An Epitaph in Rust

by Tim Powers

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction

Hardcover

First published November 1, 1976

About the author

Timothy Thomas Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels Last Call and Declare.

Most of Powers's novels are "secret histories": he uses actual, documented historical events featuring famous people, but shows another view of them in which occult or supernatural factors heavily influence the motivations and actions of the characters.


Powers was born in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in California, where his Roman Catholic family moved in 1959.

He studied English Literature at Cal State Fullerton, where he first met James Blaylock and K.W. Jeter, both of whom remained close friends and occasional collaborators; the trio have half-seriously referred to themselves as "steampunks" in contrast to the prevailing cyberpunk genre of the 1980s. Powers and Blaylock invented the poet William Ashbless while they were at Cal State Fullerton.

Another friend Powers first met during this period was noted science fiction writer Philip K. Dick; the character named "David" in Dick's novel VALIS is based on Powers and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Blade Runner) is dedicated to him.

Powers's first major novel was The Drawing of the Dark (1979), but the novel that earned him wide praise was The Anubis Gates, which won the Philip K. Dick Award, and has since been published in many other languages.

Powers also teaches part-time in his role as Writer in Residence for the Orange County High School of the Arts where his friend, Blaylock, is Director of the Creative Writing Department. Powers and his wife, Serena, currently live in Muscoy, California. He has frequently served as a mentor author as part of the Clarion science fiction/fantasy writer's workshop.

He also taught part time at the University of Redlands.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have previously read and really enjoyed 2 books by this writer, On Stranger Tides and The Drawing of the Dark. I decided to try this, his 2nd book written and was not impressed. To me the story wandered and really never seemed to try go anywhere toward an ending, the story just happened to end it seemed. For me that was a not recommended book

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Epitaph in Rust was Powers' second novel and was published by Harlequin's Laser Books line in 1976, as was the first one a few months earlier, The Skies Discrowned. All of the Laser books had a Kelly Freas cover, and it's fitting that this one is a bit quirkier than most of them. Laser was edited by Roger Elwood, a deeply religious man, and Powers has stated that Epitaph in Rust appeared in a somewhat truncated form, which made me wonder if Elwood simply edited for length or removed content that he found objectionable. Anyway, it's not a bad story, it flows right along and is kind of amusing, but it doesn't really go anywhere and then ends abruptly. It's about a monk, Brother Thomas, who runs away and joins a theater company in the big city, not knowing it's the cover for a revolutionary group. It lacks the depth and intricacy of his later novels, the ones he wrote after the "...-othy" fell off of his byline, but it's fun and I enjoyed it.

[Jonathan Ammon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would like to give this another star for creativity. It wasn’t boring but it felt more like a sketch of a novel by an author more interested in world-building than story. Some of the twists were familiar. The female characters were poor (a problem with most of the Powers novels I’ve read) and this reads like a problematic first draft with a herky-jerky plot that stumbles along. Still more interesting than most sci-fi novels, and a quick read.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I liked about this book - it mentions William Ashbless from The Anubis Gates
What I disliked about this book - 99 44⁄100% of it.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice enough diversion that never really coheres into anything very interesting- it especially stumbles in the last few pages where Powers rushed a ton of stuff together. It's not as good as his first novel, Forsake the Sky, but it does show the promise of what he would achieve later. Recommended for Tim Powers fans only.

[Garick Cooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a dress rehearsal for his later—and much better—post-apocalyptic novel Dinner at Deviant’s Palace. The protagonist of that novel even uses Brother Thomas as an alias at one point.

Still, there are some intriguing scenes and ideas here, including a chess match in which the pieces are glasses of alcohol that must be drunk when captured, and an android romance sub-plot.

[The · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slight


This is very different from Power’s later books. It was written when he was pretty young and it really does show its age. It is very episodic and apart from all the drinking it could be a Young Adult or Children’s book.

There are a few flashes of humour but the book is very slight.

He has written some fantastic books but I really wouldn’t recommend this especially at the current price.

[Phil Zimmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather run of the mill story of a monk who ran away from the monestary and started drinking alot and lead a revolution. Totally crazy and not a typical Tim Powers tale.

[Redsteve · Rating 2 out of 5]

VERY early Powers, before he hit his stride. There, I've read it, but meh.