Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Ever heard of Jack Shandy?

He is, I believe, the inspiration for Jack Sparrow.

ON STRANGER TIDES, by Tim Powers, came out in 1988. It had pirates and zombies and all kinds of cool stuff.

Powers was way ahead on the Pirate Curve (or the Zombie Curve, for that matter.)

I don't know how it came about, but the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean is entitled, On Stranger Tides; so either they felt guilty about stealing the concept, or they had bought the rights before, I don't know.

But I do know this is one of the funnist books I've every read. (I give up -- funnist is a word).

Powers is a magic realist, a fabulist of the first order. For all you beer guys out there, THE DRAWING OF THE DARK is a great fantasy involving the brew. He was way head on the Beer Curve.

ANUBIS GATES was the first Steampunk novel I ever read, I think before the term was even coined. He was way ahead on the Steampunk Curve.

I'm not as enamored of his later ghosty books, though they involve the ghosts of famous people, but...the early books are fantastic.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The skinny from Powers:

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2009/10/06/surprised-author-tim-powers-finds-himself-setting-sail-with-pirates-of-the-caribbean/