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The Mills of the Gods
A HARROWING SUPERNATURAL ADVENTURE, FULL OF COLOR, DRAMA, AND ROMANCE, AS ONLY TIM POWERS CAN DELIVER
PARIS, 1925
HARRY NOLAN is an expatriate American, making a meager living as an illustrator for a low-paying magazine, but his life is upended when he is assigned to illustrate an anonymous article about the death of a god—because a centuries-old French brotherhood, the Sauteurs, are determined to suppress the story the article tells. The Sauteurs have burned the magazine’s office and killed the editor, and Nolan has the only surviving copy of the article. The author turns out to be a local writer named ERNEST HEMINGWAY, who—at first—tries to distance himself from the article and its lethal consequences.
VIVI CHASTAIN is a rootless 19-year-old orphan who sustains herself by betting on horse races—aided by the spirit of the man she was in a previous life. But now that old identity is crowding her consciousness, threatening to push her own precarious identity into oblivion. It was her alcoholic occasional “stepfather” who told Hemingway the story about killing a god, and the Sauteurs are now aware of the story—and of her.
The SAUTEURS maintain their identities past death through controlled reincarnation—when members die and are reborn, the brotherhood finds their newborn incarnations, kidnaps them, and raises them in special nurseries, where they can fully resume their previous lives. Vivi escaped from one of these nurseries when she was six years old, and so her previous identity has not yet consummated his possession of her. The Sauteurs want that consummation to happen—soon.
GERTRUDE STEIN is the hub of literary and artistic Paris, and knows many of the city’s supernatural secrets. She has written a book that appears to be nonsense but which can be used to deflect the kind of psychic assault that threatens Vivi, and she becomes a Merlin-like mentor to Vivi and Nolan—
—who find themselves reluctantly thrown together as hunted fugitives. Their struggles to evade the murderous Sauteurs and free Vivi from her increasingly intrusive previous self lead the pair to a mysterious hermit who lives in the towers of Notre Dame cathedral, and the haunted catacombs under Paris, and a confrontation with the Roman goddess Cybele in an other-worldly temple on an island in the Seine. In pursuit of a secret painting by PABLO PICASSO, they learn that the god whose death the Hemingway manuscript describes is Moloch, the child-devouring Phoenician god mentioned in the Bible—and that the Sauteurs make sacrifices to Moloch to maintain their reincarnations.
From the narrow streets and rooftops of post-war Paris to, finally, a supernatural battle between gods in a remote village in Spain, Nolan and Vivi contend with forces natural and supernatural, enemies living and dead, and ultimately find themselves pitted against the god Moloch himself—at peril of their eternal souls.
The Mills of the Gods is a harrowing supernatural adventure, full of color, drama, and romance, as only Tim Powers could tell it.
At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
PARIS, 1925
HARRY NOLAN is an expatriate American, making a meager living as an illustrator for a low-paying magazine, but his life is upended when he is assigned to illustrate an anonymous article about the death of a god—because a centuries-old French brotherhood, the Sauteurs, are determined to suppress the story the article tells. The Sauteurs have burned the magazine’s office and killed the editor, and Nolan has the only surviving copy of the article. The author turns out to be a local writer named ERNEST HEMINGWAY, who—at first—tries to distance himself from the article and its lethal consequences.
VIVI CHASTAIN is a rootless 19-year-old orphan who sustains herself by betting on horse races—aided by the spirit of the man she was in a previous life. But now that old identity is crowding her consciousness, threatening to push her own precarious identity into oblivion. It was her alcoholic occasional “stepfather” who told Hemingway the story about killing a god, and the Sauteurs are now aware of the story—and of her.
The SAUTEURS maintain their identities past death through controlled reincarnation—when members die and are reborn, the brotherhood finds their newborn incarnations, kidnaps them, and raises them in special nurseries, where they can fully resume their previous lives. Vivi escaped from one of these nurseries when she was six years old, and so her previous identity has not yet consummated his possession of her. The Sauteurs want that consummation to happen—soon.
GERTRUDE STEIN is the hub of literary and artistic Paris, and knows many of the city’s supernatural secrets. She has written a book that appears to be nonsense but which can be used to deflect the kind of psychic assault that threatens Vivi, and she becomes a Merlin-like mentor to Vivi and Nolan—
—who find themselves reluctantly thrown together as hunted fugitives. Their struggles to evade the murderous Sauteurs and free Vivi from her increasingly intrusive previous self lead the pair to a mysterious hermit who lives in the towers of Notre Dame cathedral, and the haunted catacombs under Paris, and a confrontation with the Roman goddess Cybele in an other-worldly temple on an island in the Seine. In pursuit of a secret painting by PABLO PICASSO, they learn that the god whose death the Hemingway manuscript describes is Moloch, the child-devouring Phoenician god mentioned in the Bible—and that the Sauteurs make sacrifices to Moloch to maintain their reincarnations.
From the narrow streets and rooftops of post-war Paris to, finally, a supernatural battle between gods in a remote village in Spain, Nolan and Vivi contend with forces natural and supernatural, enemies living and dead, and ultimately find themselves pitted against the god Moloch himself—at peril of their eternal souls.
The Mills of the Gods is a harrowing supernatural adventure, full of color, drama, and romance, as only Tim Powers could tell it.
At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
- GenresFantasyUrban Fantasy
356 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 2, 2025
36 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
Tim Powers
167 books1,747 followersTimothy Thomas Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels Last Call and Declare.
Most of Powers's novels are "secret histories": he uses actual, documented historical events featuring famous people, but shows another view of them in which occult or supernatural factors heavily influence the motivations and actions of the characters.
Powers was born in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in California, where his Roman Catholic family moved in 1959.
He studied English Literature at Cal State Fullerton, where he first met James Blaylock and K.W. Jeter, both of whom remained close friends and occasional collaborators; the trio have half-seriously referred to themselves as "steampunks" in contrast to the prevailing cyberpunk genre of the 1980s. Powers and Blaylock invented the poet William Ashbless while they were at Cal State Fullerton.
Another friend Powers first met during this period was noted science fiction writer Philip K. Dick; the character named "David" in Dick's novel VALIS is based on Powers and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Blade Runner) is dedicated to him.
Powers's first major novel was The Drawing of the Dark (1979), but the novel that earned him wide praise was The Anubis Gates, which won the Philip K. Dick Award, and has since been published in many other languages.
Powers also teaches part-time in his role as Writer in Residence for the Orange County High School of the Arts where his friend, Blaylock, is Director of the Creative Writing Department. Powers and his wife, Serena, currently live in Muscoy, California. He has frequently served as a mentor author as part of the Clarion science fiction/fantasy writer's workshop.
He also taught part time at the University of Redlands.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Most of Powers's novels are "secret histories": he uses actual, documented historical events featuring famous people, but shows another view of them in which occult or supernatural factors heavily influence the motivations and actions of the characters.
Powers was born in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in California, where his Roman Catholic family moved in 1959.
He studied English Literature at Cal State Fullerton, where he first met James Blaylock and K.W. Jeter, both of whom remained close friends and occasional collaborators; the trio have half-seriously referred to themselves as "steampunks" in contrast to the prevailing cyberpunk genre of the 1980s. Powers and Blaylock invented the poet William Ashbless while they were at Cal State Fullerton.
Another friend Powers first met during this period was noted science fiction writer Philip K. Dick; the character named "David" in Dick's novel VALIS is based on Powers and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Blade Runner) is dedicated to him.
Powers's first major novel was The Drawing of the Dark (1979), but the novel that earned him wide praise was The Anubis Gates, which won the Philip K. Dick Award, and has since been published in many other languages.
Powers also teaches part-time in his role as Writer in Residence for the Orange County High School of the Arts where his friend, Blaylock, is Director of the Creative Writing Department. Powers and his wife, Serena, currently live in Muscoy, California. He has frequently served as a mentor author as part of the Clarion science fiction/fantasy writer's workshop.
He also taught part time at the University of Redlands.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 23, 2025
"Though the mills of God grind slowly; Yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all."
There’s an argument to say that Tim Powers should never stray far from his tried-and-true formula of literary hidden histories: famous poets and authors involved in supernatural shenanigans. He’s done romantic poets beset by vampires; pre-raphaelites also dealing with the undead; the Brontës beset by werewolves… and now it’s all this.
But if he did that, we would have no Stranger Tides, no Fault Lines series and no Declare. You could argue that in a lot of his best work, he is writing a secret history based on real people and events. The more detailed the research, I think, the better the resulting novel. In this one, The Mills of the Gods, just published, we’re in 1920s Paris with the Lost Generation.
Let’s deal with the heffalump in the room first: that cover. It looks trashy, as have a lot of his recent book covers. It needn’t be so. The “cover” of the audiobook version is better. And if you were willing to stump up for one of the limited editions, you might get something quite classy.
But if like me you get the paperback or kindle edition, you’re stuck with the trashy one. A pulpy cover needn’t be bad.
The problem with the Mills of the Gods cover is… what am I looking at? Is it supposed to be the male and female protagonists? Because that’s wrong. Vivi, in the book, is frequently described as having blonde or “straw coloured” hair. And if the guy is Nolan, I dunno where that hat came from. And if it’s supposed to be Hemingway… well, where’s the moustache?
Anyway, rubbish cover. What’s the book like?
We’re in Paris, 1925. There’s no F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, but there is Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Alice B Toklas, Pablo Picasso, and supernatural shenanigans. Harry Nolan, a freelance illustrator, comes back to his apartment one evening to find a mysterious woman, Vivi, holding his gun. She wants to read an anonymous manuscript that Nolan has been given by a small press editor so he can provide an illustration. The manuscript is a short story, a fable, based on the idea of luring a God down to Earth with an illusion in order to kill it.
But who wrote it? And why, suddenly, are so many people interested in getting hold of it?
As always, Powers is weaving fact and fiction together: so we visit the Paris catacombs, the Shakespeare & Company bookshop, and the Île de la Cité; we encounter Ernest Hemingway, still sore about losing all his work on a train in 1922. We encounter Gertrude Stein and her gnomic writings:
"A cause and no curve, a cause and loud enough, a cause and extra a loud clash and an extra wagon, a sign of extra, a sac a small sac and an established color and cunning, a slender grey and no ribbon, this means a loss a great loss a restitution."
And we encounter Picasso, who has a fascination for bulls and who may or may not have the key to the whole affair.
It’s comforting and familiar: though we haven’t been here before, we have definitely been somewhere similar. Nolan is a typical Powers male protagonist: confused, sceptical, out of his depth, frequently hurt, but gallant and steadfast in the face of adversity. Vivi is intrepid, brave, independent, resigned to her fate, and protective of the decent Nolan.
Being harsh, you could call this Powers-by-numbers. But also: it’s Tim Powers. I’m just grateful he’s still with us and producing new books.
Though with patience He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all."
There’s an argument to say that Tim Powers should never stray far from his tried-and-true formula of literary hidden histories: famous poets and authors involved in supernatural shenanigans. He’s done romantic poets beset by vampires; pre-raphaelites also dealing with the undead; the Brontës beset by werewolves… and now it’s all this.
But if he did that, we would have no Stranger Tides, no Fault Lines series and no Declare. You could argue that in a lot of his best work, he is writing a secret history based on real people and events. The more detailed the research, I think, the better the resulting novel. In this one, The Mills of the Gods, just published, we’re in 1920s Paris with the Lost Generation.
Let’s deal with the heffalump in the room first: that cover. It looks trashy, as have a lot of his recent book covers. It needn’t be so. The “cover” of the audiobook version is better. And if you were willing to stump up for one of the limited editions, you might get something quite classy.
But if like me you get the paperback or kindle edition, you’re stuck with the trashy one. A pulpy cover needn’t be bad.
The problem with the Mills of the Gods cover is… what am I looking at? Is it supposed to be the male and female protagonists? Because that’s wrong. Vivi, in the book, is frequently described as having blonde or “straw coloured” hair. And if the guy is Nolan, I dunno where that hat came from. And if it’s supposed to be Hemingway… well, where’s the moustache?
Anyway, rubbish cover. What’s the book like?
We’re in Paris, 1925. There’s no F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, but there is Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Alice B Toklas, Pablo Picasso, and supernatural shenanigans. Harry Nolan, a freelance illustrator, comes back to his apartment one evening to find a mysterious woman, Vivi, holding his gun. She wants to read an anonymous manuscript that Nolan has been given by a small press editor so he can provide an illustration. The manuscript is a short story, a fable, based on the idea of luring a God down to Earth with an illusion in order to kill it.
But who wrote it? And why, suddenly, are so many people interested in getting hold of it?
As always, Powers is weaving fact and fiction together: so we visit the Paris catacombs, the Shakespeare & Company bookshop, and the Île de la Cité; we encounter Ernest Hemingway, still sore about losing all his work on a train in 1922. We encounter Gertrude Stein and her gnomic writings:
"A cause and no curve, a cause and loud enough, a cause and extra a loud clash and an extra wagon, a sign of extra, a sac a small sac and an established color and cunning, a slender grey and no ribbon, this means a loss a great loss a restitution."
And we encounter Picasso, who has a fascination for bulls and who may or may not have the key to the whole affair.
It’s comforting and familiar: though we haven’t been here before, we have definitely been somewhere similar. Nolan is a typical Powers male protagonist: confused, sceptical, out of his depth, frequently hurt, but gallant and steadfast in the face of adversity. Vivi is intrepid, brave, independent, resigned to her fate, and protective of the decent Nolan.
Being harsh, you could call this Powers-by-numbers. But also: it’s Tim Powers. I’m just grateful he’s still with us and producing new books.
December 29, 2025
There are some authors that you come to trust over time. That you know, wherever they're going to lead you, it will be a fun ride. Tim Powers is one of those authors for me. He's a great storyteller with wild ideas and I'm never disappointed whether he takes me to 16th century Vienna, or to hang out with the Brontes, or to run from ghosts created by the traffic on the Los Angeles freeway. The Mills of the Gods didn't disappoint. A rollicking read.
December 25, 2025
English is not my native language so I read it slowly, but I was so drawn in that I couldn't help but want to know what happened next.
A young man who has been traumatized by his military experiences but still retains a kind heart.
He meets a girl who is full of determination and drive, who refuses and resists the tragic fate that has been forced upon her.
Enemies who possess power, wealth, health and talent, yet are brutal and obsessed with lust.
Parisian artists such as Hemingway, Picasso, and Stein make a strong impression.
A mystery hidden in many layers, the horror of a myth resurrected in the modern city of Paris.
Magical cats.
His works are always visual, but this time in particular, images of Ghibli anime kept playing in my head.
I hope that someone in the Japanese film industry will read this and turn it into a movie.
A young man who has been traumatized by his military experiences but still retains a kind heart.
He meets a girl who is full of determination and drive, who refuses and resists the tragic fate that has been forced upon her.
Enemies who possess power, wealth, health and talent, yet are brutal and obsessed with lust.
Parisian artists such as Hemingway, Picasso, and Stein make a strong impression.
A mystery hidden in many layers, the horror of a myth resurrected in the modern city of Paris.
Magical cats.
His works are always visual, but this time in particular, images of Ghibli anime kept playing in my head.
I hope that someone in the Japanese film industry will read this and turn it into a movie.
December 30, 2025
4 stars feels like too much but 3 would be too few... I liked this but wish it took more time to breathe. Historical figures saunter in, aid or argue with the protagonists, and depart. There's a scene early on, the second time the protagonists meet, and I had to read it multiple times before I concluded that no, it WAS just a weird chance meeting. Anyways, like I said, I liked it, but not one of my favorite Powers novels.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews