提姆·鮑爾斯 Tim Powers：

1952年生。曆史、神話與文字的魔法師。《加勒比海盜Ⅳ》原著作者。

1984年以《阿努比斯之門》榮獲狄剋奬，1986年以《魔宮晚餐》（Dinner at Deviant’s Palace）再獲狄剋奬。1993年獲得世界奇幻奬的《牌局的盡頭》（Last Call），19 96年獲得星雲奬的《保存期限》（Expiration Date），以及1998年再獲星雲奬的《地震天氣》（Earthquake Weather）三本書以現在加州為背景，重新搬演亞瑟王神話並賦予新意。 至於2001年為他贏得國際恐怖協會奬（International Horror Guild Awards）以及世界奇幻奬兩個大奬的新作《宣言行動》（Declare）看似間諜小說，實則探索諾亞方舟、阿拉伯的勞倫斯之死，以及美蘇冷戰的真相。

鮑爾斯擅長發掘看似平凡無奇的曆史事件，糅閤神話、傳說與文學典故，並重新賦予我們原本熟悉的世界全新的風貌。

"Albert Einstein's groundbreaking scientific discoveries made possible the creation of the most terrible weapon the world had ever known. But he made another discovery that he chose to reveal to no one--to keep from human hands a power that dwarfed the atomic bomb." When twelve-year-old Daphne Marrity takes a videotape labeled "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" from her recently deceased grandmother's house, neither she nor her college-professor father, Frank, realize what they now have in their possession. In an instant they are thrust into the center of a world-altering conspiracy, drawing the dangerous attentions of both the Israeli Secret Service and an ancient European cabal of occultists. Now father and daughter have three days to learn the rules of a terrifying magical chess game in order to escape a fate more profound than death--because the Marritys hold the key to the ultimate destruction of not only what's to come . . . but what already has been.