Matt Ruff
Matt Ruff | |
---|---|
Born | Queens, New York, United States | September 8, 1965
Alma mater | Cornell University[1] |
Notable work | The Mirage, Lovecraft Country |
Spouse |
Lisa Gold (m. 1998) |
Website | www |
Matthew Theron Ruff (born September 8, 1965) is an American author of thriller, science-fiction and comic novels, including The Mirage and Lovecraft Country, the latter having been adapted in 2020 by HBO into a TV series.
Early life
Ruff was born in New York City in 1965 to a
Many adults around him attempted to persuade him to choose a different career, but Ruff's mother was supportive of his hope to become a writer; for one of Ruff's birthdays, she bought him an
Ruff's first sustained effort at a novel was a soap opera–like story about a family with a lot of children (having only older half siblings, Ruff was fascinated by the concept of siblings). He wrote it in the 1970s, but never published it. Describing it, Ruff said "Think Eight Is Enough with surreal elements. There was no overall plot, just a series of loosely linked episodes—a chapter about the boys and girls digging competing tunnel systems under the house would be followed by one in which they got infected by some weird flu strain and started passing out in the halls. Periodically I’d set aside what I’d written and start the whole thing over again".[4]
During Ruff's last semester at Cornell University, his mother died. He graduated in 1987. One of Ruff's English professors had been Alison Lurie, who helped Ruff find an agent.[6]
His father died after Ruff's first novel was published.[2]
Unpublished novels
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Ruff wrote a
In 1985, Ruff wrote a
Published works
Ruff's first novel, Fool on the Hill, is a fantasy that drew on his experiences living in Risley Residential College at Cornell. It was first written as his senior thesis in Honors English.[7] It was published shortly after Ruff graduated from the university.
His second book
His third book Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls, focuses on two protagonists displaying a fictionalized version of dissociative identity disorder; while not technically science-fiction, it nonetheless contains significant speculative elements.[citation needed]
- ISBN 0-8021-3535-8)
- ISBN 0-87113-641-4)
- Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls (2003) – (ISBN 0-06-095485-X)
- ISBN 0061240419)
- ISBN 0-06-197622-9)
- ISBN 0062292064)
- 88 Names (2020) – (ISBN 0062854674)
- The Destroyer of Worlds: A Return to Lovecraft Country (2023) – (ISBN 9780063256897)
Awards
Set This House in Order was long-listed for the 2005
The Mirage was nominated for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History.[9]
Lovecraft Country was nominated for the World Fantasy Award in 2017 in the Novel category.
References
- ^ a b c d ""An Interesting Moral Education" | bymattruff.com".
- ^ "Author Listings: HarperCollins Publishers". HarperCollins Publishers: World-Leading Book Publisher.
- ^ a b c d "Unpublished works and ephemera | bymattruff.com".
- ^ "An Interview with Matt Ruff". Bookslut. August 2007. Retrieved October 31, 2007.
- ^ www.fantastinet.com http://www.fantastinet.com/interview-matt-ruff/. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
{{cite web}}
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(help)[title missing][dead link] - ^ "Matt Ruff". www.goodreads.com.
- ^ "FY 2006 Grant Awards: Literature Fellowships in Prose". National Endowment for the Arts. 2006. Archived from the original on December 23, 2005. Retrieved November 1, 2007.
- ^ Sidewise Award Nominees Archived January 9, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, SF Site News, July 1, 2013.