Matt Ruff's Blog, page 21

Lovecraft Country out today in Germany

The German edition of Lovecraft Country should (finally!) be in bookstores today.

The translation is by my old friend Anna Leube, the editor responsible for bringing Fool on the Hill (and me) to Germany many years ago, and Wolf Heinrich Leube. The cover is by Peter-Andreas Hassiepen.

Currently there are no plans for me to come to Germany on book tour. If this changes, I will post about it here and on my appearances page. (You can read about my last visit to Germany here.)

The UK and Czech editions of Lovecraft Country are also available now, and Brazilian, French, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Taiwanese editions are forthcoming.

 

Lovecraft Country: Meet Atticus & Ruby

HBO has announced two more casting decisions for the Lovecraft Country series: will play the lead role of Atticus, and will play Ruby Dandridge. This follows last week’s announcement that will play Letitia.

And a quick reminder, Seattle Crypticon starts tomorrow. I’ll be on the “Adaptations: Books vs. Movies” panel with Bob Foster, Will Errickson, and T.J. Tranchell tomorrow night at 6 PM. You can find the rest of my con schedule here.

At Seattle Crypticon this weekend

I will be a guest at the Seattle Crypticon this weekend, May 4-6. My con schedule is as follows:

* Friday, May 4, 6 PM — Adaptions: Books vs. Movies (panel with Bob Foster, Will Errickson, and T.J. Tranchell)

* Saturday, May 5, 3 PM — Decade of Fear: A Discussion of Every Slasher Movie from 1980-1989 (panel with Jeff Dean, Willy Greer, Tori Bracken, Jason Weiss, and Amy Simon)

* Sunday, May 6, 11 AM — Lovecraft Adaptations (panel with K.L. Young and Bob Foster)

* Sunday, 1 PM — Writers Room: Using Real World Things in Fictional Works (panel with Cat Rambo and Lisa Gold)

* Sunday, 3 PM — Matt Ruff reading, interview, and book signing (with interviewer Abie Ekenezar)

FYI, if you can’t make it to the Sunday reading, I’m happy to sign books at any of my other panels as well.

Hope to see some of you there!

Seattle Crypticon & Lovecraft Country news

Hi, I’m still alive. I’ve been working on a new novel and making good progress, hence the lack of recent blog posts. I will be coming up for air shortly: Seattle Crypticon is next week, and I’ll be appearing on a number of panels and doing a reading there (here’s my con schedule).

Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Down in Hollywood, the production of HBO’s Lovecraft Country series is starting to come together. Yesterday the first major casting decision was announced: will play the role of Letitia Dandridge. Ms. Smollett-Bell previously starred as Rosalee in showrunner Misha Green’s series Underground, which is currently streaming on Hulu.

Yann Demange has been hired as well, to direct the pilot episode. (His 2008 series Dead Set, in which the cast and crew of the British Big Brother show get caught up in a zombie apocalypse, can be found streaming on Netflix.)

On the literary front, the Czech translation of Lovecraft Country has been published, and the German translation drops next month.

So, lots of good news. I’m trying not to dwell on it too much, because jumping up and down makes it hard to type, but I’m very excited.

Lovecraftova Země

In today’s email, here’s the cover for the Czech translation of Lovecraft Country, coming from Baronet a.s. on April 11:

UK print edition of Lovecraft Country is here

Hey, look what UPS delivered from my British publisher Picador. The official publication date is tomorrow, January 25th, but because I’m not J.K. Rowling, I’m guessing the actual on-sale date is “whenever the books arrive at the shop,” so you may be able to snag a copy at your local bookstore already. (It’s also available as an ebook.)

In related news, the long-awaited German translation of Lovecraft Country is coming from Carl Hanser Verlag on May 14. Brazilian, Czech, French, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and Taiwanese editions are also in the works.

#BCAFSF2018

The San Francisco Public Library has posted the video of my panel with Nnedi Okorafor, Victor LaValle, and moderator John Jennings at the Black Comix Arts Festival last Sunday, so if you wanted to catch our act but couldn’t make it, here you go:

It was a fun weekend. In addition to the festival, I got to have breakfast with Victor at this vaguely Pulp Fictionish diner called Lori’s on Nob Hill, and go parrot-watching with Christopher Moore along the Embarcadero.

I owe a big thank you to Naomi Jelks and the SF Library for inviting me to BCAF—if they ask you next year, say yes. And in the meantime, if you’d like to check out some of the other programming from the festival, the library’s Youtube channel is here.

Seen on the internets

…so that’s one great thing the new year has going for it.

Also, a reminder for my fans and friends in the Bay Area: Tomorrow, Sunday, January 14, I’ll be appearing on stage at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library (100 Larkin St.) with Victor LaValle and Nnedi Okorafor, as part of the 2018 Black Comix Arts Festival. Doors open at 1 PM and the event starts at 2; we’ll be hanging out and signing books afterwards.

At the Black Comix Arts Festival on Jan. 14

First programming note of the new year: I will be a guest at the 2018 Black Comix Arts Festival in San Francisco. On Sunday, January 14th I’ll be appearing on stage with Victor LaValle and Nnedi Okorafor at the San Francisco Public Library at 100 Larkin St.

Admission to the event is free. Doors open at 1 PM; the discussion is scheduled to run from 2 to 3 PM, after which we’ll hang out and sign books for another hour. Come by if you’re in town!

Goodnight 2017

Ballard Locks at 4:15 PM