.

Haven't read Tim Powers in years, and after reading After Many a Summer, I'm not sure why. Will definitely be catching up on his work. I enjoyed the characters, and the story. #AfterManyASummer #NetGalley

Review copy (eARC) provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read up on the author and the premise of the story sounded interesting, but this novella just did not do it for me. I could not get into it. The premise itself is interesting (the Amazon summary is a good explanation without spoiling...I could not find a Goodreads entry and neither could NetGalley) and the author is able to make his take on it seem fresh.

Having completed the novella, it was fine, but not my cup of tea. It's one of those things where I wouldn't go out my way for it, but if you're interested, hopefully you'll like it better than I did (sorry!).

Tim Powers is one of my favorite authors of all time, having read and owning just about everything he’s ever written. So I jumped at the chance to read his new novella, After Many A Summer (which for some reason isn’t on Goodreads).

This isn’t Powers’s best effort. The story of an unemployed screen writer delivering an occult severed head as the ransom for a kidnapping just didn’t quite do it for me. His writing also didn’t seem to be quite up to par for a Powers work. Nonetheless, I did somewhat enjoy the book.

My thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of the book.

Netgalley allows us to read the future. Some of the future is apparently too distant since I read this book and then realized it isn’t listed anywhere yet, not GR, not Amazon. So I’m saving this review to post for later when the publisher realizes that the best way to drum up publicity is by actually allowing the early readers to have a place to rate and review their books.
And the thing is, I didn’t love the book. I didn’t even like it. Time and again, I’ve tried with Tim Powers because he seems to have such wild fun ideas, but their executions have consistently fallen flat with me. And that was very much the case with this read.
Is the idea of a talking prophesizing mummified head in a box used as a ransom fun? Of course, it is. Same goes for using Tennyson’s poem based in turn on Greek mythology for inspiration.
And yet the story turned out to be a muddled confusing mess that gradually devolved into something that barely held my interest. And so, the best thing to say about this one is that, outside of the original concept, it was a quick read.
Magisterial – the word Subterranean Press used to describe it – it a dramatic overkill. Or more like an oversell. Thanks Netgalley.