Tim Powers

San Francisco rare book dealer Richard Blanzac finds himself on a unexpected adventure back to 1957 after he uncovers a consignment box that holds an assortment of literary rarities and commonplace items.

Salvage and Demolition

Bryan Alexander

I freely admit to two biases in reviewing Salvage and Demolition, and both come from years of working in a used book shop. The first is a fondness for that trade, the arcana of dust jackets and dusty paperbacks, sifting through collections and sharing the love of precious books.

The second is due to being a longtime Powers fan. Around 1987 I started with The Anubis Gates, one of the best time travel yarns of all time, and a copy of which I treasure, having been rebound specially for me by a gifted friend. I raced on through the rest of Powers' stories of history and love, doom and magic. Friends and I shared William Ashbless jokes, knew how important it is that the king be unblemished, and shuddered sympathically at the inevitable heroic sacrifices. We also became fans and collectors of Powers' pals, the cheerier James Blaylock and the darker K.W. Jeter.

All of which is to say Salvage and Demolition appeared on my Kindle as a treat, even a love offering from the past.

And that's very appropriate, because the story is really all about time travel and old books.

It's impossible to discuss more than ten pages of the thing without spoilers, since it's that kind of manic adventure, so I'll begin with top-level observations, then shield the rest behind tags.

Spoiler-less: Salvage and Demolition is about a rare book dealer who gets mixed up in a time travel story. It brings in a bunch of Powers tropes beyond time travel, including the Romantic poets, smoking and drinking, logical puzzles, a love of historical details, and desperate action. It moves very quickly, and ends on a well-achieved emotional note. 

I suspect it was written on a dare, or with a single prompt, since it begins with a very precise, concrete image. The protagonist discovers a box with some old books, a manuscript, and specific detritus... and the action leaps off from there. If my guess is right, well done, Mr. Powers!

It's a fast novella, rarely pausing for anything. You really can't miss a page, and won't want to.

The J.K. Potter illustrations are excellent as ever, small as they appeared on my phone's Kindle reader. Although the cover is really wrong.

Spoiler time: (view spoiler)[by "bunch of Powers tropes" I also mean: sacrificed body parts, a long-running occult conspiracy, and deep sadness. Our hero stumbles (literally) onto a plot to end the world by time-traveling accidentally into 1957. He wins love, fathers a child, and saves the day, then loses that love, discovers and cannot undo a terrible wrong to that son, and ends up as he began, holding a historical document. "Salvage and demolition" indeed.

I admire how unlike Powers' novels this is in several ways. It's very fast, never pausing for breath and barely allowing any reflection. It barely introduces the villains, leaving their origins and fate open-ended, which makes sense for the hero's role, and also renders their identity more mysterious (and hence literally occult).

I tagged this book under, among other things, "gender" because the plot centers around a woman writer whose work is obscured by men. Recovering her writing is central to the plot, and reading it is the story's final action. (hide spoiler)]

Recommended, especially if you have a few hours to read at one sitting. If you can, settle down with a smoke and/or brew. And sit near a bunch of old books, preferably old science fiction paperbacks.

Salvage and Demolition

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