"The Anubis Gates" (Tim Powers 1983) is Powers mixing it up again. This time ancient Egyptian sorcerers seeking to restore the old gods Osiris and company to prominence. Time travelling tourists dropping in to see their favourite poets in old London. Beggar gangs, werewolves, gypsies, transference of souls.

English professor Brendan Doyle gets stranded in early 1800s London when he acts as guide for fans of Coleridge who want to see Coleridge in the flesh. He undergoes harrowing adventures at the hands of magicians and criminals and a body stealing werewolf. In the end he learns the answers to a mysterious poet William Ashbless.

The little touches in Powers stay with me long after the main plot line has got blurred. So the sorcerers who have to keep themselves tethered to the Earth lest the Moon pull them to itself. The underworld gang with its factory for deforming beggars to make them more pitiable. The interplay between science and magic. The clinging on of ancient Gods.

Great stuff.