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. When Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was retitled Blade Runner to tie-in with the movie based on the novel, Dick dedicated it to Tim and Serena Powers.

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 Blaylock directs the Creative Writing Conservatory, and Chapman University, where Blaylock teaches.

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.

Tim Powers will be a guest of honor at the 2011 Worldcon, Renovation, in Reno, Nevada and Author Guest of Honor at Mythcon XLI in Dallas, Texas.

He is not to be confused with Los Angeles stand-up comic Tim Powers.

Novels

The Skies Discrowned (1976)

also published as Forsake The Sky: a science fiction adventure novel.

An Epitaph in Rust (1976)

also published as Epitaph in Rust.

The Drawing of the Dark (1979)

The siege of Vienna was actually a struggle between Muslim and Christian magicians over the spiritual center of the West, which happens to be a small inn and brewery in Vienna. The "dark" is a beer that has been brewing for centuries, which the Fisher King will eventually drink.

The Anubis Gates (1983)

Philip K. Dick Award winner, 1983; Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 1984 ; BSFA nominee, 1985

A time travel story set mostly in 1810, featuring a brainwashed Lord Byron, magic, Egyptian gods and a werewolf.

Dinner at Deviant's Palace (1985): Philip K. Dick Award winner, and Nebula Award nominee, 1985

Unusually for Powers, this is set in the future, in a postatomic America in which an extraterrestrial psychic vampire is slowly taking over.

In 2001 the group Cradle of Filth released a song entitled "Dinner at Deviant's Palace" that was simply the Lord's Prayer backmasked.

On Stranger Tides (1987): Locus Fantasy and World Fantasy Awards nominee, 1988

Moves to the 18th century Caribbean; with pirates (many of them real characters, primarily Blackbeard, as well as a fictional protagonist named Jack), voodoo, zombies, Juan Ponce de Leon, and a strangely quantum-mechanical Fountain of Youth. In 2009, Disney optioned the novel in order to incorporate elements of it into the fourth "Pirates Of The Caribbean" film, tentatively titled Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, planned for release in 2011.

The Stress of Her Regard (1989): Locus Fantasy and World Fantasy Awards nominee, 1990 and winner of the 1990 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award.

Concerning the dealings of the Romantic poets – Byron and Shelley are major characters – with vampire-like beings from Greek mythology.

Fault Lines series

;Last Call (1992): Locus Fantasy and World Fantasy Awards winner, 1993

:A professional poker player finds out that he lost far more than he won in a poker game played with Tarot cards two decades ago.

;Expiration Date (1995): World Fantasy Award nominee, 1996 ; 1996 Nebula Award nominee

:A boy possessed by the spirit of Thomas Edison is hunted through Los Angeles by people wanting to consume the ghost he carries.

;Earthquake Weather (1997): BSFA Award nominee, 1997 ; Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 1998

:Sequel to both Last Call and Expiration Date, involving the characters of both: two fugitives from a psychiatric hospital, the magical nature of multiple personality disorder, and the secret history of wine production in California.

Declare (2001)

World Fantasy Award winner and Locus Fantasy nominee, 2001 ; 2001 Nebula Award nominee,

A Cold War espionage thriller which evokes Lovecraftian horror and the work of John le Carré, involving Kim Philby, djinn and the Ark on Mount Ararat.

Powers of Two (2004)

re-release of Skies Discrowned and Epitaph in Rust.

Three Days to Never (2006)

Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 2007

Time travel, Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein, and more.

Short story collections

• Night Moves and Other Stories (2000)
• On Pirates (as William Ashbless; written with James Blaylock) (2001)
• The Devils in the Details (with James Blaylock) (2003)
• Strange Itineraries: 2005, published by Tachyon Publications of San Francisco, California

Other published work

• The Complete Twelve Hours of the Night (1986): Joke pamphlet co-written with James Blaylock, as William Ashbless, and published by Cheap Street Press; features in The Anubis Gates
• A Short Poem by William Ashbless (1987): Another joke chapbook written by Phil Garland which Tim Powers and James Blaylock went along with. Published by The Folly Press.
• The William Ashbless Memorial Cookbook (2002): A cookbook co-written with James Blaylock. Published by Subterranean Press.
• The Bible Repairman (2005): A chapbook containing an original short story. Published by Subterranean Press.
• Nine Sonnets by Francis Thomas Marrity (2006): A chapbook containing nine sonnets "written" by one of the main characters in Three Days to Never. Published by Subterranean Press and given away with the collectors' edition of Three Days To Never.
• A Soul in a Bottle (2007): A ghost story about a poetess largely based on American poet Edna St Vincent Millay. This novella published by Subterranean Press.
• Three sonnets by Cheyenne Fleming (2007): Printed loose and inserted into the collectors' edition of A Soul in a Bottle.