Powers: Secret Histories
I’ve been aware of this project for quite a few years now and often wondered if/when it would see the light of day. And now that it has arrived we can see just how large and deep an undertaking it was. The final product is magnificent.
My first inclination was to say that this book is for the hardcore faithful only but I’ve since pulled back from the opinion some. Due to the wealth of material here there will be manna from heaven for any Tim Powers fan from the hardcore faithful to the casual.
There is so much to take in here that it would be difficult to list it all. From the cover shots of all the global editions to the behind the curtains glimpses from the man himself to essays on Powers from others (like China Mieville) this is as bountiful a collection of material as you’ll find anywhere.
An interesting side observation about Secret Histories is that it is the second book in a year to redefine its own concept. Last years New Weird Anthology redefined what an anthology could be by greatly expanding the horizons of the form. Secret Histories 180′s away from the bland biblio’s of the past and creates something bold and staggering in execution.
The Great Perhaps by Joe Meno
In his previous body of work Joe Meno has shown a compassionate 
and heartfelt ability to write coming of age stories with warts-and-all characters that hurt you because they hit just a little too close to home, to the person you were. In The Great Perhaps Meno has expanded the cast of characters to include an entire family but it’s still the teenagers, coming into adulthood and trying on the different personalities of who they will become, that are the most tenderly drawn.
The Casper’s are a family beset by clouds: clouds that cause seizures; clouds that lead us away from our lives; clouds of confusion; clouds that we want to fly towards; clouds of doubt. Much like the ambiguous clouds of a summer afternoon that show themselves differently to different people (a person, a horse, a house…) the Casper’s (and their clouds) will struggle with their identities and how others perceive them. They are a family that explodes and then reforms in a different way that reinforces their familial bond and makes them stronger.
The lesson of this book is one that we know already, that the answers to life are both simple and complex, and not always in the ways that we expect, but that doesn’t lessen the impact of the paths that lead us there.
An interesting book that shows considerable growth but I still find that I have a preference for some of Meno’s other titles like The Boy Detective Fails. Meno continues to be a writer to watch.
The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry
One of the interesting things for me was an underlying debate that goes right to the heart of the genre. Often times, when I am writing
about the genre, I will call it “mystery/crime” fiction. I include both because they represent the poles of the genre and it can be a chicken and egg argument as to which one is the sub-genre of the other. Our hero Charles Unwin (always with his trusty umbrella) is reminiscent of a classic detective insisting on using logic and reason to solve all cases; while Detective Travis Sivart is reminiscent of a hard-boiled detective his tools for solving a case are going around talking to people, utilizing contacts in the underworld and sometimes force. Even the case names that Unwin gives Sivart’s reports all sound like classic mystery titles (The Man Who Stole November Twelfth, The Episode of the Facing Mirrors, The Threadbare Ghost, The Oldest Murdered Man & The Three Deaths of Colonel Baker). If a conclusion is drawn by Berry as to which of these detectives (and their methods) and by extension, the types of fiction they represent, is preferable then I would surmise that Unwin comes out on top.
In The Manual of Detection Jedediah Berry has created an intricately carved world where dream logic prevails and anything is possible. There is a hint of magical realism at play, especially in the non-plussed way that characters behave when faced with the fantastic. A great book that can be appreciated by all regardless of your readalitical persuasion.
