 First edition cover. | |
| Author | Tim Powers |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | James Gurney |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical fantasy |
| Publisher | Ace Books (Hardcover edition) |
Publication date | November 1987 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardback &Paperback) |
| Pages | 325 |
| ISBN | 978-0-441-62683-0 |
| OCLC | 15661924 |
On Stranger Tides is a 1987historical fantasysupernaturalnovel by American writerTim Powers. It was nominated for theWorld Fantasy Award for Best Novel,[1] and placed second in the annualLocus poll for best fantasy novel.[2]
Set in the early 18th century,On Stranger Tides takes place during theGolden Age of Piracy, whenpuppeteer John Chandagnac sets out to reclaim aninheritance in Haiti and is waylaid by variousbuccaneers andpirates, only to become one himself. Now known as "Jack Shandy", Chandagnac encountersvoodoo,zombies and thesupernatural while on aquest for the fabledFountain of Youth and rescues Englishwoman Beth Hurwood. Powers' novel features real historical figures likeBlackbeard,Stede Bonnet,Woodes Rogers, andJuan Ponce de León alongside fictional ones.
The book was also the inspiration for theMonkey Island video game series byLucasArts and the story for the fourth installment in thePirates of the Caribbean film series,Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.[3]
In1718, French puppeteer John Chandagnac sails toJamaica on the British shipVociferous Carmichael. He aims to confront his uncle Sebastian, who has apparently stolen a fortune that rightfully belonged to John's father and could have prevented his poverty-induced death. On board, he meets an Englishwoman named Elizabeth Hurwood, who complains that her erudite father Benjamin has abandoned hisnatural philosophy work and begun studying dark magic with her lecherousphysician Leo Friend. The pirate sloopJenny menaces theCarmichael, neutralizing its powerful cannons with vodun magic. Benjamin Hurwood and Friend begin shooting their fellow passengers, revealing them as allies of the pirates, as the assailants board and seize theCarmichael.
The pirates allow the passengers to leave on a rowboat, except for Beth, whom Hurwood requires for a vodun ritual, and Chandagnac, enrolled into the crew after wounding pirate captain Philip Davies. Not fond of long words, the pirates change John's name to Jack Shandy. The pirates head forNew Providence Island to refit theCarmichael for piracy. On the way, they are captured by theRoyal Navy, but Shandy breaks them out, thus ingratiating himself with the pirates. On New Providence, Shandy develops a proficiency for cooking and learns about vodun: unlike in the Old World, magic is very strong in the Caribbean, and pirates hirebocors to channelloas for healing, attacking and protection. Male and female sorcerers control different kinds of magic. Shandy also meets a rambling old sorcerer named Sawney, and develops an affection for Beth.
Hurwood has concluded an alliance with Blackbeard to lead him to the fabledFountain of Youth inFlorida, a powerful source of magic that will make Blackbeard immortal and allow Hurwood to resurrect his late wife—a process which involves evicting Beth's soul from her body. Davies and Shandy join him, fighting through a hostile,sentient jungle on the way. Davies defends himself from a curse by tossing enchanted soil into the air; Shandy takes note and saves some soil for himself. Shortly after he returns from the Fountain, Shandy finds that Friend has seized theCarmichael and abducted Beth. He gives pursuit in theJenny, and fights off Friend's magicalzombie crew, with assistance from theghost shipNuestra Señora de Lagrimas, which Friend accidentally summoned along with the ghost crew. Davies is killed and Hurwood takes Beth for himself after defeating Friend in a wizards' duel.
Not knowing where to find Beth, Shandy becomes a drunken wreck and accepts the King's pardon from Woodes Rogers, along with most of the pirates on New Providence, while Hurwood assumes a new identity as Ulysse Segundo and begins pirating. Meanwhile, Blackbeard is killed by the Navy, and Shandy receives an education in magic from old Sawney (actually a 200-year-oldJuan Ponce de León) and a vision he gets after using the Fountain of Youth soil during a fight. A survivor of Segundo's raids relates the mannerisms of his undead crew, and Shandy recognizes them as the oldCarmichael crew. Hearing that Segundo was last seen heading for Jamaica, Shandy sails on theJenny, facing a storm and amutiny on the way.
Using Sawney's cryptic tips—involving blood and the magic-dampening power of magnetizediron—he defeats Hurwood and destroys his wife's soul. In Jamaica, he barely escapes the Navy and fights his way to the house of Hurwood's accomplice, who turns out to be Sebastian. He frees Beth and makes his way to a harbor, where he is met by Blackbeard, now resurrected and assuming a new identity. Combining his male magic with Beth's female magic, he vanquishes Blackbeard and marries Beth. The book ends as he prepares for the voyage out of Jamaica.
Growing up as an Orange County citizen,Tim Powers and his wife visitedDisneyland a lot as kids, with Powers specifically remembering when thePirates of the Caribbean ride was brand new. Powers believed he had the ride, among other inspirations, in mind when writingOn Stranger Tides. He wrote it afterLester del Rey had rejected a number of Powers' books, includingThe Anubis Gates. Powers wroteOn Stranger Tides thinking del Rey would like "pirate adventure, zombies, Fountain of Youth, sea battles, cutlass fights...and he didn't like it either." In his research for the book, Powers found that the supernatural and pirates were a comfortable fit. The book features the history and myth ofJuan Ponce de León and theFountain of Youth, and depicts Blackbeard's death at Ocracoke Inlet and beheading by LieutenantRobert Maynard. During his research, Powers was puzzled by Blackbeard's behavior, and found a context in which his peculiar behaviors were not lunacy, but instead were shrewd and clever.On Stranger Tides was published in 1987.[4][5]
In the process of writing his book, Powers researchedvoodoomagic, historical pirate profiles, and history. Asked of what inspired his writing ofOn Stranger Tides, Powers stated:
Orson Scott Card states that the novel "is as good as storytelling ever gets," adding that "Powers writes in a clean, elegant style that illuminates without slowing down the tale. The story promises marvels and horrors, and delivers them all."[7]David Langford wrote thatOn Stranger Tides "immediately hooks you and drags you along in sympathy with one central character's appalling misfortunes on the Spanish Main, [and] escalates from there to closing mega-thrills so determinedly spiced that your palate is left almost jaded."[8]
Jack Adrian wrote that "Tim Powers has further refertilized theSabatini swashbuckler," and describes the novel as a skillful blend of "high seas adventure with sorcery and black magic."[9]
Kim Newman based the name of avampire in hisAnno Dracula series on the main character ofOn Stranger Tides.[10]
Ron Gilbert has been widely quoted that theMonkey Island series ofadventure games was inspired byDisneyland'sPirates of the Caribbean ride. However, he stated in a blog that the ride was mainly his inspiration for the ambiance of the series, while his true inspiration wasOn Stranger Tides.[11][12]
In 2007, after the successful opening weekend of the thirdPirates of the Caribbean film,At World's End, Walt Disney Studios ChairmanDick Cook said he was interested in a fourth film. TheLos Angeles Times also reported that Bruckheimer already had rights to a book that could end up as another installment, though had not confirmed what book it was.[13] On September 11, 2009,Walt Disney Pictures announced that the fourth installment would be titledPirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The announcement had fueled speculation among those familiar with Tim Powers' novelOn Stranger Tides that the fourthPirates movie would follow the plot of the novel.[14] It was later revealed that the idea to adaptOn Stranger Tides came close to the end of filming thePirates trilogy, in which screenwritersTed Elliott andTerry Rossio found the novel and brought it up to producerJerry Bruckheimer as an idea to option the book for the new chapter.[15] In a 2011 interview, Tim Powers stated that Disney wanted the film rights as early as before the release of the secondPirates film,Dead Man's Chest, though he thought they already used elements beforehand. Disney would not buy the rights to Powers' novel until they started filming their fourth movie.[4][5] Rossio mentioned how Disney was hit with at least six plagiarism lawsuits for the firstPirates of the Caribbean movie for supposedly stealing elements of theMonkey Island video game and stuff from theOn Stranger Tides novel, despite there being a ride at Disneyland and also a first draft screenplay by other writers.[16]
In January 2010,Disney announced that the film would be released on May 20, 2011. Before the film began production, it was speculated thatJack Sparrow would replace Jack Shandy as the story's protagonist. Tim Powers stated that the Fountain of Youth would definitely be in the film because it was teased inAt World's End, but also said that Sparrow and Shandy are "totally different characters", and thatHector Barbossa andBlackbeard might overlap.[3] On March 22, 2010, Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed that both Barbossa and Blackbeard (portrayed byIan McShane) would be in the film, with Blackbeard as the villain. Additionally,Penélope Cruz would play Angelica, Blackbeard's daughter.[17][5]
While making the fourth film, screenwriter Terry Rossio stated Tim Powers' novel was an inspiration for characters, theme, settings, and basic storyline. He also stated that he and co-writer Ted Elliot had considered using Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth in the story before reading the book, "but whenever you say those words, Powers' novel comes to mind. There was no way we could work in that field without going into territory Tim had explored." However, they denied that it would be a straight version of the novel: "Blackbeard came from the book, and in the book there is a daughter character, too. But Jack Sparrow is not in the book, nor is Barbossa. So I wouldn't call this an adaptation."[18] Powers himself stated that he never consulted with the writers and initially thought they weren't using much of his book at all aside from Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth.[6][19] Rossio stated that Blackbeard, Angelica, and the Fountain are examples of how they integrated Powers' book into the film.[20][5]
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