Month: January 2006

(seen on ‘s journal)

It looks like Tim Powers has finally got another novel coming out!

“When 12-year-old Daphne Marrity steals a videotape of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure from her grandmother’s house, neither she nor her college-professor father, Frank Marrity, have any idea that the theft has drawn the attention of both the Israeli Secret Service and an ancient European organization of occultists — or that within hours they’ll be visited by her long-lost grandfather, who also wants that videotape.

And when Daphne’s teddy bear is stolen, and a blind assassin nearly kills her father, and a phantom begins to speak to her from a switched-off television set, Daphne and her father find themselves running for their lives through a southern California in which magic and the undead past are dangers as great as the guns of living assassins.

From ancient prophesies about Israel to the secret lives of Charlie Chaplin and Albert Einstein, this breathtaking novel throws a suburban father and daughter into the midst of an ancient supernatural battle.”

Click on the cover for pre-order info for the Subterranean Press limited edition.

Powers was asked about this book a while ago (before it had a title), and said: “The current book takes place in southern California, and involves consequences of Einstein having lived in Pasadena during the early 30’s. I claim that he left a sort of time machine there, and now the NSA and the Mossad and various bad crowds want it. As usual, plain history has given me a lot of fine stuff – Einstein attended seances with Charlie Chaplain, and had a secret illegitamate daughter, and pursued lots of apparantly wrong theories – lots of opportunities for fun .”

That’s pretty much how Powers works. He researches a topic until he finds the oddities about it, and then draws them all together into a wonderfully bizarre whole.

CAN NOT WAIT.

Powers is one of my favorite authors, and it’s been far too long (over 5 years since Declare) since we’ve had a new book from him.

Just whipped up an extremely simple, completely improvised lunch, working with what was available, that was yummy enough that I want to share. So, without further ado, the recipe:

Buffalo Joes

I took some leftover chicken that had used to make quesadillas the other night: Boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into cubes and cooked in pre-packaged taco seasoning (chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, etc.). Nice, but I wasn’t in the mood for Mex. So, I took some store-bought “buffalo wing” sauce, applied to the chicken, and microwaved until hot.

I put the chicken chunks on hamburger buns, and hit each pile will a bit of blue cheese salad dressing.

Bam. There ya have it. Buffalo Joes. Like sloppy joes, but more…..buffalo-ey.

Tasty as hell, too.

Of course, now my mouth is burning and my nose is running…..but that’s a good thing.

A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of 1,003 adults found that 50 percent of those polled believe it’s OK to forgo warrants when ordering electronic surveillance.

50 percent.

I guaran-fucking-tee you that it “just happens” to work out regionally, with those 50 percent largely coming from Red states.

EDITED TO ADD: AP has a poll that skews the other way, with 56% saying that a warrant is required, but still—I can’t believe a clear issue of criminality like this is polling anywhere NEAR 50/50, no matter how it swings.